Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights
Showing posts with label Chili Yazzie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chili Yazzie. Show all posts

June 15, 2018

Apache Stronghold Sacred Journey in Shiprock




Apache Stronghold Sacred Journey Caravan was in Shiprock, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation with Shiprock Chapter President Chili Yazzie on Thursday.


By Steve Pavey
Censored News

Apache Stronghold Sacred Journey Caravan was in Shiprock, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation with Shiprock Chapter President Chili Yazzie on Thursday.
Chili prayed for us and our sacred journey and then provided us with medicine to be prepared for powerful adversaries along the way.
He reminded us that the most important thing we must struggle to protect is the Mother Earth. He said about the importance of our journey — “The body of the earth is our body ... when they hurt and separate the earth, it is separating us.” Our sacred journey seeks to reconnect and heal the earth and all of our connections.

October 21, 2017

Chili Yazzie -- No Justice for Loreal, Murdered by White Cop in Bordertown, Winslow, Arizona


Loreal Tsingine, Dineh mom, murdered in Winslow, Arizona
Chili Yazzie: My statement before the Navajo Human Rights Commission on their hearing on the murder of Loreal in Winslow by a bad white cop.

By Chili Yazzie
Censored News
There is no justice in a 200 lb. police officer tossing a 100 lb. woman around, putting 5 bullets into her and the authorities saying he was right to do what he did. Is it because the guy behind the trigger is white and the person on the ground breathing her last breath is brown?
What is the mentality of this cop, is he a racist, is he deranged, is he a great grandson of Kit Carson, did he just want to do it to see what it felt like and watch a person die or was he truly fearful for his life. What is the degree of a real threat from a small Native woman with a pair of scissors from ten feet away? No matter how one tries to ‘reason’ this, there is no reason, it is the taking of a human life with no justification. It is wrong.
Police officers are trained to stay physically fit, to learn self-defense, take down procedures and techniques on how to defuse potential violent situations; then they have body armor, a baton, a tazer, pepper spray and firearms.
That badge says To Protect and Serve, the understanding being that it is the public who are to be protected and served. For a bad cop who is itching to react with deadly force to a threat whether real or imagined, the motto becomes a case of protect the cop first and above all else. 
The Navajo leadership needs to compel border town law enforcement to review their use of lethal force procedures and require that the ‘shoot to kill’ option be the absolute final recourse. There needs to be consensus on what constitutes a threat, because of the apparent ambiguity, the consequence is the violent terminating of Navajo lives, as in Loreal’s killing and the killing of Clint John in Farmington. The interpretation of a threat seems to be the slightest provocation, which gives a bad cop all the excuse he needs to shoot to kill. These faulty lethal force procedures must be examined and rectified, otherwise the message will be clear that governments condone the unnecessary taking of human life.

New at Censored News

Posted: 20 Oct 2017 04:02 PM PDT
Standing Rock water protectors. Thank you Rob Wilson for sharing your photos. A teacher from New Mexico, and a retired environmental biologist from Rhode Island, will spend time in jail for defending the water at Standing Rock. By Water Protector Legal Collective Censored News Judge Merrick orders jail time for the first two Water Protectors convicted on state misdemeanor charges. Please
Posted: 20 Oct 2017 11:04 AM PDT
Facebook purged photos of racism by students at Sturgis High School Article by Brenda Norrell Censored News Facebook purged the photos of a racist, violent sabotage of a car by Sturgis Brown High School students, priot to a football game with Pine Ridge Lakota high school students. Sturgis High canceled its homecoming activities and forfeited a football game against Pine Ridge ...

