Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

February 11, 2023

Border Region: Czech Anthropologist Desecrated Graves of O'odham and Yaqui for Racist Research


The University of Arizona in Tucson is harboring more than 1,700 ancestors' remains that have not been returned to Tohono O'odham and other Hohokam descendants, in violation of federal law, a new database from ProPublica reveals. (Photo Tohono O'odham 1968 by University of Arizona, Arizona State Museum, by Helga Teiwes)

Border Region: Czech Anthropologist Desecrated Graves of O'odham and Yaqui for Racist Research

Trauma warning: The details of the grave robbers of Native burial places for museums can only be compared to a dark hole in the universe. It is vast and dark -- so dark that the trail of history leads back to acts by an anthropologist so vile and gruesome that this report must come with a warning: A trauma alert for Native descendants.

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Feb. 11, 2023

Czech anthropologist Ales Hrdlicka robbed Tohono O'odham graves and desecrated the Yaqui in their burial places. Hrdlicka's grave robbing was carried out as part of his white supremacist and race-based studies, aimed at proving the superiority of the white race using human skulls.

While plundering graves and desecrating the bodies of Native People in Arizona and Sonora, he took photos of Tohono O'odham, Havasuapi and Hualapai children and adults between 1898 and 1902, which are now in collections of the wealthy and museums.

February 9, 2023

Lithium Americas meets with Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone



 

Tribal Chairman Arlo Crutcher (center) and Lithium Americas Alexi Zawadzki (right)
at Thursday's session with Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone.
Watch the video on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/dorece.sam/videos/463678112513779

While some Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone are meeting with Lithium Americas, promising benefits today -- Winnemucca elderly and disabled are living at Motel 6. Grandmothers evicted with their grandchildren said they have been evicted from their homes to make way for lithium mine housing.
 
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Updated Feb. 9, 2023

FORT McDERMITT PAIUTE-SHOSHONE NATION -- Lithium Americas met Thursday with Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone, claiming it was consultation. A federal judge ruled in favor of a lithium mine on the Paiute Massacre Site at Thacker Pass on Monday.

When the session began, Lithium Americas was asked by a tribal member what they were doing here.

"From our perspective, we consider it consultation," said Alexi Zawadzki, president of North American Operation for Lithium Americas, which is based in Vancouver, Canada. It is the parent company of Lithium Nevada.

Dorece Sam, Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone, live-streamed the session.

"All I can say is yesterday's meeting was Bullshit. My people don't understand what Lithium Nevada is -- just all broken promises."

February 8, 2023

Federal Court Rules for Lithium Mining on Paiute Massacre Site at Thacker Pass

    Photo credit Lithium Americas at Thacker Pass. The company is based in Vancouver, Canada

Attorney Max Wilbert said, "Monday's news from the Thacker Pass court case was bad. There is no sugarcoating that. Some statements are circulating that interpret the court decision as favorable. That is wrong; at this very moment, Lithium Nevada is mobilizing trucks and heavy equipment to Thacker Pass to begin destroying the land. The judge's decision essentially clears the legal path for Lithium Nevada to begin full-scale construction over the next few months."


Protest of Lithium Americas planned mine outside federal court in Reno in January.


Federal Court Rules for Lithium Mining on Paiute Massacre Site at Thacker Pass

“We have expected this decision for some time,” said Arlan Melendez, Chairman of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. “This does not mean consultation was done correctly and it does not mean this fight is over. We will be continuing to advocate for this sacred site.”

By Reno-Sparks Indian Colony
Contacts: Bethany Sam, Will Falk, Max Wilbert
Censored News


RENO, Nevada — On Monday, Judge Miranda Du issued her decision in the consolidated Thacker Pass court cases including Case No. 3:21-cv-00080-MMD-CLB, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Burns Paiute Tribe lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management.

February 7, 2023

The Napalm Burn Pit at Fallon


                F/A-18A Hornet armed with 77 napalm bombs NAS Fallon, Nevada in June 1993

The Napalm Burn Pit at Fallon

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Feb. 7, 2023

FALLON PAIUTE-SHOSHONE LAND -- The Navy Seals burned Napalm in burn pits at the Naval Air Station Fallon. The facts are buried in the investigations surrounding a cluster of childhood leukemia in Fallon in central Nevada. The facts are revealed now because a new database exposes another fact: The Navy bombing range has four Native remains that have not been repatriated, as required by law.\

"Burning was accomplished by placing napalm canisters in the pit where they were axed open, saturated with diesel fuel and ignited." The Napalm burn pits were used at Fallon from 1963 until the 1980s.

The report for remediation from Oak Ridge describes the Napalm burn pit at Fallon: