Mexico's Police Deployed to aid Invasion of Tohono O'odham Land for Border Wall Construction

Mexico's police on the southside of the border, on O'odham ancestral land, while border wall construction crews invade sovereign Tohono O'odham Nation land.

Mexico's Police Deployed to Aid in Invasion of Tohono O'odham Land for Border Wall Construction

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 27, 2026

Mexico's police were deployed to the border of the Tohono O'odham Nation on Wednesday, after being requested by U.S. Homeland Security, for the protection of the border wall construction crews who invaded sovereign Tohono O'odham Nation land with a drilling rig.

'NO BORDER WALL' Land Defenders Block Trucks at Tree Sit in Lochiel, Arizona

Blocking the border wall trucks at the Tree Sit in Lochiel, Arizona.

Watch the video to the sounds of 'Wage Against the Machine.'

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1775138276953756

Land defenders halt the construction of the border wall in a three-mile stretch on Wednesday, near the "Grandmother's Tree," as binational resistance grows to border wall construction, on both sides of the so-called border, the group said in Lochiel, east of Nogales, on August 26, 2026.

"We are putting our bodies on the line."

Watch videos in English and Espanol

https://www.facebook.com/kate.scott.973823

NOW! Border Wall Construction Crews on Tohono O'odham Nation

Photos courtesy Tadai Me:i

Lawsuit Challenges Arizona Copper Mine Exploration Threatening Mexican Spotted Owls

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Copper Creek Canyon. Photo credit: Russ McSpadden, Center for Biological Diversity

Lawsuit Challenges Arizona Copper Mine Exploration Threatening Mexican Spotted Owls

By Center for Biological Diversity, Censored News, August 25, 2026

MAMMOTH, Ariz.— The Center for Biological Diversity, the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance sued the Trump administration today for approving exploratory drilling for a copper mine that threatens Mexican spotted owls and other imperiled wildlife near Arizona’s iconic San Pedro River.

“Federal officials knew that Mexican spotted owls were in the project area and still approved more than 1,300 acres of industrial drilling on our public lands,” said Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. 

OAK FLAT: Copper Mine will Guzzle Water and Dump Massive Toxic Waste

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Photo by Sandra Rambler, San Carlos Apache. Rest in Power.

OAK FLAT: Copper Mine will Guzzle Water and Dump Massive Toxic Waste

By Center for Biological Diversity, Censored News, August 25, 2026

After years of opposition from a diverse coalition — including Indigenous Tribes and the Center for Biological Diversity — the Trump administration finalized the transfer of 2,422 acres of public lands in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest to a foreign mining giant. These lands include Oak Flat, an Apache sacred site threatened by the company’s plan to build one of the biggest underground copper mines in North America.

To do that it needs to acquire 8,200 acres of Arizona state trust land, an area known as Skunk Camp, to build a facility where it can dump more than a billion tons of toxic mining waste.

Navajo Nation Council approves Sacred Site Legislation at Confluence

Navajo Nation Council approves Sacred Site Legislation at Confluence

by Halne'e | Aug 24, 2026 | News

The Navajo Nation Council agreed, in a 18 yes and none opposed vote, an area inside the Grand Canyon be designated a sacred site Monday during a special session.

The area near “The Confluence,” the point where the Colorado River and Little Colorado River meet, abuts Grand Canyon National Park, on the Western Navajo Nation near Bodaway/Gap Chapter. Locals call the area Tóahidíídlih, “Where the rivers meet,” in the Navajo language.

Tohono O'odham Nation Denied Injunction to Halt Border Wall

Tohono O'odham Nation Denied Injunction to Halt Border Wall

Photo: Border Wall construction near Yuma, Arizona. Photo US Army Corps of Engineers.

A federal judge's rejection of the Tohono O'odham Nation's lawsuit to stop construction of the border wall means the blowing up of six mountain peaks and a heavy construction staging area on tribal land to be chosen by contractors. The Nation is now considering its options.

