Fort Duchesne Ute Nation's Statement on Trump's Disrespect for Tribes, Bears Ears

Bears Ears

Ute Indian Tribe Statement on Trump's Disrespect for Tribes, Bears Ears

UTE INDIAN TRIBE FILING LAWSUIT CHALLENGING PRESIDENT’S PLAN TO ABOLISH BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT

By Fort Duchesne Ute Nation

Censored News
French translation by Christine Prat at:
http://www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=4357

FORT DUCHESNE, Utah -- (December 4, 2017) The Ute Indian Tribe is deeply offended by President Trump’s announcement today that he plans to significantly shrink the Bears Ears National Monument.  His action will effectively revoke the Monument and threaten the Tribe’s cultural and historical resources that were protected by the designation of the Monument.  Along with the 4 other tribes who came together to advocate for establishment of the Monument, the Ute Indian Tribe will be filing a lawsuit against President Trump, Secretary Zinke, and others in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia to hold them accountable for their actions in this matter that serve as an affront to the sovereignty of the Ute Indian Tribe and all Tribes in the United States.



The President’s actions are even more appalling in that they were taken without even visiting the Monument or consulting with the tribes whose sacred and cultural sites the Monument was created to protect.  Instead the President is relying on Secretary Zinke’s brief review that seeks to diminish the position of Tribe’s in favor of special interest groups.  The proposal to shrink the Monument will leave hundreds of thousands of antiquities, archeological sites and cultural resources unprotected and eviscerate the years of collaborative work that was undertaken by the members of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition to establish a monument that recognizes the unique cultural and spiritual contributions that Native peoples have made to the history of this great Nation.  



The President’s action will upend almost a decade of collaborative work by local tribal members and the five tribes.  “The President promised to drain the swamp,” said Luke Duncan Chairman of the Ute Indian Tribal Business Committee, “but with this unilateral action at the request of a few powerful Utah politicians the swamp is only getting deeper.”  Chairman Duncan continued, “We refuse to become the forgotten people of this land and the President should recognize and respect our voice in this matter as the first Utahns.”



The President’s action to appease Utah politicians comes at a crucial time for Congressional approval of the President’s tax cuts and appears to be nothing more than a duplicitous effort to ensure that Senator Orrin Hatch’s objective of eliminating the Monument is fulfilled so that the President can secure support from Senator Hatch for the President’s tax reform initiative.  The success of the President’s tax reform initiative hinges upon Senator Hatch’s support given his position as the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.  Despite promises to work on behalf of Tribal Nations, the President is acting on behalf of wealthy special interest groups to advance their interest regardless of the impact on tribal history and culture.



The President’s action threatens the priceless resources of Bears Ears.  “The Monument isn’t just about a few isolated artifacts.  The Monument is a living part of our culture as well as the history and culture of the United States.  Our cultures are still here and still thriving,” said Shaun Chapoose, member of the Ute Indian Tribal Business Committee. “The Bears Ears region is a cultural landscape – a place to nurture our families in our traditions. It’s a sad state of affairs when the President of this great Nation shows manifest disregard for our history and culture as a people, but we are prepared to fight for our rights, and to protect Bears Ears.”



The Ute Indian Tribe maintains that the Antiquities Act does not give a President the authority to revoke or shrink an established National Monument.  It is the position of Ute Indian Tribe that President Trump’s plan to shrink Bears Ears constitutes an unlawful revocation of a National Monument and his actions in this matter should be universally condemned by all indigenous peoples of the world and those that support indigenous peoples rights.  The President’s action in this matter violates the Antiquities Act and is being carried out without legal authority.  The action also runs afoul of the Federal government’s trust responsibility and government-to-government relationship with Indian tribes.  The Ute Indian Tribe will be filing a lawsuit challenging the President’s action with the other Bears Ears tribes as soon as the action is executed.


About the Ute Indian Tribe-The Ute Indian Tribe resides on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in northeastern Utah. Three bands of Utes comprise the Ute Indian Tribe: the Whiteriver Band, the Uncompahgre Band and the Uintah Band. The Tribe has a membership of more than three thousand individuals, with over half living on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. The Ute Indian Tribe operates its own tribal government and oversees approximately 1.3 million acres of trust land which contains significant oil and gas deposits.  The Tribal Business Committee is the governing council of the Tribe.  

NOW! Protect Arctic! Sit-in Demands Rep Curbelo Vote against Big Oil Bailout!

