Tump's planned trip to Mount Rushmore puts lives and a fragile ecosystem at risk

TRUMP’S PLANNED TRIP TO MOUNT RUSHMORE PUTS LIVES AND A FRAGILE ECOSYSTEM AT RISK

The July 4th event will only serve to endanger the Black Hills National Forest, spread contagion, and continue the president’s pattern of sowing hatred and division.

This piece is a commentary, part of The Appeal’s collection of opinion and analysis.

By Ruth Hopkins, Lakota/Dakota, Sisseton Wahpeton

The Appeal

On Friday, President Trump plans to attend a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore, located in the majestic Black Hills of South Dakota. 

He was invited there by the state legislature, although Governor Kristi Noem, a vociferous Trump devotee, almost certainly played a role in organizing the much-hyped event. Before the legislature passed the resolution to welcome him, Trump said Noem had asked him to lift environmental restrictions meant to protect the Black Hills from the potential devastation an exorbitant pyrotechnics show could cause.

During an interview, the president said he could not believe environmental harm could be caused by fireworks because “it’s all stone.” In his typical fashion, characterized by an irrational, pernicious level of arrogance commingled with obliviousness and indifference, Trump fails to grasp or care that Mount Rushmore is in the middle of the Black Hills National Forest.

The last fireworks display at the monument was in 2009. The Trump administration’s Department of the Interior claims that an environmental assessment they performed concluded that such a show held this year would have “no significant impact.” Here’s hoping they’re right, lest Trump’s slash-and-burn politics manifest literally.

Even if a midsummer fireworks display in the middle of a national forest doesn’t spiral out of control and cause irreparable damage to a fragile, beloved ecosystem, the event’s organizers are holding this gathering in the midst of a pandemic unlike any humanity has experienced in over a century, in close proximity to Native communities who have been vocal about being vulnerable to the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Read the full article at The Appeal:

https://theappeal.org/trumps-planned-trip-to-mount-rushmore-puts-lives-and-a-fragile-ecosystem-at-risk/

Ruth Hopkins is a Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer and enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe. She is also a biologist, tribal attorney, former judge, and co-founder of Lastrealindians.com. Hopkins resides on the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota.

RCMP Patrol Wet’suwet’en Cultural Site With Assault Rifles

RCMP Patrol Wet’suwet’en Cultural Site With Assault Rifles

By Wet'suwet'en Access Point on Gidimt'en Territory

Censored News

June 29 2020, Smithers (BC) - Photographs taken on Wet’suwet’en territory show RCMP armed with assault weapons conducting foot patrols of a cultural site belonging to Hereditary Chief Woos of Cas Yikh (Grizzly House). Security cameras belonging to the Gidimt’en clan recorded images of heavily armed police patrolling Chief Woos’ smokehouse on June 10 and June 18.

The smokehouse belongs to the Cas Yikh people and is critically located at the headwaters of the Wedzin Kwa river to harvest fish and feed Wet’suwet’en families. Food fishing is an inalienable and protected Aboriginal right. Food fishing has also been declared essential in BC during the COVID19 pandemic. Wet’suwet’en people must be able to exercise this right without fear of police intimidation or violence.

Since January of 2019, RCMP have conducted several large scale, militarized assaults on Wet’suwet’en territory and made dozens of arrests of Wet’suwet’en people, Hereditary Chiefs, and our supporters. RCMP continuously surveil our Wet’suwet’en home sites, and continue to occupy a remote police detachment on Gisday’wa territory in stark violation of our Chiefs’ wishes. We are unable to visit our territories with our elders and families, to hunt, or to harvest our foods and medicines without the threat of police violence.

We are deeply concerned with excessively armed police conducting foot patrols through remote parts of Gidimt’en yintah which are subject to active cultural use. We have seen too frequently, on our own territories and across Canada, that police readily use lethal force against our people and seldom face any consequence.

Hereditary Chief Woos expresses his concern for his clan members and guests on his territory and states, "if we are to communicate effectively with respect, all levels of this project need to show respect and understand our culture, using a police force who show automatic rifles is concerning..."

Images from June 18 show three RCMP members patrolling the smokehouse, including one with a fully automatic assault rifle, followed shortly after by a group of Coastal Gaslink workers. Coastal Gaslink has not obtained free, prior, and informed consent to undertake any work on Wet’suwet’en territory, and do not currently have all the permits required to do work in this area.

On January 4, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs representing all five clans of our nation collectively evicted Coastal Gaslink from our territories. While the eviction is still in effect, Coastal Gaslink continues to trespass on our lands with RCMP acting as an auxiliary private security force.

The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, joined by the United Nations’ Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, have repeatedly called upon the RCMP to withdraw from Wet’suwet’en territories, to prohibit the use of force and lethal weapons, and to cease the forced evictions of Wet’suwet’en people from our unceded homelands.

We are seeing examples all across North America of systemic racism and violence perpetrated by the police. Here we see just one more example against Indigenous people living a cultural and traditional lifestyle being targeted with assault rifles. We call on all parties involved in this campaign against the Wet’suwet’en people to stand down.

#WetsuwetenStrong #NoTrespass #WedzinKwa #DefundthePolice #LandBack #CancelCanadaDay #CGLofftheYintah

Navajo Epidemiology Center: More than half of Dine' coronavirus cases are 18 to 60 years old

Photo: Bitahnii Wilson is one of the Dine' grassroots volunteers struggling to bring water to Dine' in isolated homes who are in desperate need of water, food and supplies. Photo courtesy Bitahnii Wilson.

The Navajo Epidemiology Center reports that Dine' who live off the Navajo Nation and return home are a point of spread of coronavirus.  More than half of the cases, 64 percent, are 18- to 60-year-olds. Elderly males are at the highest risk of death.

Navajo Epidemiology Center delivers COVID-19 situational report to Health, Education, and Human Services Committee

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Members of the Health, Education, and Human Services Committee (HEHSC) received a report regarding coronavirus (COVID-19) data from Ramona Antone-Nez, senior epidemiologist for the Navajo Epidemiology Center (NEC) on Wednesday, Jun. 24, via teleconference. 

Navajo Nation receives total $714 million in federal Cares Act funding

Monday morning update: As of June 29, these federal funds are not yet reaching the people and are still awaiting allocation by the Navajo Nation government.

The Navajo Nation has received the total $714 million in federal funds for coronavirus relief, including the $86 million delayed, and the $27 million withheld to pay Alaska Native corporations which resulted in a legal complaint.

The Navajo Nation reports that on Saturday, there were 94 new cases and 12 deaths from coronavirus. On Sunday, there were 55 new cases and one death. The total number of deaths is 363 and the total number of positive cases is 7,469. There have been 5,082 recoveries.

NAVAJO NATION RECEIVES TOTAL $714,189,631.47 IN FEDERAL CARES ACT FUNDING

Statement of the Navajo Nation Council

Censored News

June 28, 2020

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation Office of the Controller confirmed to the Office of the Speaker that deposits to the Navajo Nation from the U.S. Department of the Treasury totaled $714,189,631.47 as of Friday. The funds are part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Act payments to state, local and tribal governments approved on Apr. 27 by Congress and President Trump.