Tribute to Hopi imprisoned at Alcatraz

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Censored NewsHopi Prisoners at Alcatraz, January 1895
Back Row (left to right): unidentified; Polingyawma; Heevi'ima; Masatiwa; unidentified. Middle Row: Qötsventiwa; Piphongva; unidentified; Lomahongewma; unidentified; Lomayestiwa; Yukiwma. Front Row: Tuvehoyiwma; unidentified; Patupha; Qötsyawma; unidentified; Sikyakeptiwa; unidentified.

Hopi arrested in Arizona, 1894

#57, Mennonite Library and Archives, Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Hopi gathered at the 'Water is Life' conference in Kykotsmovi, to protect their aquifer and waters from the mining and contamination of Peabody Coal on Black Mesa, on Nov. 6. Censored News remembers the 19 Hopi imprisoned at Alcatraz who refused to allow their children to be indoctrinated in US colonial boarding schools.

"John Martini described the prisoner's cells at Alcatraz as 'tiny wooden cells ... worlds removed from the western desert and plains.' Indeed, a description of Alcatraz in 1902, just seven years after the Hopi prisoners were jailed there, suggests that the cells were in poor condition: 'The old cell blocks were `rotten and unsafe; the sanitary condition very dangerous to health. They are dark and damp, and are fire traps of the most approved (sic) kind.'"
"In a series of letters between H.R. Voth, a Mennonite missionary at Orayvi, and Guruther, the Commanding Officer at Alcatraz, family members at Hopi were extremely worried about the prisoners. There were rumors that some of them had died. In August, Voth wrote to the Guruther that the pictures of the prisoners were 'very much appreciated by relatives and friends/ because rumors had circulated that they were "poorly fed, clothed, worked hard, some had died, etc. were perhaps killed.
"In September, Voth wrote to Lomahongiwma to report on the prisoners' families and the crops. These reports must have caused considerable anguish among the prisoners, especially those who were separated from their families during important ceremonies and planting and harvesting. In addition, two of the prisoners' wives gave birth to children who died while the men were at Alcatraz." -- Hopi Cultural Preservation Office
In Memory of the 19 Hopi who resisted and were imprisoned at Alcatraz:
Aqawsi (Kwaa/Eagle)
Heevi'yma (Kookop/Fire)
Kuywisa (Kookop/Fire)
Lomahongiwma (Kookyangw/Spider)
Lomayawma (Is/Coyote)
Lomayestiwa (Kookyangw/Spider)
Masaatiwa (Kuukuts or Tep/Lizard or Greasewood)
Nasingayniwa (Kwaa/Eagle) Patupha(Kookop/Fire)
Piphongva (Masihonan/Grey Badger)
Polingyawma (Kyar/Parrot)
Qotsventiwa (Aawat/Bow)
Qotsyawma (Paa'is/Water Coyote)
Sikyaheptiwa (Piikyas or Patki/Young Corn or Water)
Talangayniwa (Kookop/Fire)
Talasyawma (Masihonan/Grey Badger)
Tawaletstiwa (Tasaphonan/Navajo Badger)
Tuvehoyiwma (Hon/Bear)
Yukiwma (Kookop/Fire)

'Water is Life' conference at Veterans Memorial Center, Kykotsmovi, Nov. 6:http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/11/hopi-water-forum-water-is-life.html

O'odham resist militarization and contamination

O'odham resist militarization and contamination

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Photo: Ofelia Rivas at the Indigenous Uranium Foum at Acoma Pueblo/Photo by Brenda Norrell

TUCSON - Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, describes how the US Border Patrol and Tohono O'odham police are violating the rights of the O'odham who live along the Arizona/Mexico border. On Censored Blogtalk Radio, Rivas describes the ongoing militarization of her homeland and how O'odham ancestors were dug up during the construction of the US/Mexico border wall by the contractor Boeing.

Rivas, founder of O'odham Voice against the Wall, describes how all federal laws were violated to build the border wall, which became a barrier on an annual O'odham pilgrimage route. Rivas, speaking in an interview at the 7th Southwest Indigenous Uranium Summit, issued an invitation to a fundraiser for the O'odham Solidarity Project on November 13 in Tucson. Ward Churchill will speak, followed by a concert by Resistant Culture.

The uranium forum brought together Indigenous Peoples from the Americas whose lands and water have been poisoned by uranium mining. Now, more Indian territories are targeted for uranium mining in these cancer alleys.

On Tohono O'odham land, copper mining ruptured the earth and contaminated the groundwater and soil of the Tohono O'odham with uranium. As Indigenous Peoples gathered in Acoma Pueblo for the forum, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Cyprus Tohono Corporation agreed to spend $6 million to investigate the contamination, about 30 miles south of Casa Grande, Arizona.

