Flagstaff: Radioactive Uranium Truck Driver in Medical Distress: Endangerment on the Haul Route

The driver of a radioactive uranium truck, covered only with a tarp, was in medical distress, parked at a restaurant in Flagstaff today before noon. The deadly trucks are transporting uranium ore from the Pinyon Plain uranium mine in the homeland of Havasupai in the Grand Canyon, through Flagstaff and the Navajo and Hopi Nations, to the White Mesa Ute community in Utah. Photo by Shannonlynn Chester, Censored News.

Breaking News

Flagstaff: Radioactive Uranium Truck Driver in Medical Distress: Endangerment on the Haul Route

Article and photos by Shannonlynn Chester, Dine'

Censored News, May 8, 2025

French translation by Christine Prat

There is currently a truck hauling uranium with only a covered tarp parked behind Mary's Cafe in Flagstaff, Arizona on Highway 89.

The truck driver needed an ambulance. When I arrived, I was told he had been parked for a couple of hours already. It's 11:07 am and the truck is still there. This is a scary situation. This poses even further threats to the community in several ways. I've watched hundreds of individuals drive by in the time that I've been here watching this. Unless one is aware what these trucks hauling radioactive material looks like then everyone in this vicinity has unknowingly been put at risk.

The driver staggered back to his truck after being treated at the ambulance.
Screenshot from video by Shannonlynn Chester. 

The driver received EMT services then he staggered back to his truck and he was helped back in with a pat on the back. Even from afar, he does not look well! This is extremely concerning as he will potentially continue traveling north through many communities to White Mesa Mill in Utah.

PLEASE be aware, be vigilant and take extreme caution traveling on Highway 89 from Flagstaff along the haul route.

This isn't safe. There isn't any accountability to us, "the public" at all. What I watched unfold for over an hour and a half is extremely concerning and we should not be allowing this. 

UPDATE by Censored News

The Navajo Nation, law enforcement and the mainstream media downplayed the risks today to Navajos and everyone on the haul route. This comes after Navajo President Buu Nygren cut a secret deal with Energy Fuels for the uranium transport trucks to pass through the Navajo Nation.

Nygren released a statement about the sick truck driver. Nygren said the Navajo Nation EPA coordinated with the Coconino County Sheriff's Office and the Flagstaff Fire Department. The Fire Department conducted radiation scans on the truck and said that the radiation levels at the location were within safe limits.

Three other uranium ore trucks at the designated inspection site were allowed to pass and continue to the White Mesa Mill, Nygren said.

Energy Fuels notified the Navajo Nation EPA at 11:40 a.m. that the fourth truck -- whose driver was sick -- returned back to the Pinyon Plain Mine, Nygren said.

Coconino County Sheriff Bret Axlund said the truck driver had "flu-like symptoms" and refused medical transport from the site. An ambulance was called to the site, just north of Flagstaff, in the area of Hwy 89 and Townsend Winona Road.

Earlier, the Navajo Nation Council said President Nygren entered into a secret deal with Energy Fuels, without the knowledge or consent of the Navajo Council, to allow the uranium ore trucks to pass through the Navajo Nation from the Grand Canyon mine enroute to Utah.

More than 500 uranium mines and scattered radioactive waste remain on the Navajo Nation, which the U.S. never cleaned up after the Cold War, resulting in widespread cancer for Dine'.

An ambulance was called when the driver of this radioactive uranium ore truck became ill on the north side of Flagstaff this morning. Photo by Shannonlynn Chester, Censored News.

This uranium truck was returned to the Pinyon Plain uranium mine in the Grand Canyon after the truck driver became sick and an ambulance was called to the site, on the north side of Flagstaff. The deadly uranium transport route beyond Flagstaff passes through the Navajo and Hopi Nations before arriving at Energy Fuels uranium mill in the White Mesa Ute community in southeastern Utah. Photo today by Shannonlynn Chester.