September 7, 2017

'Racism and the Indigenous World' by Chili Yazzie, Dineh



Censored News Series on Racism in America
RACISM AND THE INDIGENOUS WORLD
By Duane 'Chili' Yazzie
Censored News
My supposition is that there was not just one creation but four, a black one, a yellow one, a brown/red one and a white one. Accordingly peoples across the planet have their own creation stories. We were all made by the same Creator and in his benevolence he gave us each a distinct way to live, exemplified by the separate uniqueness of our peoples. So long as people lived in accord with their original virtues and principles, there was happiness and peace.
When Columbus came upon the Indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere he wrote the following to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, his benefactors and financiers, “So tractable, so peaceable, are these people, that I swear to your Majesties there is not in the world a better nation. They love their neighbors as themselves and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied with a smile: and though it is true that they are naked, yet their manners are decorous and praiseworthy”. Then he and his successors proceeded to smash the Indigenous world with great deliberateness.
The white race, likewise, would have been given the original gifts of righteousness, humanity, peace and freedom and they probably lived these virtues for many years. So what happened, that a core of them became arrogant, greedy and barbaric? My speculation is that, in the far distant past they were brutishly intruded upon. The vile intruder was none other than Lucifer, the guy who got kicked out of heaven, the guy fell in physical form or spirit form and he had to land somewhere. He fell among the white race and he proceeded to subvert the people, his “host”.
He brainwashed the people to believe that they were superior to all, that the world is theirs and that they had to go out and claim it, regardless of who or what might be in the way. And that they should get filthy rich in the process. The mission was to destroy all that was good and natural in the Creator’s creation. This was Lucifer’s revenge.      
Predominately in world history it has been the white race that has ventured out onto unchartered waters to lay claim to all they found. This mission to conquer new lands, exacting annihilation and seeking fortune was sanctified for centuries by an earthly power, the Pope. The Pope has been regarded as the Ruler of the World, he was/is believed by his followers to be endowed with supreme authority by divine right. As the purported Ruler of the World, various Popes throughout history issued Papal Bulls (proclamations). There are at least three such Papal Bulls that ultimately impacted and permanently devastated the world of the Indigenous Peoples.
On June 18, 1452, Pope Nicolas V issued the Dum Diveras which in essence, declared that all pagans were to be conquered and consigned to perpetual servitude.
On January 05, 1455, the same Nicolas V issued the Romanus Ponifex which authorized European dominion over discovered lands and sanctified the seizure of new lands, it encouraged the enslavement of non-Christian people of the world and to claim all their possessions and covert those possessions to the use and profit of the Europeans.
On May 04, 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued the Inter Caetera which granted to Spain, the ownership of all the lands to the West, the Western Hemisphere.
The purposes of the Romanus Ponifex and the Inter Caetera eventually combined to be what we now know as the Doctrine of Discovery. These Papal Bulls and the Doctrine of Discovery provided the authorization, justification and motivation for the capture and subjugation of the Western Hemisphere; the greatest land fraud and largest holocaust in human history.
The premises of white superiority, white supremacy and white privilege are conceived through the conspiracy and intent of these Papal Bulls. The practice of these whiteness paradigms concludes as racism against people of color. The racism of this core group is ingrained, it is in their DNA by now. Racism is like an addiction, a strong addiction, however, as some alcoholics and drug addicts who kick their habits, a racist could also rise above this sickness. If they have the courage of a sober alcoholic.  
The premise of american capitalism also has its roots in these Papal Bulls. An implicit cause of racism is capitalism. The wellness of mind and spirit of the capitalist is to have money and the purpose of life therefore, is to get more money. The quest for wealth is a powerful force, a greater addiction than racism. A relentless and unquenchable hunger for riches intertwined with racism is a force nearly unstoppable. This is the main thrust of racism that continues to intrude and destroy the Indigenous world. My conclusion is that so long as there is capitalism there will be racism; they both have the same immoral wicked roots.
Copyright Duane Chili Yazzie, Censored News

May 17, 2017

Chili Yazzie 'Mineral Extraction Hurting the Earth Mother'

Dunae Chili Yazzie, Dine' Shiprock, Navajo Nation


Editor:
Stephen Hawking, regarded as one of the greatest modern day scientific thinkers on the realities of earth and space says the human race has only 100 years to find a new planet and to relocate. He suggests that life on this planet will come to an end because of climate change, nuclear war and viral genetic diseases.  So according to Hawking there are only 4 generations left.
Going to a new planet sounds so far-out-there, science fictional and unrealistic, but science and technology say it’s possible. Who will be on the spaceship to the new world? It is not going to be us “regular folks”, if it happens, it will be the billionaires and millionaires.
America as much of the civilized world is hooked on extractive energy development, the addiction is fatal as it is killing the planet. And just like with any addiction, it craves more and more. The physical addiction is further driven by the gluttony to make more money profit. The Navajo Nation as an energy state is also hooked and contributing to the reality of climate change. Our Navajo leadership demonstrate that addiction by frantically looking for ways to keep Navajo Generating Station running and also appearing to be to be in favor of the dastardly business of fracking.
I understand that the current level of extractive energy development around the globe is already beyond the limits of what was considered “safe” in terms of realizing the opportunity for extended life of the earth. And that any new development will only accelerate the end of life of the earth. The advocacy to oppose new development is not to be against the livelihood of people, but to advocate for the extended life of the planet.
From a traditional Native perspective, we have some understanding of the actual physical and spiritual damage that is being done to the earth with massive mineral extraction. We willingly take part in hurting the earth, then we talk about honoring the Earth Mother and how we should walk in beauty on her. Makes me wonder how those who pray with the corn pollen or sit at the sacred fireplace justify their support for hurting the earth….for those that do. The other great contradiction is, we say the future belongs to our grandchildren and generations to come; by participating in killing the earth, we are also killing the future of our children.
Chili Yazzie
Shiprock, Navajo Nation

505.860.4436