Anonymous Gives Officers 48 Hours to Turn Themselves In -- Operation Morton County Engaged 2016 Updated

Anonymous Message to Morton County Sheriff Removed at YouTube

Censored News, Aug. 22, 2026

STANDING ROCK, North Dakota -- One of Censored News most viewed articles this week is the Anonymous video concerning Morton County and violent law enforcement, during the defense of the water at Standing Rock.

The rest of the story came later from Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier in a separate case, North Dakota v US.

O'odham Ancestral Land Being Stripped Bare at Sacred Quitobaquito Springs for Second Border Wall

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Bulldozers scrape the sweet earth bare today near O'odham's Sacred Quitobaquito Springs. Video by Russ McSpadden.

O'odham Ancestral Land Being Stripped Bare at Sacred Quitobaquito Springs for Second Border Wall

Article by Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 18, 2026

QUITOBAQUITO SPRINGS, Arizona -- The ancestral land of O'odham is being stripped bare near Sacred Quitobaquito Springs, home to pupfish, snails and turtles found nowhere else in the world, except here in the fragile Sonoran Desert. 

Quitobaquito Springs is a place of prayer and ceremony for O'odham. The federal government is destroying this land for a second border wall, that is being protested here on the Arizona border, and from California to Texas.

The roads are closed, but Russ McSpadden hiked into the area Monday and found the destruction underway at Organ Pipe National Monument.

The Hungry Hounds: US Border Patrol Lurks at Tohono O'odham Nation Border

US Border Patrol at Tohono O'odham Nation's border. Photo Russ McSpadden.

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News. August

The Hungry Hounds: US Border Patrol Lurks at Tohono O'odham Nation Border

The Hungry Hounds: The U.S. Border Patrol lurks awaiting its prey at the border of the Tohono O'odham Nation, near the Nation's new 'NO TRESPASSING" signs directed at border wall contractors.

The US Border Patrol is part of Homeland Security and its plan to seize the Nation's land for the border wall. The US Border Patrol already has open access to the land of the Tohono O'odham Nation, and a spy system in place to track O'odham and watch them.

Indigenous at the United Nations Expose A.I. Data Centers and Racially-Biased Misinformation

Indigenous at the United Nations Expose A.I. Data Centers and Racially-Biased Misinformation

Sara Olsvig, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council

Update: Today, August 17, 2026: 404 Media revealed that Amazon is buying large quantities of rare books, cutting off their spines, and scanning the books for AI, artificial intelligence. 404 Media placed a tracking device in a rare book and tracked it to an Amazon facility in Las Vegas, known as VGT3. AI companies have been data-scraping the Internet, including copyrighted books, news articles, music and ancestral knowledge for their money-making industries. -- Censored News.

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 14, 2026, Updated

GENEVA -- The mediocre, middle-of-the-road approach to A.I. at the United Nations was countered by testimony today from Indigenous Peoples pointing out that artificial intelligence is not a solution, and is doing great harm to Indigenous with derogatory misinformation and massive data centers that are poisoning the land, water and air.

U.S. Border Patrol Agents who Murdered Raymond Mattia, Tohono O'odham, Want Qualified Immunity

Raymond Mattia, Tohono O'odham

U.S. Border Patrol Agents who Murdered Raymond Mattia, Tohono O'odham, Want Qualified Immunity

Tohono O'odham Raymond Mattia's family said the U.S. Border Patrol is using an edited, redacted video of the agents murdering Raymond at his home on the Tohono O'odham Nation and the video is not reliable evidence.

By Courthouse News

SAN FRANCISO — A Ninth Circuit panel appeared unlikely on Wednesday to reverse the denial of qualified immunity to three Border Patrol agents who shot and killed an unarmed man on his front lawn in the Tohono O’odham Nation.

The family of Raymond Mattia, killed in 2023, says the three-judge panel cannot rely on “an edited and untested, incomplete and redacted body camera compilation” to challenge claims made in the lawsuit, which must be taken as fact at the motion to dismiss stage.

