Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

October 4, 2022

'Sounds of Resilience' Indigenous Support Cortez, Colorado, Oct. 22, 2022




'Sounds of Resilience' Indigenous Support Cortez, Colorado, Oct. 22, 2022

By Mercury Bitsuie, Dine'
Dine' Land and Water
Censored News

~Sounds of Resilience~
Come join us on October 22nd at the Good Sam’s Food Pantry in Cortez, Colorado, for Music, Food and Workshops. We are coming together to celebrate the resilience of our Indigenous relatives that lived in these areas.

Good Sam’s, as well as Dine’ Land and Water, have teamed up since the beginning of the pandemic to support a resilient community called Big Mountain, which is on the Navajo Nation that has been resisting relocation for more than 40 years. Coordinating food, supply and upcoming gardening projects runs to these communities so that they can live that sustainable way of life that they have always known. We are fundraising as well as collecting supplies such as food, winter jackets, dog food, school supplies and building supplies for the community of Big Mountain this upcoming winter season. These can be dropped off at the Good Sam’s Food Pantry in Cortez Colorado.

We are creating a GoFundMe account to raise some gas as well as motel funds to stay the night in Cortez Colorado for the presenters, musicians and artists. Anything helps and thank you for your support. Here is the Gofundme link:
https://gofund.me/0b557bb5
Presentations by:
Louise Benally
Andy Dann
Nicole Horsehearder
Music By:
Poo 10 Cee
Antro
Bishop Undurdog
Seta Rrose
The Batteries
Tony Heartless
And more!
Mural Art work workshop By:
Saba
Gardening/Seed saving workshop By:
Good Sam’s Food Pantry
Sounds of Resilience Music Festival Schedule October 22nd 2022
9:00am-12:00pm Mural workshop by, Saba at the east back parking lot Along with the Gardening/Seed
saving workshop with Music!
12:00pm-1:00pm Navajo taco lunch with Big Mountain Presenters
1:00pm-4:00pm Music!
4:00pm-6:00pm Potluck dinner with Big Mountain Presenters and screening of the Big Mountain
Documentary “Broken Rainbow”.
6:00pm-8:00pm Music!!
Who is Good Sam’s Food Pantry?
What is the Big Mountain Struggle?
In 1863 Kit Carson launched a brutal and relentless search-and-destroy campaign against the Navajo people. Under his command, the US Cavalry swept across the Navajo countryside chopping down fruit trees, destroying crops and butchering sheep. Thousands of Navajos were killed, and approximately 8,500 Navajo men, women and children were captured and forced to walk more than 400 miles in the dead of winter to Fort Summer, a barren, 40-square-mile reservation in eastern New Mexico. This became known in Native American history as "The Long Walk."
More than 100 years later, Navajo people, or Dine’ as they call themselves, once again are being removed from their ancestral homelands; their livestock are being seized, they are being harassed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and denied the right to repair their dwellings or build new homes. Why another forced relocation? The Navajo are once again in the way of westward expansion, this time in the form of energy resources development.
The Search for Minerals
In 1909 members of the US Geological Survey conducted an investigation of the northern Arizona plateau, believing that 8 billion tons of recoverable coal lay beneath the land's surface. In the early 1920s, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began to study the feasibility of developing southwestern coal resources in order to provide enough electricity for the explosion of development that was beginning to engulf Southern California. In order to protect the air quality of the plants were placed in the Four Corners area, where Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico meet.
In the mid-1950s the state of Arizona looked to the coal reserves located on the Navajo and Hopi reservation lands as a solution to its growing energy needs. In an all-out effort to tap these energy resources, a coalition of 21 utility companies from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and Texas joined forces as Western Energy Supply and Transmission Associates (WEST) and proceeded to implement "the Grand Plan." This plan involved the construction of massive coal and nuclear power plants fueled by the vast supply of coal and uranium in the Four Corners region. Throughout the century it became increasingly clear that this part of the Southwest was a major repository of important minerals such as oil, coal and uranium. Efforts to develop these resources led to
1. The creation of the Navajo and Hopi Tribal Councils by the US government.
2. The division of jointly used ancestral lands through the 1974 Navajo- Hopi Land Settlement Act.
3. A federally imposed building moratorium and livestock reduction program for Navajos living on Hopi Partition Land.
4. The relocation of thousands of Navajo people from their homelands.
The 1974 Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act created an artificial boundary, dividing in half 1.8 million acres of jointly owned Navajo-Hopi land in northern Arizona. The enactment of this law resulted in governmental efforts to relocate 10-15,000 Navajos who found themselves living on the wrong side of the fence. Sen. Daniel Inouye, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, calls the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act a "measure to settle a century-old land dispute between the Navajo and Hopi Tribes in Northwest Arizona." A look at the events leading up to the 1974 act indicates that it is actually the result of an ongoing effort to develop mineral resources in the area. In order to understand this situation, some background information on American colonial and history up to the 1974 Land Settlement Act is required. Author Deborah Lacerenza
For more information about the struggle in Big Mountain, go to the Culture Survival website. Here is the link: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/.../historical-overview...
“For generations, Navajo people have faced hardships caused by the forced relocation from our ancestral lands in northwest Arizona. This sad legacy disrupted the way of life for nearly 16,000 Navajo citizens, including many elders, and separated them from their ancestral homelands — forever changing their quality of life. Our people relocated to other communities in accordance with federal promises of adequate housing, social services, and infrastructure that has yet to be fulfilled.”
President Jonathan Nez, Navajo Nation:
So once again Dine’ Land and Water as we at Good Sam’s teamed up to organize the is fundraiser/donation event to continue the solidarity to this community as well as other grassroots organizations already doing work out there. Anything helps and thank you all for your support

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