Longest Walk, northern and southern routes merge at Greenbelt

Long walkers from the northern and southern routes merged at Greenbelt Park, Maryland, on Tuesday about 4 pm. Listen live at http://www.earthcycles.net/ Photo copyright Brenda Norrell

Kahnawake, strength and beauty in resistance

Good morning from the Longest Walk,

We're camped in Greenbelt Park, Maryland, near Washington D.C. and south of Baltimore. I've just returned from a visit to the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, Quebec, and a visit to my dear friends Kahentinetha and Katenies, who were beaten and arrested at the Cornwall/Akwesasne border. Kahentinetha, publisher of Mohawk Nation News, is recovering from a trauma induced heart attack. She was handcuffed at the border during the attack by special forces. When she told the officers to loosen the handcuffs, because she was having difficulty breathing, the handcuffs were tightened and she was told to bend over. She was hospitalized with a heart attack. Katenies was also attacked by special forces and her face ground into the concrete, when she was jumped by officers who plunged a knee into her kidneys. Katenies was jailed. Katenies refuses to recognize the authority of the Canadian government over her, in a precedent setting case. Katenies returns to court on July 14.
It was incredible to visit the beautiful Kahnawake community and see the Mohawks living this resistance and living their commitment to "no compromise." The Mohawks are an inspiration. With strength, beauty and joy, the Mohawks have become standard bearers of courage and fearlessness in protection of Mother Earth and the people.
My days in Kahnawake were spent in perfect peace and joy. Thank you!
Please listen live to the Longest Walk Northern Route, as we rap up our five month live radio broadcast this week, Longest Walk Talk Radio, beginning daily at 1 pm Eastern; 12 Central; 11 Mountain; 10 am Pacific.
http://www.earthcycles.net/

More from Mohawk Nation News:
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Allies:
On June 14th 2008 Katenies and Kahentinetha of MNN were beaten by the Canadian Border guards at the Akwesasne [ Cornwall ] Ontario crossing. Their excuse was an “outstanding warrant” issued in 2003 claiming that Katenies “ran the border” placed by the colonial state through the middle of her community. Katenies has appeared in court on this matter. On both occasions she never acknowledged the false charges and filed motions contesting the courts’ jurisdiction. She refused to stand up and started reading her motion into the record, asking: “How and when did Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II get jurisdiction over me and my land?� On December 18th 2006 the court attempted to ignore the issue. When Katenies tried to read her motion into the court record, the court closed down. Katenies’ motion gave notice that a failure to respond within 30 days would be taken as an admission by the court that it had no jurisdiction. Canada has chosen to pursue this matter. We would like to share her motion with our readers. The motion is based on the Two Row Wampum and the Kaianerehkowa, the Great law of Peace, the constitution of the Haudenosaunee. Katenies found the Queen, the corporation of Canada and all its public and private corporations guilty of theft, etc. This will be the basis of proceedings when Katenies appears at 9:00 a.m. in Cornwall Ontario court on July 14th 2008. A case is being prepared against the Canadian Border Security Agency. The Canadian state can use the money of 30 million people and Indigenous resources to fight the Mohawks. Your financial help is needed.
Please donate to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”,
Box 991 , Kahnawake
Quebec , Canada J0L 1B0.
Everyone welcome.
Katenies MNN katenies20@yahoo.com

Photo: Tribute to Mohawk iron workers on Kahnawake. Photo Brenda Norrell
Read more about Mohawk iron workers:
http://sonicmemorial.org/public/mohawk/mohawk.html

Photo Kahentinetha Horn hospitalized after attack by border special forces

Kahentinetha Horn, publisher of Mohawk Nation News, hospitalized with a heart attack on June 14, 2008, after being attacked by special forces in Canada at the Cornwall/Akwesasne border. Photo by Sagowaiaks.