U.S. Manufactured Crimes and Spied on Peaceful Protesters During Minneapolis Metro Surge, New Court Filing Reveals

Tipis stand at Mni Owe Sni (Coldwater Spring), a sacred site for the Dakota and other tribes, across from the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on Tuesday in Minneapolis.Kerem Yücel | MPR News, Feb. 11, 2026.

U.S. Manufactured Crimes and Spied on Peaceful Protesters During Minneapolis Metro Surge, New Court Filing Reveals

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 14, 2026

MINNEAPOLIS -- While Dakotas were praying at a sacred spring for those held in federal detention at the Whipple building in Minneapolis -- the U.S. government was spying on, and stalking, the Whipple watchers, a new court document reveals.

The government is now refusing to release all of its documents on its surveillance of those watching the Whipple building. The Whipple building is on the site of a former concentration camp, where Dakota and Ho Chunk were imprisoned, suffered and died.

Energy Fuels under Investigation for Insider Trading

White Mesa Ute protest Energy Fuels' radioactive dump in their community.
Photo by Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, Censored News

Energy Fuels is being investigated for insider trading

 
Bears Ears opened up for new uranium mining. Photo Tim Petersen, Grand Canyon Trust

By KNAU Radio in Flagstaff 

House Democrats are investigating the uranium mining company Energy Fuels for alleged insider trading.

The investigation centers on whether Energy Fuels executives received privileged information about Trump’s planned slashing of Bears Ears National Monument before the news became public, and if they used that information to purchase stock in their own business. The company said in a statement provided to KNAU that it "strongly rejects any suggestion that the Company or its executives engaged in any improper conduct.”

Borders Kill at Lochiel. The Death of a Nation.

Borders Kill at Lochiel -- The Death of a Nation.

Day 14 at the Tree Sit on the Arizona Border.

Nelson Mandela: "A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones." Mandela's autobiography Long Walk to Freedom (1994.)

Video at https://www.instagram.com/p/Db7HW88sv7c/
Collage by Censored News.

Media is Confusing the Public with Misleading Photos of Tohono O'odham

Media is Confusing the Public with Misleading Photos of Tohono O'odham

The media is using an out-dated photo that is not related to the current 'No Trespass' notice to border wall contractors, and it is misleading.

By Ofelia Rivas and Brenda Norrell, Censored News, 12, August 2026

Many news reporters are using out-dated photos of the Tohono O'odham Nation that are not related to the current 'No Trespassing' warnings to border wall contractors. The use of out-dated photos of the border protest nine years ago is misleading. In fact, tribal police threatened supporters with arrest if they traveled to the border protest through tribal lands in the United States.

Ophelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, said today that the photos of the border protest by O'odham in Mexico were taken nine years ago. The media's use now is misleading and shows disrespect for O'odham Elders.

Dine' Take Over Meeting of Laramide's Proposed Uranium Mine in Churchrock

Community members took over the Laramide meeting organized by the New Mexico Environment Department over its Discharge Permit application on August 6, 2026 at Fire Rock Casino in Gallup, New Mexico. Photo by Sarah Knopp.

Diné Community Members Take Over Uranium Company Public Meeting to Express Adamant Opposition to Yet Another New Uranium Mining Proposal

NM Environment Dept. Meeting about the Crownpoint Uranium Project Reveals Deep-Seated Anger That Contamination from Previous Mining Has Still Not Been Cleaned Up

Coalition Statement, August 12, 2026, Censored News

GALLUP, New Mexico -- Impacted community members took over an informational meeting scheduled by Laramide Resources on August 6th at the Fire Rock Casino near Gallup, New Mexico, to discuss its plans and required permitting to conduct uranium in situ leach mining in Churchrock.

Eyes on the Sky after Tohono O'odham Nation' Posts 'No Trespass' Signs for Border Wall Construction Crews

Eyes on the Sky after Tohono O'odham Nation' Posts 'No Trespass' Signs for Border Wall Construction Crews

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 12, 2026

Tohono O'odham Nation -- These combat jets that carry out dangerous maneuvers over the Tohono O'odahm Nation are led by a private company, ATAC. The company is contracted by the Air Force and based at Luke Air Force base in the Phoenix Valley at Glendale. These jets endanger the lives of O'odham with flares, sonic booms break plaster in traditional O'odham homes, and there is the risk of crashes. ATAC jets have crashed in other areas, killing the pilots.

