Conspiracy of Silence: O'odham say border wall is genocide

Conspiracy of Silence: O'odham say border wall is genocide

By Brenda Norrell
Narcosphere
Posted on Sun Nov 25th, 2007 at 01:34:17 PM EST

The grassroots organization O'odham Voice Against the Wall has denounced the ongoing genocide of the O'odham people in the United States and Mexico, where the border wall and development has resulted in the digging up of graves and the final resting places of their ancestors.
A delegation of Mohawks, Oneida, Lakota and Acoma Pueblo recently voiced their sadness and outrage over the border wall under construction on Tohono O'odham lands in Arizona and the "cage" where migrants are imprisoned.
Further, the Mohawk delegation was horrified to watch the US Border Patrol arrest Mayans in front on them, as they tried to intervene, and also to learn of the hundreds of Indigenous Peoples dying on Tohono O'odham land and the nearby desert each year for want of a drink of water.
The delegation also learned that the graves of the O'odham ancestors were recently dug up for the border wall under construction by contractor Boeing. The Tohono O'odham Nation government has declined to release a public statement regarding the ancestors' remains being dug up and removed in 2007 for the border wall.
After the Mohawks' comments were released, a few Tohono O'odham Nation government officials objected and defended the border wall and their policies, which criminalizes aid to migrants.
However, the O'odham Voice Against the Wall said the true way of life of the O'odham, the Him'dag which honors humanity, is at stake, while the government officials work in collusion with Homeland Security.
O'odham Voice Against the Wall statement:
"America is built on the blood of the original peoples of these lands and stolen lands of the original people, now our own people only speak in a foreign mindset. This is your American dream of depriving your own people of PEACE and justice when they are abusing the elders right in your face and degrading your women and children of dignity. Let's set these things right, politicians are not equal or have more authority then the traditional peoples of the land that uphold the true Him'dag. I have yet to see any politicians sit at our table and bring genuine concern and solutions to this outright land takeover buy the federal government. Soon we will be running around with a cut head when we totally lose all rights to our traditional lands, they will bulldoze over your graves to build their headquarters just as they did in Sonoyta, Mexico. Did the O'odham leaders protect those grave sites, no they didn't. Maria cried until last year when she died, she cried about having no grave to visit, her mother's grave that went under the blades. The WALL is not the solution, yes some families are hurting from their drug smuggling businesses but what about our way of life. The government has created this and planned on this don't you get it. It is called Genocide...and it is here in your face."


(Photos: Homeland Security and Border Patrol's migrant "cage" on Tohono O'odham land near San Miguel, Arizona/Photo Ofelia Rivas; Photo 2: Border wall under construction on Tohono O'odham land near San Miguel, Arizona/Photo Indigenous Delegation.

Berkeley Musuem: Police respond with riot gear to NAGPRA pressure

BERKELEY -- "We came out to pray and offer medicine," said Morning Star Gali ofthe Pit River Tribe and part of the Native American NAGPRA Coalition."The cops responded with riot gear and violence. This exhibits the ongoing Human Rights abuses committed by the University (University California Berkeley).
They refuse to comply with NAGPRA by holding 13,000 of our ancestors remains and now they assault us while we pray at our burial grounds."
Could the Native Community Lobby Congress to pass an amendment to NAGPRA that would state that any institution receiving federal funds has to be compliant with NAGPRA or federal funding will be cut until NAGPRA compliance is achieved? Compliance would be determined by a coalition of Tribal Leaders from across Indian Country. The gaming Tribes could also refuse to fund state and local governments until NAGPRA compliance is achieved. We have a responsibility to our relatives to bring them home.
Ezra McCampbell

Border Wall Genocide: O'odham graves go under the blades

O'odham Voice Against the Wall responds to reader comments posted on article, Mohawks Inflamed Over Tohono O'odham Tribal Council Complicity In 'Border' Oppression Of Indigenous People - U.S. welcomes rich and kills the poor, at Atlantic Free Press:

O'odham VOICE Against the WALL

America is built on the blood of the original peoples of these lands and stolen lands of the original people, now our own people only speak in a foreign mindset. This is your American dream of depriving your own people of PEACE and justice when they are abusing the elders right in your face and degrading your women and children of dignity. Let's set these things right, politicians are not equal or have more authority then the traditional peoples of the land that uphold the true Him'dag. I have yet to see any politicians sit at our table and bring genuine concern and solutions to this outright land takeover buy the federal government. Soon we will be running around with a cut head when the we totally loose all rights to our traditional lands, they will bulldoze over your graves to build their headquarters just as they did in Sonoyta, Mexico. Did the O'odham leaders protect those grave sites, no they didn't. Maria cried until last year when she died, she cried about having no grave to visit, her mother's grave that when under the blades. The WALL is not the solution, yes some families are hurting from their drug smuggling businesses but what about our way of life. The government has created this and planned on this don't you get it. It's called Genocide...and it's here in your face.