Energy Fuels uranium transport trucks, covered only with tarps, transport uranium ore from the Pinyon Plain uranium mine in the Grand Canyon to the White Mesa Mill in southeastern Utah. The deadly trucks begin the transport in the homeland of Havasupai in the Grand Canyon, and pass through the City of Flagstaff, and  communities of Hualapai, Paiute, Navajo and Hopi before arriving at Energy Fuels uranium mill in the White Mesa Ute community in southeastern Utah. -- Censored News

#endnuclearcolonialism #nonukes #keepitintheground #cleanupthemines #nomorecancer #haulno #protectsacredsites #defendthesacred

Remembering Klee, For the People, by Shannonlynn Chester

Klee Benally, Dine' Photo Shannonlynn Chester

Remembering Klee, For The People

By Shannonlynn Chester, Censored News, June 13, 2024

French translation by Christine Prat

https://chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=8406

In February, a local publication ran a piece on Klee that said "RAGE. In Beauty". But sometimes the world didn't see him (or any of us associated with him) that way. His way of "raging in beauty" didn't fit into what society saw as normal or peaceful at all, but I'm reminded today that Klee saw beauty in everything. If it didn't exist in something, he did something about it, he spoke the truth on it. He was someone who lived and breathed beauty, love, kinship, respect ... he embodied hózhó -- we should all be like that.

Celebrating Water -- 'Rumble on the Mountain' Powerful Music to Halt Uranium Mining in Grand Canyon

Hopi singer and composer Ryon Polequaptewa, spoke on the sacred cedar which lends itself to make the Hopi flute, and of the sacred space of Hopi, where there is "very little rain, but an abundance of life." Listen to his performance at Rumble on the Mountain. Screenshot by Censored News. Watch  https://www.facebook.com/edkabotie

Songs from the Water

Rumble on the Mountain 10: Native Voices of the Colorado Plateau in opposition to uranium mining in the Grand Canyon

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, February 3, 2024

Translation into French by Christine Prat

https://chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=8346

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona -- In a beautiful tribute, Ed Kabotie, Hopi, performed "The Trail," honoring those who have passed, making their journey among the stars, during the seven-hour Rumble on the Mountain at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday.

Warrior Klee Benally Never Surrendered: A Life of Revolutionary Love, Resounding 'Regain Your Power'

Rally for Palestine, Flagstaff, Arizona. Nov. 2023. Photo courtesy Klee Benally

Warrior Klee Benally Never Surrendered: A Life of Revolutionary Love, Resounding 'Regain Your Power'

The celebration of Klee's life will be on January 6, at 2 p.m., at the Orpheum Theatre in Flagstaff, Arizona.

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, January 2, 2023

Translation into French by Christine Prat

Our hearts are broken by the sudden passing of our friend Klee Benally. Reflecting on Klee's life, we remember the words of Che Guevara that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.

Klee never surrendered, he never surrendered to capitalism, the media, or the forces of conformity that sought to change who he was.

Indian Country Welcomes Apache Stronghold Convoy Headed to Federal Court

.

Apache Stronghold Convoy

Legacies in Film: Zapatistas and Dineh Bennie Klain Inspiring Generations

.

Marcos in Comandantes

Legacies in Film: Zapatistas and Dineh Bennie Klain Inspiring Generations

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

Subcomandante Marcos tells the story of "why we walk, and "why we die to live." Dineh filmmaker Bennie Klain's films exposed racism and gave voice to the survivors of both uranium mining and John Wayne at Monument Valley.

“We have nothing and that is what causes the movement of our resistance,” says Subcomandante Marcos, in “Caminantes." The documentary tells the story of Indigenous people walking to their homes, villages, and fields.

Dine' Medicine Men's Formal Objection to Desecration of Dook’o’oosliid, San Francsico Peaks

DINE’ MEDICINE MEN ASSOCIATION FORMAL STATEMENT OF OBJECTION 
December 4, 2019 
US Forest Service and Arizona Snowbowl Agassiz Chairlift Replacement and Upgrade Proposal

To: Cal Joyner, Regional Forester, 333 Broadway Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM 87102

Responsible Officials: Calvin Joyner, Regional Forester
Laura Jo West, Forest Supervisor Coconino National Forest
Previous Comments: Dine’ Medicine Men Association
provided previous comments on August 30, 2019

We are continually discriminated against by federal agencies as they require us to reply in black and white, with a foreign language that is not our own and does not convey the full depth of our concerns.