Day 14: Tree Sitter Saving Old Growth Cottonwood: Arizona Border Wall Resistance

Day 14: Tree Sitter Saving Old Growth Cottonwood: Arizona Border Wall Resistance

The cicadas are singing, but for how long. Voice from the protectors of the grandmother cottonwood today at the tree sit on the Arizona border, east of Nogales, as the monster machines scrape into the earth for border wall dollars. Tuesday, Day 14. https://www.facebook.com/kate.scott.973823

Christine Prat, Friend and Translator, Passes to Spirit World

Christine Prat with Klee Benally at the premier of "Powerlines" in Montreal, France. 
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2016/08/klee-benallys-powerlines-shows-in-france.html

Christine Prat, Friend and Translator, Passes to Spirit World

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 9, 2026 Updated

It is with a heavy heart that we share the sad news of the passing of Christine Prat, our friend and translator. Christine translated Censored News into French. We met through our mutual friend Klee Benally, more than a decade ago. She translated Klee's book, No Spiritual Surrender, into French, and struggled till the end with cancer to translate our stories and share them with the world.

Christine never compromised, supported Palestine and the fight against Elbit's Israeli spy towers on the Tohono O'odham Nation.

After the U.S. denied her a visa to enter the United States in later years, she never backed down, and continued her work in France. She began the translations with the Hopi Nation's struggle to protect sacred San Francisco Peaks 14 years ago.

Christine's translations were among the most censored at Censored News, including the water rights struggle of Yaqui in Sonora. Many were assassinated after blocking the highway in defense of the water.

In French and English, her stories were read around the world, stories with the voices from Big Mountain, Standing Rock, Oak Flat, Tohono O'odham, Hopi, Peehee Mu'hah, and the desert borderlands. She wrote of Angela Davis in Paris, the struggle for Peltier's release, and the Native women's delegations to the United Nations in Geneva and those who testified in Jamaica.

We remember her courage, her boldness, and send our condolences to her husband Theo and their family.

Christine struggled until the end. This is the last message I received from her in April. as she was dying of cancer.

"Sorry for not answering and doing nothing, I am very ill and it is difficult to do anything. However, I do want to go on. At the moment, I am collecting articles about lithium mines projects. We are threatened in France, as well as many other countries. As I have translated quite a lot of articles about PeeHee Mu'hu, I would like to translate or write more articles about lithium mines, all in two languages, trying to make a link between all victims of mining. Unfortunately, I don't know Spanish, as there are also lithium mines projects in South America.
Electric cars, lithium, cobalt, AI, etc., we got a general attack on the world.
Hope I'll manage to at least start something before I pass to the other world."'

In memory, carry on.

No Border Wall: 'First Stake Driven' on Tohono O'odham Nation for 'No Trespass' Signs at The Gate

No Border Wall: 'First Stake Driven' by O'odham on Tohono O'odham Nation for 'No Trespass' Signs at The Gate

'First Stake Driven' These photos were taken yesterday afternoon at the San Miguel Gate known as 'Koli Ki:jig' located in the Chukut Kuk District, on August 9, 2026. The first stake was driven for the 'NO Trespass' signs at the Tohono O'odham Nation and Mexico border, know as 'The Gate.'

Tohono O'odham Airspace: Combat Jets Endanger O'odham. Mystery Plane Returns.

Update August 9, 2026: This small unidentified plane flew in circles around the border of the Tohono O'odham Nation this morning at 1:30 a.m., apparently finishing whatever work they are doing from above. An unidentified plane flew in the same pattern on Aug. 3 at 3 a.m. on the western portion of the border above the Tohono O'odham Nation. The plane flies out of El Paso and then returns there. Yesterday the Tohono O'odham Nation closed its border to border wall construction crews and posted "No Trespassing" signs, alerting tribal police to escort them off if they attempt to enter. -- Censored News.

