Mike Wilson, Tohono O'odham, responds to threat of poisoned water

Poisoned water threat comes as more migrants die of dehydration on Tohono O'odham land

By Brenda Norrell
© Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photo: Mike Wilson with humanitarian water tanks on Tohono O'odham Nation. Photo by Brenda Norrell.

ARIZONA -- Mike Wilson, Tohono O'odham who puts out water for migrants on Tohono O'odham land as humanitarian aid, responded to an e-mail threat of poisoned water.

The anonymous e-mail said, "F you. I hope some real Americans will step up and put poison in the water. I hope you are the first to drink."

The e-mail threat, on Aug. 29, was sent in response to the article, "Tohono O'odham Nation surrendered its will to the Border Patrol." http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/03/mike-wilson-tohono-oodham-nation.html

Wilson said, "I'm not surprised by the threat, it is certainly expected and no one is immune. Humane Borders has received these threats for the last ten years, including the writing of 'veneno' (poison) on the sides of its water barrels in the desert.

"The subject government of the Tohono O'odham Nation, its elected leaders and its Imperial master, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, continue to deny and denigrate hundreds of migrant deaths in Indian Country. The B.I.A. is complicit in the decade long (2000-2010) humanitarian crisis on O'odham land. Continuing a legacy of selective neglect of American Indians, the B.I.A. feigns ignorance and silence when it comes to Latino and Indigenous People dying by hyperthermia and dehydration on the Tohono O'odham Reservation.

"This calculated silence by the B.I.A. in Washington, D.C. and in Sells (capital of the Tohono O'odham Nation) is an attempt to inoculate itself against the charge of willful complicity and to wash migrant blood from its hands.

"According to the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office, of 58 migrant deaths in the month of July, 44 were on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. This B.I.A. policy of silence is a self-fulfilling prophesy in the making, in that it achieves its own intended purpose of plausible denial. This deafening B.I.A. silence now assumes the legal consent and approval of migrant deaths on Tohono O'odham tribal land by the Tohono O'odham Nation, BIA, the Department of Interior and the Federal Government of the United States. Blood runs deep.

"Brady McComb's SPECIAL REPORT: DECADE OF DEATH was published in the Arizona Daily Star (Sunday, August 22, 2010). Also, author and reporter Margaret Regan's story, D.O.A., came out in the Tucson Weekly last Thursday, August 26, 2010.

"Both compelling stories are moral indictments against the Government and elected leadership of the Tohono O'odham Nation. The Tohono O'odham Nation continues its futile defensive strategy of presumed isolation and insulation.

"However, as both stories clearly demonstrate, tribal Chairman Ned Norris, Jr., Legislative Council Chairman Verlon Jose and Baboquivari District Council Chairwoman Veronica Harvey cannot insulate themselves against the stretch and scope of a free press.

"No amount of spin from the Tohono O'odham Nation's hired PR firm in Phoenix can protect the Tohono O'odham Nation from its culpability for Latino and Indigenous migrant deaths.

"Neither can the elected tribal leadership insulate itself against the putrid stench of another hundred decomposing migrant bodies on O'odham lands. The Government of the Tohono O'odham Nation needs to purchase Biological Hazard suits for when its leaders leave the reservation, if they can't smell the stench on themselves, others can."

More water,
Mike Wilson
Tohono O'odham
August 30, 2010

Censored News brendanorrell@gmail.com

Also see:
O'odham on the border to National Guard: 'We do not want you on our land'
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/08/oodham-to-national-guard-we-do-not-want.html

Watch video: Tucson police turn mom and dad over to Border Patrol 'dog catcher' truck, as kids cry in the night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec9hxZiaKFg

More about this video by the Three Sonorans at Phoenix New Times:
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/08/worse_than_joe_arpaio_tucson

National Guardsmen eager to smuggle cocaine on Arizona border arrested in sting operation:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/07/most-censored-national-guardsmen-cops.html

Michigan Asserts Sovereignty Rights in Canoe Crossing

Michigan Asserts Sovereignty Rights in Canoe Crossing

Article and photos by Brita Brookes©
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

August 27, 2010

The local aboriginal community from both the United States metro Detroit area and local Windsor, Ontario area gathered at Detroit’s Belle Isle Park on Friday, August 27, 2010. With the sun shining and warm summer temperatures, the group gathered to launch the first ever USA-Canada Canoe Border Crossing as a peaceful demonstration of the rights stated and found in the Jay Treaty.