Background

The Dine’ Be’ Nanagha’ Yee’ Da’Aho’ta’ (Dine’ Medicine Men Association, Inc.) is an established non-profit organization incorporated with the Navajo Nation since the early 1970s. We are an established and recognized organization of the Navajo Nation, we neither function with remuneration, nor as an established operation with specific sites. We are a membership of traditional apologists, spiritual Dine’ hataalii (healers), prophets, cultural educators, wisdom keepers, medicine people, elders and traditionalists who have come together willingly to maintain, protect and promote the Dine’ way of life, intellectual knowledge, right to self- determination and the fundamental right to worship the Great Spirit according to our sacred (holy) protocols.

Flagstaff Action -- Sheriff Criminalizing Migrant Families -- Sept. 18, 2018

.

Community Responds to Driscoll’s

Criminalization and Separation of Migrant Families

Sheriff Driscoll continues to cooperate with ICE by choice, after lawsuit determines no obligation

What: Day of Action to Expose Sheriff Driscoll, Donald Trump, and Jeff Sessions’s Criminalization Tactics toward Migrant Communities
Who: Repeal Coalition, Flagstaff Community Coalition, Migrant Communities and Allies

When:  Tuesday, September 18, 2018; 5:00PM - 7:00 PM

Where:  City Hall Lawn, Flagstaff, Arizona

Flagstaff, Arizona --  Images of children in prisons at the border and stories of family separation by ICE and Border Patrol agents have become nationwide news in recent months. However, these cases of injustice are not isolated to only the border region; they happen within the city limits of Flagstaff, Arizona. Family separation occurs when our Coconino County Sheriff, Jim Driscoll, collaborates with ICE officials. Even though a recent court ruling declared that Driscoll has no obligation to work with ICE, he is actively choosing to partake in separating immigrant families in our community. Driscoll has a choice, and he is choosing to stand on the side of racist policies and racial profiling. We demand that Driscoll stop facilitating the deportation of Flagstaff community members, and that our city and county officials adopt policies and practices that keep families free and together. We call upon these officials to provide transparency regarding their relationships with ICE and the deportation process, and to open avenues for the public to help create policies that do not racially profile, separate families, or require immigrants to endure a double-punishment system. Every person has the right to live, love and work freely wherever they please.

#ICEoutofflagstaff #ICEfueradeflagstaff #Driscollhasachoice #abolishICEAZ

Join us Tuesday, September 18th at 5:00 p.m. at Flagstaff City Hall as the community rallies to demand the end to Sheriff Driscoll’s cooperation with ICE and FPD’s complicity with ICE, and demand that our City Council and County officials protect our community.

###

www.facebook.com/RepealCoalitionAZ

Repeal Coalition is a community collective that firmly believes every human being

deserves a right to live, love and work wherever and whomever they please.
Our work is done with, not for, the communities directly affected by unjust policies.

https://www.facebook.com/FlagstaffFreedomCity

Flagstaff Community Coalition is a coalition of community members from 

various organizations and communities in Northern Arizona working to cultivate 

an intersectional freedom city/sanctuary city movement in Flagstaff.

---

Frankie Beesley

Field Organizer, Puente Arizona 

Organizer, Repeal Coalition Arizona 

franks.beesley1104@gmail.com

Navajo President: "Basketball team's culture attacked in hair takedown"

PRESIDENT BEGAYE SAID STUDENTS SHOULDN'T BE PUNISHED FOR EXPRESSING PRIDE IN THEIR CULTURE

By Navajo President Russell Begaye
Censored News
French translation by Christine Prat at http://www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=3217

FLAGSTAFF-Members of the Flagstaff Lady Eagles basketball team were asked to take their hair down from their traditional tsiiyeeł before a game on Tuesday night at the Flagstaff High School gymnasium.