NO BORDER WALL: Tohono O'odham Closes Nation to Non-Members

"No Trespassing" warning posted today on Tohono O'odham Nation border. Courtesy photo for Censored News.

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 8, 2026

SELLS, Arizona -- The Tohono O'odham Nation closed its borders to border wall construction crews today, stating if they attempt to enter, they will be escorted off tribal lands by tribal police. Further, the Nation told O'odham to report suspicious activity to tribal police.

"Please be aware that 'no trespassing' signs have been posted in several locations on the Nation. Tohono O’odham law enforcement is on alert to turn back trespassers.
All O’odham are free to travel as usual."

"The restrictions are only for non-tribal members who are attempting to destroy our land and separate our people with the construction of the wall," the Nation said.

Federal Contractors Begin Border Construction in Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park in Texas: Border Wall Claws of Death, August 8, 2026

Border Wall Claws of Death
Laiken Jordahl said today, "More destruction today in Big Bend. Bulldozers and excavators are being trucked into the wildest corner of Texas, preparing to inflict an irreversible scar on the national park. This absurd project is despised by everyone in West Texas. When will Texas leadership step in?"

Big Bend Destruction by Border Wall Contractors. Screenshot by Censored New

New Mexico threatens to revoke licenses of contractors drilling water wells in drought-stricken New Mexico. The Tohono O'odham Nation has filed for an injunction to halt the Trump administration from seizing its tribal land for the border wall in Arizona, pointing out that only Congress can diminish its land. Border Wall construction will destroy O'odham burial places and sacred sites. Today, contractors are destroying the fragile tree life at Big Bend in Texas. Today is Day 10 of a tree sitter and supporters halting border wall contractors in Lochiel, Arizona, east of Nogales. -- Censored News

Federal Contractors Begin Border Construction in Big Bend National Park

“This is the most heinous attack on an American national park in generations,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.

By Center for Biological Diversity, Censored News, August 7, 2026

TERLINGUA, Texas— Bulldozers broke ground today on border barrier and road construction in Big Bend National Park amid widespread bipartisan opposition. Videos shared with the Center for Biological Diversity show contractors plowing through native vegetation along the Rio Grande’s riparian corridor, with the iconic Santa Elena Canyon visible in the background.

“This is the most heinous attack on an American national park in generations,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Tohono O'odham Nation Presents Case Against Border Wall

Tohono O'odham Nation Presents Case Against Border Wall

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 3, 2026

SELLS, Arizona -- The Tohono O'odham Nation said attorneys argued a strong case in opposition to the construction of a border wall on O'odham land, pointing out that only Congress can deplete its land. The Nation's attorneys in Washington are seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the border wall construction by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"Only Congress has the authority to diminish the reservation, not DHS," the Tohono O'odham Nation said in a statement on Monday. "Even the law that authorized construction did not include any explicit approval from Congress to take the Nation's land."

'Contesting Surveillance Infrastructure on Indigenous Lands' Ophelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, Co-authors Book on Surveillance

Photo credit: Contesting Surveillance Infrastructure on Tohono O’odham Je’ved by Ophelia Rivas, Caitlin Blanchfield, and Nina Kolowratnik,

Contesting Surveillance Infrastructure on Indigenous Lands

Ophelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, is co-author of a new book revealing border surveillance

By Ophelia Rivas, Caitlin Blanchfield, and Nina Kolowratnik

The broad slope and rounded crest of O’ks Tak’am Do’ak outline the profile of a woman sitting and facing the west. Her name is O’ks Ta’kam. She is part the O’odham origin story, passed down through oral history. She sits there vigilant, a warrior protecting, and will warn the people when a catastrophic event will occur. When this event comes, she will stand and gather the smallest creatures in her skirt to protect them.

