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| Images courtesy O'odham Solidarity, Censored News |
Update: Interior Sec. Deb Haaland's push for uranium and lithium mining in sacred places in Indian country, poisoning the water, and the push for increased plutonium storage in the heart of Pueblo land, and promotion of the atomic bomb industry as green energy, was surprising and confusing -- until a reader exposed the U.S. Defense Department contracts going to Haaland's tribe's business Laguna Industries in New Mexico. See reader comments below.
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Oct. 25, 2024
LAVEEN VILLAGE, Gila River Indian Community, Arizona -- In the Gila River Indian Community today, Biden claimed to be issuing an apology to Native children who were victims of U.S. boarding schools. His glory campaign was short-lived.
As Biden spoke, an O'odham woman held up this sign: "There Are Still Babies in Mass Graves. Your Apology Means Nothing!! Land Back."
Security removed her.
Calling out to Biden, an O'odham woman yelled, "What about the people in Gaza! What about the people in Palestine!"
"How can you apologize for a genocide while actively committing a genocide in Palestine! Free Palestine!"
O'odham Solidarity said, "Multiple O’odham U’uvi were harassed, heckled, followed for simply using their voice on their OWN land to bring awareness to the tens of thousands of Palestinian people brutally murdered by our government, our taxes, utilizing our ancestral lands to construct surveillance, weapons etc while manipulating our people."
O'odham Solidarity said, "Multiple O’odham U’uvi were harassed, heckled, followed for simply using their voice on their OWN land to bring awareness to the tens of thousands of Palestinian people brutally murdered by our government, our taxes, utilizing our ancestral lands to construct surveillance, weapons etc while manipulating our people."
"While Israel’s IFT’s (integraed fixed towers, spy towers) survey members on the Tohono O’odham nation and militarization harasses and even murdered Oodham people closer to the border."
"They need everyone to step it up, get out there and support," O'odham Solidarity said.
Gila River Indian Community, located south of Phoenix, is home to Akimel O’odham and Piipash.
Biden Offers No Apology for Genocide of Palestinian Children
Interior Sec. Deb Haaland made no apologies to Tohono O'odham and San Carlos Apache for bulldozing their ancient villages and burial places for transmission lines. Haaland made no apologies for allowing a Canadian company to dig into the Paiute Massacre Site for lithium. Haaland made no apologies for issuing a permit to an Australian company to drill into Hualapai's ceremonial place for lithium in Arizona.
Instead, they used the crimes against Native American children in boarding schools for the advancement of their political campaign.
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| Photo courtesy O'odham Solidarity, Gila River Indian Community today. |
O'odham Solidarity, urging protests today said, "An apology for genocide while actively causing a genocide is mind-blowing!"
"And we all know Joe has the blood of tens of thousand Palestinians on his hands."
"Deb Haaland and Joe Biden will be occupying Komatke Village issuing an apology for the genocide of our people. Most likely will flash dollar signs in exchange for approval of land exploitation and votes. The disrespect."
"Show Joe and Deb that everywhere they go -- they’ll be reminded of what they did to innocents across the globe," said O'odham Solidarity, a local grassroots group led by O'odham women.
Gila River community members received written invitations and were taken to Laveen Village by shuttle from the casino.
Three Arizona Tribes File Federal Lawsuits Against Interior Sec. Haaland
Three Arizona Tribes have filed federal lawsuits against Interior Sec. Deb Haaland, who is Laguna Pueblo.
Haaland is being sued for the bulldozers now destroying ancient villages and burial places of Tohono O'odham and San Carlos Apache for SunZia's transmission lines for wind energy, on O'odham ancestral land not far from the site of today's political rally at Laveen Village.
Hualapai have filed suit against Haaland for issuing a permit to an Australian company, Hawkstone aka Arizona Lithium, to drill for lithium at their sacred ceremonial place and endanger their sacred water in central Arizona, not far from where Biden and Haaland rallied today. The Hualapai Tribe states in its lawsuit that the tribe was never consulted before the Interior gave Hawkstone the permit to drill for lithium.
Haaland is allowing Lithium Americas of Canada to dig into the Paiute Massacre Site of Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass, in northern Nevada, for lithium, in violation of all federal laws protecting Native religious and historic sites, the environment and endangered species. Paiute and Shoshone elderly and women are now facing trial for defending the site.
Haaland is allowing uranium mining to continue in the Grand Canyon, endangering Havasupai's aquifer and poisoning Supai medicine plants with radioactive dust. The deadly radioactive haul route is to White Mesa Ute's community in Utah. Radioactive trucks endanger Havasupai, Paiute, Dine' (Navajo), Hopi and Ute.
The United States now plans to increase plutonium production and storage in the Pueblos homeland in northern New Mexico at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A federal judge has halted the plan due to environmental concerns.
Haaland said in Farmington, New Mexico, that Los Alamos Labs would lead the green "energy transition" in the Four Corners region -- a region scarred with scattered radioactive waste from uranium mining during the Cold War that the U.S. never cleaned up -- a region where Navajos and others who live in the region suffer from widespread cancer and respiratory diseases from oil and gas wells, and decades of coal mines and power plants.