The Lady Eagles were participating in Native American culture night which was planned by the Lady Eagles Basketball Booster Club and coincided with their game against the Greenway Demons.

The referee who called for the girls to take their hair down cited the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) rulebook regarding 'hair control devices'. The referee questioned whether the hair ties posed concern as a safety hazard. He then called for the girls to take their hair down.

President Russell Begaye said that Navajo people are very enthusiastic in supporting high school sports as many have children who participate. They come from near and far to watch their team's plight, he said.

"I watch quite a number of sporting events including both boys and girls basketball. At many of the games, you'll find girls teams wearing ribbons to support a cause or to show team pride. Our Navajo athletes should never be punished for expressing pride in their culture or who they are."

The President went on to say that referees who officiate games involving Navajo teams should undergo cultural sensitivity education.

"In fact all non-Navajos that are refereeing games in Northern Arizona should be required to take sensitivity training so that this type of blatant discrimination does not happen on the Navajo Nation to our tribal students. This includes border towns."

Flagstaff High School Principal Tony Cullen said he contacted the Regional Director at AIA to dispute the interpretation of the ruling.

"The interpretation of this rule was way off. When I found out about it, I was fuming," he said. "I remember watching the Page High School girls play at the state championships with their hair tied up traditionally."

President Begaye encourages students to continue to have pride in their culture and said that officiating against expressions of cultural pride in a scholastic setting is fundamentally wrong and discriminatory.

President Begaye said he will file a letter of protest addressing this matter with the AIA.

###

Arizona Snowbowl protest photos: Today at DEW event

News as it happens from Censored News: Protest of Arizona Snowbowl, sewage water snow on sacred San Francisco Peaks, at today's DEW event in Flagstaff, Arizona. Thank you to Dawn Dyer for sharing photos with Censored News!
French translation by Christine Prat

Read more: Flagstaff police harass activists before Dew event:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2014/02/flagstaff-police-harass-activists.html

Peaks Tree Sit Rally and March, Tues., Aug. 21, 2012

Photo by Dawn Dyer/Thank you from Censored News!

Tree-sit Halts Snowbowl Pipeline Construction

Rally and March from City Hall to be Held

Video Interview with James Kennedy: http://youtu.be/I2XMtLiX1pk

ALERT TUESDAY
Protesters locked to tree arrested, tree sitter remains
‎10:41am - TREE-SIT UPDATE: SUPPORT NEEDED. James' (tree-sitter) life in danger! They are trying to move his anchors which are his life lines.
‎10:00 AM - TREE-SIT UPDATE: Cops, detectives, fire department arrived.
8:30 am: Two people have locked down to protect tree sitter!
7:30 am: Machinery cutters arrived to cut out tree sitter.
Support needed!
WHAT: Rally and March from City Hall to Tree-sit to address environmental & public health threats
WHEN & WHERE: Meet at City Hall at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, August 21, 2012, and then walk to Thorpe Park to rally, drum, sing, and express support for the tree-sitter defending public health and the Peaks at 6:30 PM.
WHO: Concerned community members, tree-sitter James Kennedy and ground support crew.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz -- On the morning of Monday August 20th, 2012 a tree-sit was established to protect our community and our children from the City of Flagstaff’s sanctioning and use of hazardous treated sewage, which contains antibiotic resistant genes, in our public spaces. The ropes securing the tree-sit stretch across the projected path of the City of Flagstaff’s and Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort's treated sewage effluent pipeline, currently under construction on Mars Hill near Thorpe Park.


James Kennedy Peaks tree sitting
Photo Protect the Peaks

NAU student and Flagstaff community member James Kennedy climbed into a large ponderosa pine tree early in the morning securing himself to pipeline trench digging equipment with a "lifeline" that, if moved, would threaten his life.

"Today was nothing short of amazing, I think we have sent a clear message on the urgency of protecting our communities and environment," stated James. "I am not sure how a city that sells millions of gallons of water to corporate interests will respond, but with so much recent research indicating the dangers of contact with wastewater, i am optimistic. I will be here until I see tangible results to the listed demands, however long it takes until this rigging is unsafe to use." James said.