The mountain forms part of the Tak’Va’Vak range which cuts through Tohono O’odham land, joining peaks like Han’a-mek and Ma’mke-mad. These mountains are known as a place to gather sweet fruits from the chu-chues (organ pipe cactus). They are home to caves, springs, and seasonal water holes. Each year ceremonies and hunts take place all across the Tak’Va’Vak, and trails lead through the mountain passes, connecting the springs at A’al Va’pai (Quitobaqito) to O’odham villages in Sonora, and leading all the way to the salty Ge-Ka-ch’k (Sea of Cortez). The mountains hold deer, mountain rams, javalina. They hold burial places. Medicines grow there. In the evening they are especially beautiful, bathed in crimson.

Continue reading https://urbannext.net/significant-impact-contesting-surveillance/

'Significant Impact' is now being released.

Ophelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham
I think that land has always been defined by Europeans as property so they have a different perspective on land, and from that perspective it’s very difficult to understand. And I’m saying that just from seeing the Border Patrol and how they react when we talk about our land and how we’re connected to it. It just seems to not make a difference to them that it’s of great concern to us. It’s very difficult for them to understand and therefore they just continue to disrespect all the things we’ve been telling them not to disturb, like our caves on the mountain. They removed pottery that has human remains or ceremony items, they removed them from the mountains. And it’s very disturbing to us, people who have continued to follow our way of life and live our ceremony life. It affects us, but it also affects people who don’t follow that tradition.

Essay excerpted from

This essay is excerpted from Significant Impact: Contesting Surveillance Infrastructure on Tohono O’odham Je’ved by Ophelia Rivas, Caitlin Blanchfield, and Nina Kolowratnik,

urbanNext (August 2, 2026) Contesting Surveillance Infrastructure on Indigenous Lands. Retrieved from https://urbannext.net/significant-impact-contesting-surveillance/.

Ophelia Rivas website is https://www.oodhamrights.org/

Copyright By Ophelia Rivas, Caitlin Blanchfield, and Nina Kolowratnik

Paddle to Nisqually, Tribal Canoe Journeys 2026

Saturday, August 1, 2026. Photo courtesy Nisqually Tribe

Saturday, August 1, 2026. Photo courtesy Nisqually Tribe

Courtesy Nisqually Tribe

 Paddle to Nisqually, Tribal Canoe Journeys 2026

Paddle To Nisqually 2026, Censored News, July 30, 2026

LIVESTREAM https://tinyurl.com/3tk75h56
Dates: July 31st to August 5th, 2026

Watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?app=desktop&list=PLWMEvm2-225s

The 2026 Paddle to Nisqually Medicine Creek Potlatch is hosted by the Nisqually Tribe. Canoe Journey 2026, Paddle to Nisqually Medicine Creek Potlatch, continues an inter-tribal celebration and annual gathering of Northwest indigenous nations. The annual tribal journey in the Pacific Northwest region was sparked by the Paddle to Seattle in 1989 as part of Washington State’s Centennial celebration.

Many Canoe Journeys have been held since 1989, when pullers (the preferred term because of the pulling motion on the paddle) from Canada, Alaska and Washington voyaged from their home communities to sites in the Pacific Northwest. The Canoe Journey has grown to include over 100 canoes and the participation of Canoe Families from other native canoe cultures, including Native American tribes, First Nations peoples, Alaska Natives, Inuit, Maori, Native Hawaiians, and other indigenous peoples from across the world.

Courtesy Nisqually Tribe

Courtesy Nisqually Tribe

Mohawk Nation News 'Rekindling Resistance'

REKINDLING RESISTANCE

Posted on August 1, 2026 by Kan1enkehaka

Mohawk Nation News
https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2026/08/01/rekindling-resistance/





GREAT WHITE ROOTS OF PEACE

MNN. July 26, 2026. To acquire peace, Dekanawida did not base his ideas on faith and hope. He described a giant white pine that reached into the sky, symbolizing the sisterhood and brotherhood of all human beings. At its roots were the five nations of the original Rotinonhsión:ni Confederacy. A structure was designed to make the individual the center of power so that no dictator could seize control. The people met to discuss issues and came to an understanding. The governmental structure included the separation of powers of the judicial, executive and legislative branches. The Rotinonhsión:ni nations were made up of democratic social units to form a peaceful confederacy of all Indigenous people. After the upheaval of Indigenous culture by the European invasion, the Iroquois and many other Indigenous nations, such as the Aztec, Blackfeet, Sioux, Hopis, and others had the same ideas about the return of Indigenous thought.