The cleanup is too late for the Tohono O'odham who died from cancer in this cancer cluster. Rivas came to the Indigenous Uranium Forum to learn more about the contamination and cancers left behind by the results of Cyprus mining. Now, Tohono O'odham are now fighting the planned Rosemont copper mine, 30 miles southeast of Tucson, mining that could destroy O'odham sacred places in the Santa Rita mountains and further contaminate the region.

Meanwhile, the Center for Biological Diversity announced that 100,000 letters and e-mails have been sent to the Bureau of Land Management to protect the Grand Canyon from uranium mining. Havasupai are among those fighting the planned uranium mining near their sacred Red Butte, uranium mining that could contaminate the aquifer and water supply of the region's people.

The Center said, "The comments, which were submitted in a public comment period that ended last Friday, voice support for the Interior Department's proposed 20-year ‘mineral withdrawal' that would prohibit new mining claims and the exploration or mining of existing claims without valid existing rights across nearly 1 million acres surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. The withdrawal would extend and strengthen protections set forth in the two-year land segregation announced by the Department on July 20."

Rivas has also been leading efforts to fight a toxic hazardous waste dump in the O'odham ceremonial community Quitovac, south of the border in the state of Sonora. Earlier, the US EPA admitted that US corporations operating factories in Mexico would be allowed to dump their hazardous waste there, instead of returning the waste to the country of origin of the raw materials, the US, as required by law.

Listen to Ofelia Rivas' Interview:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell
Read more at Americas:
Indigenous Uranium Forum denounces mining, militarization and hate crimes in Indian country
By Brenda Norrell/Americas Program
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6547

Read more:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

'Finding D-Q" film screening

"FINDING D-QU: The Lonley Struggle of
California's Only Tribal College"
To our Brothers and Sisters everywhere:
A brand new film documentary about D-Q University will be shown at UC Davis next Monday evening, November 9th. (Please see the file, attached.)
We invite and encourage everyone interested in D-Q University and it's turbulent history to attend this very special event. Mr. Newman will be on hand to introduce his film. Many of the people involved in The People's Ococupation of D-Q University (20005-2009) will be present, also. Signed, Nezhound (Click on image to enlarge)

Hopi Water Forum: 'Water is Life'

Click image to enlarge
A Public Forum On Water & Energy
“Water is Life”
Agenda
November 6, 2009
8:00 a.m. Registration
9:00 a.m. Welcome & Prayer – Alph Secakuku, Sipaulovi Village
President of H.O.P.I
9:00 a.m. Purpose of the Forum: Ben Nuvamsa, Moderator
• Recognition and Honoring of the Late (Former Hopi Tribal Chairman)
Chairman Ferrell Secakuku and the Late
Nat Nutongla (Advocates of the
Preservation of our sacred water)
9:15 a.m. History of Peabody Coal Company Ben Nuvamsa and
on the Black Mesa Mine Vernon Masayesva (former Hopi Tribal
(An Historical Chronicle of Peabody Coal leases Chairman)
from the 1960’s to Present Day and the Role
of Hopi Tribal Attorneys).
10:00 a.m. Presentations by Invited Guest Speakers Moderated by Ben Nuvamsa
11:00 a.m. Collaboration with Hopi and Navajo Tribes; Roger Clark (Executive Director - Grand
Alternative Energy Projects; and Impacts of Canyon Trust)
Black Mesa, Mohave and Desert Rock Power
Plants: Showing of “Power Path” A Documentary
12:00 p.m. Lunch Break
Video: “Burning the Future: Coal in
America” – A documentary on open pit
mining and impacts on the environment”.
1:00 p.m. - Track A: Black Mesa Environmental Impact Sean Gnant (CM Brewer, LLP)
2:00 p.m. Statement (What it is and its long term impacts
on Hopi)
1:00 p.m. - Track B: Life of Mine Permit Vernon Masayesva, Ben Nuvamsa
2:00 p.m. (What it is and what it means to you)
2:00 p.m. - Track C: Black Mesa Lease Reopener Vernon Masayesva & Ben Nuvamsa
2:30 p.m. (What is this and what it means to you)
2:00 p.m. – Track D: Alternative Energy Resources Shannon Francis
2:30 p.m.
2:30 p.m. Environmental, Cultural & Economic Impacts Open Microphone:
of Mining on Black Mesa & Kayenta Mines Testimony Offered by Forum Participants
(effects of pumping on the Navajo Aquifer
on our life ways, our ceremonies, our
economy).
4:00 p.m. Prayer and Adjournment