Photo by Dawn Dyer

According to the Arizona Daily Sun Lt. Lance Roberts, of Flagstaff Police Department stated, “We’re not going to go up there and get him at this time… We’re just going to let them do their thing and hopefully it won’t rain today.”

At approximately 3:00 PM five Fire Department officials arrived on the site. They carelessly ignored ground supporters who cautioned them not to touch a "lifeline" that connects the tree-sitter to a large machine used for digging pipeline trench.

Tree-sitter and ground crew need the continuous presence of supporters throughout the day and night to bare witness and ensure the safety of this peaceful act of resistance. People are welcome all day, please visit www.ProtectThePeaks.org for directions and for more ways to support.

We invite those of you who believe in the safety and health of our children, the sanctity of our environment, and the protection of public water to demand that:

- The City of Flagstaff rescind the wastewater contract with Snowbowl!
- An immediate moratorium on the City of Flagstaff's use of treated sewage effluent in public spaces where any person may come in contact with reclaimed wastewater, until new research and technology is available to mitigate long-term environmental & community health risks.
-The use of public water in this desert climate of Flagstaff with only a projected 25-38 years of water left for people’s consumption, should be cleaned and used for people to drink, not for a private corporation to make a profit.
-President Obama fulfill campaign promises to protect human rights and sacred sites.

City of Flagstaff Mayor and Council:
PHONE: (928) 779-7600
EMAIL: council@flagstaffaz.gov

Peaks Contact:
Contact: Ariana Sauer (602) 388-3726
Xander Vautrin@ (847) 334-7212
protectpeaks@gmail.com
www.protectthepeaks.org

Tree Sit Halts Snowbowl Pipeline Construction

Tree-Sit Halts Pipeline Construction

Protester Demands Clean Water and Clean Snow

Contact: Ariana Sauer

Xander Vautrin

protectpeaks@gmail.com

Directions to tree sit below

THURSDAY: Tree Sitter makes emergency descent due to lightning
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/08/peaks-tree-sitter-makes-emergency.html

This morning we erected a tree-sit to protect our community and our children from the City of Flagstaff’s sanctioning and use of hazardous treated sewage, which contains antibiotic resistant genes, in our public spaces. The ropes securing this tree-sit stretch across the projected path of the City of Flagstaff’s and Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort's treated sewage effluent pipeline, currently under construction on Mars Hill near Thorpe Park.

After years of construction delays, court challenges, and resistance from community members, a 14-mile sewage pipeline that Snowbowl would like to see carrying millions of gallons of treated sewage effluent yearly from the City of Flagstaff to Snowbowl is near completion. Snowmaking is scheduled to begin at the end of November, when a combination of pharmaceutical, industrial, commercial, and household discharge will be sprayed from snow machines onto the San Francisco Peaks.

“If they choose to continue construction, they must publicly account for my life among the diversity of human and non-human beings their ecocide threatens.”said James Kennedy, the NAU student who currently sits atop the more than 75ft tall ponderosa pine tree. “For the purity of our water, for the safety of our community, and for the health of a fragile alpine ecosystem, we must halt this pipeline!”

Xander Vautrin, an on the ground supporter of the tree-sit believes “The City of Flagstaff, the Forest Service, and the Snowbowl Corporation are recklessly disregarding the safety of the greater public, of wildlife, our water and our environment by refusing to consider the long-term impact of exposure to wastewater. “


Recently published research conducted on treated sewage effluent in Flagstaff has found antibiotic resistant bacteria after completion of the treatment process. Though reduced by treatment, the bacteria “dramatically rebounded at the point of use.”¹This pipeline constitutes an urgent public health risk, as antibiotic resistance renders modern drugs ineffective against dangerous bacterial infections. This threatens the life of those in our community already at risk: the elderly, the sick, and the very young.

Additional research recently published in the Flagstaff Noise demonstrated a clear danger to plant life irrigated with wastewater, illustrating a serious threat to Groundsel, an endangered plant found only on the San Francisco Peaks.