Remembering Pueblo Dorothy Purley: Warnings of Merchants of Death

Dorothy Purley, Laguna Pueblo

Remembering Pueblo Dorothy Purley: Warnings of Merchants of Death

Before she died from cancer, Dorothy Purley, Laguna Pueblo, wanted the world to know what happened at Laguna and Acoma Pueblos, to her people, because of the uranium mining. She called for a meeting, and a lot of people came. They sat in a circle and decided to call the movement, "Indigenous Alliance without Borders," to show the world that the environmental destruction was targeting all Native Americans, all Indigenous Peoples, crossing all borders. During those years, she told me her story and she took her story to the world. In memory of Dorothy Purley.

Dorothy described how the workers in the mines would bring the radiation home on the dust on their clothes, the dust would coat their food and the crops, and the grass that the sheep and livestock ate. "They usually conducted their blasts during our noontime and evening meals, when our village women would dry their fruits and vegetables during the harvest season. A fine layer of dust would cover our food, but we simply rinsed it off not knowing that it was toxic." The U.S. government knew the radiation would kill them, but never told Native people. This is her story. -- Brenda

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

Before she died of cancer, Dorothy Purley of Laguna Pueblo described driving a uranium truck at the Jackpile Mine. Dorothy said the Pueblo workers were never told what the yellow radioactive dust would do to them. The radioactive dust blew onto their drying meats, and it poisoned the grasses that the animals eat.

Navajos and Hopis Formally Oppose Pumped Storage Proposal Targeting Black Mesa

During the protest last week at the Navajo Nation Council Chambers, Nicole Horseherder, executive director of Tó Nizhóní Ání spoke of the devastating decisions being made by the Navajo government. Photo Dine' CARE.

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Groups formally oppose pumped storage proposal targeting Black Mesa

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona – Tó Nizhóní Ání, Diné Citizens Against Ruining our Environment (Diné CARE), Black Mesa Trust and the Center for Biological Diversity have filed motions to intervene urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny the preliminary permit application for the Chilchinbeto Pumped Storage project southeast of Kayenta on the Navajo Nation

“This wildly unrealistic project would only add to decades of harm from coal mining to Black Mesa’s people, land and aquifers,” said Nicole Horseherder, executive director of Tó Nizhóní Ání. “Asking for federal approval when the application is riddled with incomplete, misleading and infeasible information is the height of arrogance. It tells us all we need to know.”

The proposed Chilchinbeto Pumped Storage project would construct two reservoirs, containing 10,000 acre-feet each of water, one on the rim of Black Mesa and the other 1,500 feet below in the valley. The water to fill the reservoirs would come from either the aquifer deep beneath Black Mesa or the San Juan River, according to the application submitted by the company Nature and People First. After the initial 10,000 acre-feet to fill the reservoirs, the project would require withdrawing an estimated 2,500 acre-feet every year to keep them full.

“Like coal mining before, this proposal would require rural communities to sacrifice more land and water so that electricity and profits can be exported to faraway cities,” said Robyn Jackson, executive director of Diné C.A.R.E. “This isn’t something we want or need, and it’s not a history we’ll tolerate repeating.”

The groups’ motion cites problems relating to industrializing Black Mesa and its groundwater, including impacts to local communities and families, depletion of rivers, groundwater, and springs, and impacts to wildlife and their habitat. It cites the applicants’ failure to consult with the Hopi Tribe, failure to consider water use in the context of regional drying, and their mischaracterization of support from the Navajo Nation’s Resources and Development Committee. It details incomplete, misleading, and infeasible aspects of the proposed project and calls for affected communities to participate in any further study development.