(Photo: Border wall under construction on Tohono O'odham land in November 2007)

Original article with comments:

http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/2841/81/

Alcatraz Sunrise, honoring the warriors

By Brenda Norrell
Human Rights Editor
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report

SAN FRANCISCO -- With the prayers, blessings and dances of the Shingle Springs Rancheria Miwok, Pomo, Pitt River and Calpullies, the Alcatraz Sunrise Gathering began, after 3,500 people crossed on boats to Alcatraz Island before first light.
With the scent of sage filling the dawn air, the Ohlone People were honored for their long struggle to recover their traditional homelands here and the Pitt River people for their ongoing efforts to protect the sacred water and land in what is now called northern California.
With a roaring fire in the center, the prayers began at first light. Anna Marie Sayers of the Ohlone people was among the Native women honored.
Radley Davis, Pitt River Nation, asked those gathered to greet the rising sun. "Wherever you are at, turn around and greet the sun. It is still coming, when you see it, say 'hello.'
"Remember each of you is spirit," Davis said. "Our Creator is a caring Creator, we are all special."
Davis urged everyone gathered to discover who they are and the reason that they have been brought into life, remembering that life is sacred and all is spirit.
"When you see the sun, wash your body, your spirit, wash your life." Davis said, "Ask the Great Maker to help you find out about your life."
The Shellmound walkers, who have been offering prayers at the Shellmounds, asked that others join them in prayer for the ancestors and all Indigenous Peoples. While pointing out the recent oil spill here, they asked to remember the winged-ones, four legged and fishes hurt by the spill. They asked for the cleansing of the San Francisco Bay, while celebrating the survival of Native people.
Bill Means, cofounder of the International Indian Treaty Council, said the gathering on Thursday, Nov. 22, is a continuum in the legacy of the people.
"We consider it relighting the fire of Indian survival, Indian resistance here in this hemisphere. To remind people that first of all, John Wayne didn't kill us all. That we're still alive, distinct cultures that are thriving here in America."
Means said the people came today to remember the Hopi imprisoned here at Alcatraz who refused to cut their hair, send their children to US government boarding school or become colonized as US citizens. Nineteen Hopi men from Oraibi returned home to their village in September, 1895, after spending nearly a year imprisoned on Alcatraz Island.
"They brought them here to break their resistance," Means said.
"The only good Indian was a dead Indian."
Means pointed out that the first so-called Thanksgiving was a celebration of the murder of the Mashantucket Pequots who greeted the Europeans who came to this land. Now, however, the people can look for inspiration to Indian people like Richard Oakes, among the leaders of the occupation of Alcatraz.
Oakes, Mohawk, brought this message: "Enough is enough!" Means said there is also inspiration in the new leaders of governments in South America, including Bolivia's Evo Morales and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
Means, master of ceremonies at the Indigenous Peoples' Border Summit of the Americas in San Xavier District of the Tohono O'odham Nation in November, also remembered the Indigenous Peoples walking and dying at the border of the United States and Mexico.
"All they want is a drink of water," he said of those walking and dying of dehydration.
Means also remembered Floyd Red Crow Westerman, hospitalized with serious health problems. Means asked that Westerman be remembered in prayers. He said if it is time for Westerman to make the journey, pray for that. But if the Creator wants to leave him here a little longer, Means said that would be good for the people and the struggles that Westerman has spent his life fighting for.
Darrell Standing Elk joined others to lead the AIM Song for Westerman.
Janice Gardipe, Paiute-Shoshone, said there is a great struggle underway to protect Indian homelands from the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Western Shoshone territory.
"Where are our warriors," Gardipe asked, urging American Indians to come and support the struggle to protect the sacred lands.
Munyiga Lumumba, organizer for the All American Peoples' Revolutionary Party, urged those gathered to reject whatever the capitalist US government and media is telling them. Lumumba urged the crowd to take down the imperialism, including Israel's action to destroy Palestine. On the issue of Iran and nuclear weapons, he said America has no right, and certainly no moral ground to stand on, to tell the governments of the world what to do.
"The enemy doesn't lie some of the time, the enemy lies all of the time."
Joining organizer Jimbo Simmons of the International Indian Treaty Council, Tony Gonzales said it was reassuring to know that future generations of Indian people will be assured because of the actions here in the occupation of Alcatraz Island, which began in 1969.
Bringing to a conclusion the ceremony, on the day when others in America celebrate the Thanksgiving of colonizers, Arigon Starr, Kickapoo from Oklahoma, sang the lyrics, "This is Indian land forever," followed by, "We will take the Rock."
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Photo: Native women Cecilia Silvas and Morning Star Gali, lead the procession after the ceremony. Photo Brenda Norrell