“All water is connected. It is illogical and dangerous to believe that the effects of antibiotics, contraceptive hormones, industrial contaminants, and microbial pathogens —all found in Flagstaff’s treated sewage effluent—will be limited to a few runs on Snowbowl or to the Lowell Observatory grounds,” stated Derek Minnobloom another on-the-ground supporter of the tree-sit.

“Our public officials have failed all of us - not only to ensure our public safety, a clean healthy future for our water and our children - but also to protect the rights of indigenous peoples whose land we’re on,” stated Ariana Sauer, a volunteer with ProtectThePeaks.org and a tree-sit supporter. “This action is in solidarity with the thirteen indigenous nations who hold this mountain sacred.”

We invite those of you who believe in the safety and health of our children, the sanctity of our environment, and the protection of public water to demand that:

- The City of Flagstaff rescind the wastewater contract with Snowbowl!

- An immediate moratorium on the City of Flagstaff's use of treated sewage effluent in public spaces where any person may come in contact with reclaimed wastewater, until new research and technology is available to mitigate long-term environmental & community health risks.

-The use of public water in this desert climate of Flagstaff with only a projected 25-38 years of water left for people’s consumption, should be cleaned and used for people to drink, not for a private corporation to make a profit.

-President Obama fulfill campaign promises to protect human rights and sacred sites.

—Protect People - Clean Water, Clean Snow! –

 Note to Editor and Reporter:

Interview with James Kennedy, NAU student and tree-sitter, available upon request.

High resolution video and photos available
DIRECTIONS TO TREE-SIT have arrived!:

Come show your support! Bring signs, banners, and friends! The tree sit is located just off of Mars Hill Road, on the way to Lowell Observatory. From Thorpe Park, walk up Mars Hill Road approximately 1000 feet to a dirt shoulder on your right, at the beginning of the first horseshoe curve, where boulders block access to a dirt road. Follow the dirt road 300 feet north to large (incapacitated) machinery.

IF police are present, best bet is to stay off roads, within park boundary--i.e. out of Lowell Scientific Preserve private property. Walk in trees to right of Mars Hill Rd til you come to dirt road, then follow to your right, staying on the park side of the fence.

Hunger Strike for San Francisco Peaks Protection

Destruction of San Francisco
Peaks/Photo John Running/
Indienous Action Media

Flagstaff community members begin Hunger Strike for Protection of the San Francisco Peaks

Also: Resistance Trial for Klee Benally on June 12, 2012

By Joseph Sanders
Jessica Beasley
Posted at Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/06/hunger-strike-for-san-francisco-peaks.html
FRENCH TRANSLATION:

http://www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=769

http://www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=763

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Two young Flagstaffians announced the beginning of a hunger strike to call attention to human rights violations sanctioned by the US Forest Service and perpetrated by Arizona Snowbowl and the City of Flagstaff on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at a Flagstaff City Council meeting.  The announcement was made to current council members and mayor as well as incoming council members.
 
“We will begin our hunger strike today and continue until we have justice,” stated Jessica Beasley. “We are calling for community members to join us in our struggle for freedom and equality. We will be attending Flagstaff City Council meetings and encourage others to attend as well, until our voices are meaningfully heard.  We hope that other concerned individuals will also join us on the lawn at Flagstaff City Hall to publicly protest the aforementioned human rights violations.”
 
The hunger strikers are also urging everyone who cares about the desecration and destruction of the San Francisco Peaks to call or write Flagstaff City Officials and the US Forest Service to make their complaints known.
 