###

Tó Nizhóní Ání, which translates as “Sacred Water Speaks,” is a Diné-led nonprofit organization established in 2001 from the Black Mesa region. Tó Nizhóní Ání is rooted in water protection and works to bring power back to our Diné communities impacted by coal while leading community transition away from fossil fuels. Tó bee iiná. Water is life.

Diné C.A.R.E. is an all-Navajo non-profit environmental justice organization comprised of grassroots community members active on Navajo Nation lands in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Incorporated on Navajo Nation in 1991, Diné C.A.R.E. advocates for Diné traditional teachings by protecting and providing a voice for all life within and beyond the Four Sacred Mountains.

Black Mesa Trust is a Hopi-led non-profit organization that safeguards, preserves, and honors the sacred land, culture, and water of the Hopi People and Mother Earth for future generations.

Contact:
Adrian Herder, Tó Nizhóní Ání adrian@tonizhoniani.org
Robyn Jackson, Diné C.A.R.E. robyn.jackson@dine-care.org 

Vernon Masaysva, Black Mesa Trust  kuuyi@aol.com

The Algorithms of the Gatekeepers -- Testimony at the United Nations

Consejo Indio Exterior's delegate describes the doctrine of genocide in America and Palestine
during testimony at the United Nations. (Screenshot Censored News)

The Algorithms of the Gatekeepers -- Testimony at the United Nations 

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 29, 2026

"History was written and taught by the invader, it is their history," the delegate of Consejo Indio Exterior, told the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous human rights defenders from the Pacific, South Africa and Colombia spoke on protecting Indigenous rights in the oceans, protection from artificial intelligence's surveillance, and upholding Indigenous heritage and identity, during the week long session in Geneva.

"History was written and taught by the invader, it's their history and therefore it's false and inconclusive. That's why it's necessary to work from a different assumption, the word of Indians," said the delegate from Consejo Indio Exterior.

"Keep the Saddle and the Horse," An Armenian Metaphor at the United Nations

'Keep the Saddle and the Horse,' An Armenian Metaphor Shared at the United Nations

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 25, 2026

GENEVA -- Sharing a metaphor of the horse, salt and saddle, the Armenian Association told the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that  Indigenous Peoples are an irreplaceable part of human heritage.

"They are the gatekeepers of languages, knowledge, and ancestral relations with land, which enrich cultural diversity for all of humankind," said the Armenian delegation whose people have survived genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Over the centuries, many peoples have handed down deep but simple knowledge, the delegation said during the week-long session.

Mohawk Nation News 'Optimistic Pessimit Reject Quebec's Advances'

 

OPTIMISTIC PESSIMIT REJECT QUEBEC’S ADVANCES

Posted on July 24, 2026 by Kan1enkehaka

 https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2026/07/24/optimistic-pessimit-reject-quebecs-advances/

MNN. JULY 24, 2026. The Innu of Pessamit Labrador rejected a proposed $2.5 billion agreement with Hydro-Québec and the colonial Quebec government in a July 2026 referendum, with 63% of Innu voters opposing the deal. The Innu of Pessamit have spoken. They are authorizing band council Chief René Simon to not sign the agreement.”

The multi-billion dollar pact was intended to settle longstanding land and legal disputes over historical infrastructure in the Côte-Nord region. “The Innu of Pessamit rejected the more than $2.5 billion agreement with Hydro-Québec and the Quebec government.”, according to CTV News. However, the Innu voted it down because they were suppose to agree to never legally stopping future energy projects on their ancestral territory “The agreement included the payment of more than $2.535 billion to the community over 50 years.”, as reported by CTV News. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Following the vote, Hydro-Québec stated they respect the democratic decision and remain open to further dialogue “The people have said no, and there are other ways to develop energy in Quebec without breaking up Innu land.”, according to The Canadian Press. [1, 2]

Creation made us to live forever. So we partnered with the great spud. Hey Innu of Pessimit, we are proud of what you did. You could set a trend right from the east of onowarekeh turtle island to the west of our land, just like Tom Connors did when he sang about the almighty spud.