Local American Indian Movement of Michigan organizers Bryan Halfday and Helen Wolfe held the event as a way to increase public awareness about aboriginal treaty rights, create local community support and to educate people about inherent and ancestral rights. The event was planned as a part of a three day weekend of events all related to the Honoring Our Traditions Pow Wow which was held in Lincoln Park, Michigan’s Council Point Park also organized by the local Michigan American Indian Movement chapter.

Dennis Banks co-founder of the American Indian Movement participated in the canoe border crossing and stated that the ability and right to cross the river to Canada from the United States freely was “guaranteed in the Jay Treaty and it is our ancestral right to cross freely without harassment. This is our ancestral land of which we view per our history as one in the same with no borders. This is our home. We are sovereign.”

The canoe crossing started at the west end of Belle Isle Park whereupon the canoes paddled across the busy Detroit River to the Windsor, Ontario Peace Fountain. Once at the Windsor Peace Fountain, the canoe groups touched Canadian land and were greeted by a large group including singers from the Canadian American Friendship Center. A few onlookers with opposing views yelled at one canoe participant to “go home.” Andrea Pierce stated that she was surprised at seeing and hearing opposition to her implementing her aboriginal rights and responded to them respectfully that “she never crossed any borders, but that the borders had crossed her.”

Among the canoe participants were John Marcus, Andrea Pierce, Stephanie Bartley, Rob Henry, Tim Seneca, Dean Kicknosway, Julianne Horsfield, Robert Naimy and Chase Horsfield. When asked about the reason why he did the crossing, canoe participant Dean Kicknosway replied that I wanted the population to know that “we are a living people with a history, not a people from history.”

The canoes crossed just prior to having several large freighters pass through on the busy Detroit River. The Detroit River is home to one of the busiest International Ports, the Ambassador Bridge and a hub of US and Canadian Commerce.

When asked how the experience was Stephanie Bartley stated that “she will remember the day forever. It was beautiful and I am very emotional about doing this knowing my ancestors probably travelled this way a long time ago.”

The event ended at the East end of Belle Isle where people gathered to sing and celebrate a peaceful and safe crossing. It was discussed among the crowd and with Dennis Banks, Bryan Halfday and Helen Wolfe that the hope would be for this to become a yearly event. The hope is that more people may partake in the event next year. To commemorate the crossing Dennis Banks is having a custom embroidered patch made that says “Just the Beginning- Continuing Our Ancestral Past- Detroit to Windsor Jay Treaty Canoe Border Crossing.” If anybody would like to volunteer in coordinating and or promoting this event for next year please contact Bryan Halfday at Bryanhalf@aol.com

O'odham to National Guard: 'We do not want you on our lands'

O'odham to National Guard: 'We do not want you on our lands'

By Ofelia Rivas©, O'odham

Photo 1: National Guardsmen on Tohono O'odham land, south of Sells, Arizona, in 2007 aiding in the construction of the vehicle barrier at the US/Mexico border/Photo copyright Brenda Norrell. Photo 2: Ofelia Rivas on the border/Copyright Jason Jaacks
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Ofelia Rivas, traditional O'odham living on the border, released a statement to the National Guard, who are to arrive on the US/Mexico border in Arizona on Monday.

To the United States National Guard arriving in O'odham Lands,

We are not compliant people, we are people with great dignity and confidence. We are a people of endurance and have a long survival history. We are people that have lived here for thousands of years. We have our own language, we have our own culture and traditions.

You are coming to my land, you may find me walking on my land, sitting on my land and just going about my daily life. I might be sitting on the mountain top, do not disturb me, I am praying the way my ancestors did for thousands of years. I might be out collecting what may be strange to you but it might be food to me or medicine for me.

Sometimes I am going to the city to get a burger or watch a movie or just to resupply my kitchen and refrigerator. Some of us live very much like you do and some of us live very simple lives. Some of may not have computers or scanners or televisions or a vehicle but some of us do.

The other thing is that some of us are light-skinned O'odham and some of us are darker-skinned O'odham. Some of us spend a lot of time indoors or outdoors. Sometimes my mother might be of a different Nation (refers to different tribal Nation) or sometimes our father is Spanish or we may have some European grandmother or grandfather.

If you want to question who we are, we all have learned to carry our Tohono O'odham Nation Tribal I.D. Card. It is a federally-issued card which is recognized by the federal government which is your boss. This card identifies us and by law this is the only requirement needed to prove who we are. We do not have United States passports because most of us were born at home and do not have documents, but that does not make us "undocumented people." Your boss, the Department of Homeland Security, and the government of the Tohono O'odham Nation have negotiated an agreement which is, our tribal I.D. card is our identification card and no other document is required.