The statement read at the city council meeting is presented below in its entirety:
 
Until Snowbowl and the City of Flagstaff put the red-hot iron into our sides we were normal people leading normal lives.  The aforementioned parties either do not know, or do not care how much misery, strife and terror they are causing for a significant portion of the community.
As there has been a massive, decades-long outpouring of opposition, from a remarkably diverse cross-section of the community, to the expansion of Snowbowl and their plans to make artificial snow, it seems absurd that the aforementioned parties could actually be unaware of the devastating effects their decisions have had on certain members of our community’s ability to pursue life, liberty and happiness.  This is what causes us to believe that they do not care.
There are signs on the side of the roads as you enter Flagstaff stating, “We are building an inclusive community."
There are signs downtown urging us to use every drop of water “wisely”. There is nothing “wise” about using our already perilously limited water supply to pollute a pristine ecosystem in honor of lining Eric Borowsky’spockets.
There is nothing inclusive about defiling a place held sacred by the indigenous peoples of this area to make more room for a European leisure activity.  The cultural callousness of Snowbowl’s plans,and your allowance of their continuation is appalling.  We believe this to be a dereliction of your responsibility to serve the community as a whole.
We are sick and tired of elected officials the world over acting as though profiteering psychopaths like Eric Borowsky have some sovereign right to destroy what others cherish; to terrorize others simply because they control vast amounts of money and desire more.  There is no question in our minds about whether or not those who hoard money should be allowed to dominate the culture of a place or people.  We are fighting for equality and freedom.  Eric Borowskyis fighting against us.  What does this tell you about Eric Borowsky?
In closing, we are here to announce the beginning of a hunger strike for the San Francisco Peaks, the cessation of which is dependent upon the appeasement of three requests:
1.    The cancellation of the wastewater contract withSnowbowl.
2.    Snowbowl’s removal of the pipeline and remediation of areas damaged by their expansion.
3.    The creation of an agreement with the city of Flagstaff that there will be no further destruction of the San Francisco Peaks by Arizona Snowbowl, or any others.
Contact:
Joseph Sanders
jsanders4477@yahoo.com
Jessica Beasley
jrbeasley23@yahoo.com
Resistance: Trial for Klee Benally on June 12, 2012
Ya'at'eeh,
Trial has been set for Klee Benally's case in resistance to Forest Service sanctioned desecration of Holy San Francisco Peaks.

A bench trial will be held on June 12, 2012 at 3:30pm at Flagstaff Justice Court (located at the corner of Birch & San Francisco St.).
Please help us pack the courtroom!
This trial will be addressing charges from the August 13, 2011 action. Read more here: http://www.indigenousaction.org/direct-action-to-protect-holy-peaks-continues/
Additionally, you can contribute funds to support actions to protect the Holy San Francisco Peaks at www.indigenousaction.org.
Visit: www.truesnow.org or www.indigenousaction.org for more info.
Protect the Peaks! The Struggle Continues!
--
Klee Benally
indigenousaction@gmail.com | www.twitter.com/eelk
www.indigenousaction.org - Independent Indigenous Media
New: www.etsy.com/shop/Benally
Check out my jewelry and other items for sale on Etsy!
www.oybm.org - Indigenous Youth Empowerment!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2F85d7iGX8
www.taalahooghan.org - Flagstaff Infoshop

Marchers declare state of human rights emergency in Arizona

Marchers declare state of human rights emergency in Arizona

Please read this Peaks update as well: Stop Snowbowl: Upcoming Flagstaff Elections, Know Where They Stand (http://indigenousresistance.org/stop-snowbowl-upcoming-flagstaff-elections-know-where-they-stand/)

By Klee Benally

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photos by Ethan Sing and Shelby Ray

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- More than 300 people including dozens of organizations rallied in Wheeler Park, then marched through the streets of downtown Flagstaff, Arizona in response to escalating human rights violations.

"Arizona is in a state of human rights emergency," stated Eli Isaacs, a volunteer with the Repeal Coalition and an organizer of the march. "We may come from different parts of this community and face different issues, but this racist state and greedy corporations can only push us so far. With our backs against the wall, its easy to see the same forces are oppressing us all, its natural to find unity against common oppressors."

Community members and students addressed reproductive justice, hetero-sexism, cultural survival, racism, sexism, ageism, police brutality and racial profiling. The gathering spoke out against racist laws such as SB1070 and HB2281, and John McCain and John Kyl's water settlement. They urged protection of the San Francisco Peaks and all other sacred places. They agreed to be in solidarity and to support one another in the struggle for human rights.