Three Arizona Tribes have filed federal lawsuits against Interior Sec. Deb Haaland, who is Laguna Pueblo.
Haaland is being sued for the bulldozers now destroying ancient villages and burial places of Tohono O'odham and San Carlos Apache for SunZia's transmission lines for wind energy, on O'odham ancestral land not far from the site of today's political rally at Laveen Village.
Sobaipuri O'odham, ancestors of San Xavier O'odham, made their home in the San Pedro Valley of southern Arizona, like their ancestors Hohokum before them. Interior Sec. Deb Haaland is being sued by the Tohono O'odham Nation in federal court for the bulldozers now destroying ancient village sites and burial places. -- Censored News
Haaland is allowing Lithium Americas of Canada to dig into the Paiute Massacre Site of Peehee Mu'huh, Thacker Pass, in northern Nevada, for lithium, in violation of all federal laws protecting Native religious and historic sites, the environment and endangered species. Paiute and Shoshone elderly and women are now facing trial for defending the site.
Haaland is allowing uranium mining to continue in the Grand Canyon, endangering Havasupai's aquifer and poisoning Supai medicine plants with radioactive dust. The deadly radioactive haul route is to White Mesa Ute's community in Utah. Radioactive trucks endanger Havasupai, Paiute, Dine' (Navajo), Hopi and Ute.
The United States now plans to increase plutonium production and storage in the Pueblos homeland in northern New Mexico at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A federal judge has halted the plan due to environmental concerns.
Haaland said in Farmington, New Mexico, that Los Alamos Labs would lead the green "energy transition" in the Four Corners region -- a region scarred with scattered radioactive waste from uranium mining during the Cold War that the U.S. never cleaned up -- a region where Navajos and others who live in the region suffer from widespread cancer and respiratory diseases from oil and gas wells, and decades of coal mines and power plants.
6 comments:
Deb Haaland's tribe's business, Laguna Industries uses depleted uranium in their military components. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process, and it's incredible dense, making it ideal for military applications. It's used to make armor-piercing ammunition for tank armor because it can easily penetrate armored vehicles. Their front company is a maker of car wash components.
Laguna Industries Inc. of Laguna, New Mexico, Defense Department contracts, priority given for Native American, women, veteran owned business. Defense contracts include "weapons system" electronic, listed under U.S. Defense contracts: https://www.governmentcontractswon.com/department/defense/laguna_industries_inc_130109226.asp?yr=09
Court case: Laguna Industries and New Mexico taxes, involving Raytheon Missiles BACKGROUND 1. Facts.
Laguna Industries, Inc., is a New Mexico corporation wholly owned by the Pueblo of Laguna, an Indian tribe organized under the Indian Reorganization Act, 25 U.S.C. § 476 (1988 Supp. 1992). In the early 1980s, the Pueblo sought to invest capital accumulated from uranium mining operations and to find employment for tribal members who were unemployed because of the decline of the uranium industry. To accomplish this purpose, the Pueblo incorporated Laguna with the goal of obtaining federal contracts from the Department of Defense (DOD). To assure DOD that Laguna would be competent to handle these contracts, Laguna contracted with Raytheon, a major defense contractor, for technical, training, and management assistance.
From the Pueblo itself, Laguna received capital investment, a line of credit, and the use of a Pueblo-owned building. Laguna also received assistance, including grants, from various federal programs, including the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) within the Health and Human Services Department, the Small Business Administration (SBA), DOD, the" Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and Congress." Casetext https://casetext.com/case/laguna-industries-v-tax-rev-dept
Laguna Construction company Defense contract work in Iraq, kickback case "A New Mexico tribe has lost claims to millions of dollars in military contract work after being linked to a criminal kickback case.
Leaders and employees of Laguna Pueblo were never implicated in the scheme. But the former vice president and a former project manager of Laguna Construction Co., a tribally-owned business, admitted they over-billed the Defense Department in order to receive kickbacks from the proceeds." 2016 https://indianz.com/News/2016/07/21/laguna-pueblo-loses-case-linked-to-milit.asp
I've been to New Mexico and I didn't see any big manufacturing plant on the Rez. Does Ratheon just have a mailbox there?
Raytheon Missiles does not show any work currently being done on Laguna Pueblo. However, the Raytheon Dine' Facility on the Navajo Nation continues to operate on the Navajo Nation's commercial farm, NAPI, Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, near Shiprock, NM, a fact censored by Indian Country Today while I was a staff reporter there.Raytheon Missiles has a facility at the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI) Park in Farmington, New Mexico:
Raytheon Diné Facility (RDF)
Location
South of Farmington, New Mexico
Features
68,000 sq ft of manufacturing space, 30,000 sq ft of warehousing
Weapons built
Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) missile, Javelin Close Combat/Anti-armor Weapon System, Stinger, Phalanx Close-In Weapon System, Excalibur Precision Guided Extended Range Artillery Projectile
Ownership
The Navajo Nation owns the site, and Raytheon leases the manufacturing space
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