The O'odham, (the People) as we call ourselves, have been here to witness the eruption of volcanoes that formed the lands we live on. We have special places that hold our great-great-great-great-great great grandparents remains, our lands are a special and holy place to us. Some of us still make journeys to these places to pray. Some of these places hold holy objects that maintain specific parts of our beliefs. When you see us out on the land do not assume we are in the drug business or human smuggling business. Sometimes we are out on the land hunting for rabbits or deer or javelina to feed our families. We may be carrying a hunting weapon please do not harm me, my family loves me and depends on me.
When you are out on our land, be mindful that you are visitor on our lands, be respectful, be courteous and do not harm anything.

Sometimes you may see us gather all night long, dancing and sometimes we are crying loudly, do not approach us or disturb us in anyway, we are honoring a dead relative and preparing them for burial. Sometimes we are conducting a healing ceremony out on the land, do not approach us or disturb us. Sometimes we may be singing and dancing all night long, these are our ceremonies that we have conducted for thousands of years. We are not behaving in a suspicious nature, this is our way of life.

As original people of the lands we honor everything on our lands and we regard all as a part of our sacred lives, do not kill any plants and animals or people on our lands. Do not litter our lands with your trash. When we visit other peoples lands and cities and homes we do not litter or leave behind trash.

We might be driving our cars, sometimes old, sometimes very new, do not try to run us off the roads or tailgate me. I value my life and my family, I might have a newborn in my car or my grandmother or my mother and father, my brothers and sister or my aunts and uncles or my friends. These are all important people to me and I do not want to see them hurt or dead.

If I seem like I do not understand what you are saying, please call the Tohono O'odham Police and ask for an O'odham speaking officer to come and assist you. I might be laughing at you if you talk to me in English, I don't know what you are saying and I am laughing out of nervousness and fear because you are armed.

If you are afraid of us and draw your weapons on me, I am more afraid of you because I am unarmed and my family is in the vehicle with me or they are in my house when you come into my house. Sometimes my house might be in poor condition but it is my home, it is my sanctuary, be respectful. Sometime there are elders in my house that are already afraid of armed people in our communities such as the border patrol and other federal agents.

There are some people that do drug business or human smuggling business but we are not all doing that, we are not all criminals. Do not treat us like criminals.

We might call you killers and murderers as you just came from killing people. To the O'odham you are a dangerous person, to walk onto our lands bringing fresh death on your person is very destructive to us as a people. You may have diseases we do not know, illnesses of your mind that you might inflict on us. Please do not approach us if you are afflicted with fresh death.

Remember we do not want you on our lands, we did not invite you to our lands.

Do remember that we have invited allies that will be witnessing your conduct on our lands and how you treat our people.

From the the O'odham Lands
Ofelia Rivas

Please request permission before reposting: brendanorell@gmail.com

Eyes on Border Patrol's new abuser recruits

Eyes on Border Patrol's new abuser recruits

By Brenda Norrell©
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo: On the border by Brenda Norrell©
Border residents are on guard, ready to spot and video tape the invading Border Patrol and National Guardsmen arriving on the Arizona border to terrorize border residents.

The Border Patrol and new National Guardsmen will begin their stints of racial profiling and abusing people of color here on Monday.

There is nothing funny about it.

However, when they take a break from abusing people, it is always interesting to document their behavior.

During a day of Border Patrol watching in the middle of summer, in the region of Sasabe, I documented that every Border Patrol agent was either eating snacks at the Three Points store; eating snacks in the desert they had just purchased at the Three Points store inside their air-conditioned vehicles, or chatting on their cell phones in their air-conditioned vehicles.

There wasn't a migrant in sight.

So, now we're all waiting for the new abuser Border Patrol and National Guardsmen recruits to arrive in town in Tucson, watching out at Burger King, where the Border Patrol has a hamburger contract, and at all the convenience stores where they sell chips and junk foods.

Psst Border Patrol: We know who is leaving the Starbucks and designer coffee cups strewn across the desert and it is not the migrants. Stop throwing your trash out the car windows.

We're watching you.

And the next time you plan to attack a brown person and think no one is looking, better think again.
.
Also see:
O'odham on the border to National Guard: 'We do not want you on our land'
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/08/oodham-to-national-guard-we-do-not-want.html

Watch video: Tucson police turn mom and dad over to Border Patrol 'dog catcher' truck, as kids cry in the night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec9hxZiaKFg

More about this video by the Three Sonorans at Phoenix New Times:
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/08/worse_than_joe_arpaio_tucson

National Guardsmen eager to smuggle cocaine on Arizona border arrested in sting operation:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/07/most-censored-national-guardsmen-cops.html