Luis Fernandez, from Arizona ALCU, asked the crowd what human rights were. Voices rang out, crying "Access to shelter, enough food, safe birth control, freedom to worship as you please" and more.

In August 2011, The Havasupai Tribe, Klee Benally, a Dine’ (Navajo) activist, and the International Indian Treaty Council, filed an Urgent Action / Early Warning Complaint with the United Nations (UN) CERD Committee, on the desecration of Sacred San Francisco Peaks, Arizona. The complaint addressed Arizona Snowbowl’s clear-cutting of 40 acres of pristine forest and the laying of over 5 miles of a waste water pipeline in furtherance of a US Forest Service and City of Flagstaff supported project to spray artificial snow made of waste water effluent on the Holy San Francisco Peaks.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, known internationally as the CERD Committee is charged with monitoring compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

“The Forest Service, the City of Flagstaff, and the courts have proven that they do not understand or respect our spiritual ceremonies and practices and our spiritual relationship to the Earth,” said Klee Benally, arrested multiple times while demonstrating to protect the Holy Peaks. “We have no guaranteed protection for our religious freedom as Indigenous Peoples in the US. The desecration of this Holy site is an attack on our cultural survival.”

Steve Kugler, an advocate for the homeless, stated, "During 2007’s winter solstice, a Homeless Memorial Day Service was conducted on city hall lawn. Twelve names of the city’s unsheltered people that died from exposure during the winter were read.

Unknown to the public, twelve more people had died. These twelve were not acknowledged by city officials, nor were they mentioned in Flagstaff’s media. I feel that the officials did this, because the unreported twelve people were not substance abusers, they are a blight to Flagstaff’s service industry.

My take is that Flagstaff has 2,500 all season, homeless, people who do not have a voice. Thirty percent of the 2,500 homeless are students. Let me be their voice. Flagstaff’s city’s officials were elected by the people to be a proxy voice for the people. Do Flagstaff’s citizens have justice when its elected officials feel that they are above the law, adhere to their own agendas and are not accountable to the people that elected them to office?"

Ofelia Rivas from O'odham Voice Against the Wall, talked about resisting border militarization and how she just testified before a UN special rapporteur in Tucson, Ariz. "The rights of mother earth is what we need to protect today to survive as human beings." stated Rivas.

Paloma Allen, O'odham, who has been working to stop loop 202 from desecrating the sacred South Mountain in Phoenix stated, "Indigenous rights and indigenous identity don't mean anything to this state, that's why we have to be vocal."

Lola, a youth member of a new Flagstaff based group called B.L.A.S.T. spoke passionately about how she has been impacted by Arizona's immigration laws, "This has affected me by my family getting deported, I cannot see them any more because they are on the other side of the border. It just hurts me inside to have them leave and just wake up one day and they're not there. What if that was your family getting deported, what if that was your mother getting put in jail? That is not good, that's not a way we as humans should be treated. We all have rights we all should be treated equal, so I do not understand why they are trying to take away our families."

Raquel, a former member of Tucson based U.N.I.D.O.S., the youth organization that occupied Tucson Unified School District's (TUSD) school board meeting last year, stated, "It's very clear the path that this state lays for youth of color.

It's very clear from the militarization of schools, from the militarization of neighborhoods, from the militarization of the border itself on O'odham lands. The reason that ethnic studies is under attack is because these classes represent a rupture in the plan that Arizona had for youth of color. The TUSD fears resistance so much that every parent or teacher has to go through metal detectors."

Claire Bergstresser, an NAU student and member of Immigration Action Research Team, directly addressed SB1070 and HB2281. Bergstresser quoted HB 2281 as "prohibiting ethnic solidarity" and responded to it by expressing, "I could not understand why our government had mixed politics with education, why students were being limited education on ethnic studies, the things that they can connect with, understand, and love." Bergstresser addressed the crowd, "Your voice and your passions hold no borders and will be heard. At the end of the day, it is not the loudest voices that are remembered but the ones with the passion and courage to listen, express and act in the name of something bigger than yourself. We will march today for our passions, we will march today in the name of human rights, but also we will march today to have our voices heard."

.