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

CORNWALL, Ontario -- Kahentinetha Horn, 68, was handcuffed in a police stress hold at the border crossing. Kahentinetha told them she was having chest pains and to loosen the handcuffs. The officers responded by tightening the handcuffs. Kahentinetha was told to bend over in the presence of a male and female officer. She was suffering a trauma induced heart attack. During the attack Katenies, Mohawk Nation News editor, was beaten and jailed by the gang of at least 10 special forces. Kahentinetha is out of the hospital and is recovering. Please consider contributing to the legal fees for a lawsuit against the Canadian police and special forces who attacked the two Mohawk grandmothers.
For more information on Kahentinetha's condition and letters of support: waneek@msn.ca
Please send checks and money orders to:
Mohawk Nation News
Box 991
Kahnawake, Quebec
CANADA J0L1B0

Arizona Sonora border, body count magnifies human rights crisis

Six children, 35 women and 86 men, human beings who died in the Arizona Sonora desert

For Immediate Release

July 4, 2008
Contact: Kat Rodriguez, Derechos Humanos: 520.770.1373

(Photo Mike Wilson, Tohono O'odham, stands next to a map showing the places where migrants died in the Arizona desert, including on the Tohono O'odham Nation, for want of a drink of water. Wilson puts out water for migrants as a humanitarian act, saying "No one should die for a drink of water." His water jugs, on his left, were slashed by vandals. Photo at the Indigenous Peoples Border Summit of the Americas II in November. Photo Brenda Norrell)

Count for Recovered Bodies on the Arizona- Sonora Border Reaches 128
Arizona- The current number for bodies recovered on the Arizona-Sonora border for the fiscal year that began on October 1, 2006 through June 30, 2008 is 128, reports Coalición de Derechos Humanos. The data, which is compiled from medical examiner reports from Pima, Yuma, and Cochise counties, is an attempt to give a more accurate reflection of the human cost of brutal U.S. border and immigration policies.
These numbers include 86 men, 35 women, 6 children, including a miscarried fetus. While Border Patrol has proudly proclaimed that the slight decrease in recovered bodies is a result of militarization and deterrence strategies imposed on border communities, the more likely reason for the minimal decrease is the weather-cooler weather was seen all the way up through May. At the end of June 2007, there were 150 bodies recovered, while the current year is at 128. However, the number of recovered bodies for the month of June outpaced those of last year. "Despite the slight overall decline of bodies being recovered on the Arizona-Sonora border, the reality is that while there were 35 bodies recovered in June of 2007, 40 were recovered in the month of June this year" says Kat Rodriguez of Derechos Humanos. "Historically, July has been the most brutal month, and we are dreading the count that the harsh temperatures will bring." Increasingly alarming are the high number of unidentified human remains recovered. Of the 35 female remains recovered, 21 are still unidentified, and 51 of the 86 males have yet to be identified. All in all, 72 of the 128 remains recovered are unidentified, and not enough of the remains of six of these individuals were recovered to even determine gender; this speaks to the anguish that family members suffer as they wait to hear of their loved ones, and the reality that some might never know what became of them. While the Border Patrol continues to applaud their efforts to control the border, men, women and children are pushed into more harsh, isolated areas, where humanitarian aid and detection is less likely. This is, in fact, an intentional strategy that has proven deadly as more than 5,000 men, women and children have died on the U.S.-México border. And through this, there is no evidence that these militarization efforts have done anything to affect the numbers of people crossing the border. "It is a natural, global phenomenon and human right to migrate" said Rodriguez. "Continuing with these deadly strategies that cost the lives of hardworking women and men while lining the pockets of corporations and military industrialists is leaving a shameful legacy." The complete list of recovered bodies is available on the Coalición de Derechos Humanos website: http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net. This information is available to anyone who requests it from us and is used by our organization to further raise awareness of the human rights crisis we are facing on our borders. Coalición de Derechos Humanos
P.O. Box 1286 Tucson, AZ 85702
Tel: 520.770.1373 Fax: 520.770.7455 www.derechoshumanosaz.net