#GOPTaxScam is a disaster for climate: It opens up Arctic drilling, slashes clean energy incentives, & ups Big Oil handouts. We are sitting in at co-chair of Climate Solutions Caucus @RepCurbelo demanding he vote against this Big Oil Bailout #ProtectTheArctic

Yaqui Ceremonial Leader Jose Matus Passes to Spirit World -- Journeys on the Long Road

Jose Matus La Paz, Bolivia

Where have you gone my frined

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News

The year was 1995, and Jose Matus, Yaqui, was on that Indigenous delegation to Chiapas. We flew, road in the backs of trucks with AK47s pointed in our faces and hiked up mountains.
Jose distinguished himself by refusing to be part of the mass Catholic baptism of Mayans in the villages.
We spent our time on the mountain, with the Zapatistas who lived in a village, sleeping in huts, and a school building. We ate tortillas of fresh corn cooked in banana leaves. We celebrated beneath a single lamp as we heard of the movement for dignity and autonomy.
At night there was the sound of the shortwave. The resistance was a little over one year old. Marcos and the Comandantes were out there somewhere in the mountains, in the jungles. A helicopter hovered overhead, already the military had assassinated people in the village above us, the people who grow corn and coffee with their hands.
That was when I first met Jose Matus, Yaqui spiritual leader.
In the years that followed, I went with Jose to the Yaqui villages in Sonora, near the coast, and listened to his family play music, and speak of struggle and survival.
During those years, Jose made the long journey, about a six hour drive south of Tucson, to the villages to bring back the spiritual leaders who maintained the ceremonies in southern Arizona. The Deer Dancers. The Pascoles.
When Bolivia President Evo Morales put out the call for the Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth in Cochabamba in 2010, we made plans to go. A generous man, Peter, paid for Jose to travel to Bolivia for the gathering.
As it turned out, Jose and I departed from the same plane in La Paz, Bolivia, and somehow shuffled through immigration.
Then, I had a heart attack. It was Jose who went for medicines for me, and somehow I survived, at least somewhat, for the conference. He took me for food and watched out for me during those days.
With Jose, there was always laughter. That sort of laughter where everyone knows this secret joke.
In the years that followed, Jose continued the Ceremonies, and worked hard to continue gatherings for the Indigenous Alliance without Borders.
All of our friends know these words are inadequate and do not do justice to this Long Road, how we all lived, struggled and survived.
Today, my friend Jose passed to the Spirit World.
Where have you gone my friend.
I'm hoping that this journey, like all the others, will be a grand one, and take you in peace to where you need to go. With love and light.
-- Brenda

On Western Shoshone land, Jose Matus words

In 2008, as we gathered on Western Shoshone land, Jose shared these words with Indigenous.

Here's an excerpt from the article I wrote, the words of my friend.

Yaqui ceremonial leader Jose Matus describes the crisis at the US/Mexico border, where the border wall and Homeland Security's increased restrictions violate lifeways present since time immemorial.

Matus said Homeland Security's increased border restrictions are interfering with the Yaquis ability to preserve their culture and ceremonies.

Matus, speaking at the Indigenous Environmental Network’s Protecting Mother Earth Conference on Western Shoshone lands, said Yaqui in the United States are faced with the loss of their language, Hiaki. The declining number of Yaquis speaking the language is affecting the Yaquis ability to maintain their ceremonies.

Matus said one of the ways Yaqui maintain their ceremonies is by bringing in Yaqui from Mexico who are well-versed in the Yaqui language, knowledge and ceremonies.

Following the request of Yaqui elders in 1973, Matus began his 35-year effort to maintain the Yaqui ceremonies in the US by bringing in Yaqui ceremonial leaders from Sonora, Mexico, for temporary stays for ceremonies.

However, in recent years, the increased restrictions by Homeland Security and racist attitudes and migrant xenophobia in the US has resulted in increased legal obstacles.

“Now, Homeland Security is getting very, very strict,” Matus told the gathering of more than 700 people from the Americas on Western Shoshone land at South Fork, Nevada, July 17 -- 20, 2008.

Matus said that earlier he was able to work with border officials to get ceremonial leaders across the Southwest borders. “As time went goes by, legislation changes and attitudes change, including the anti-immigrant hysteria.”
Matus said the fight against terrorism created more obstacles. “That has created more obstacles. That has affected all the people who have relatives in Mexico.”

The Indigenous Alliance Without Borders is now working Akimel O’otham in Gila River, Arizona, some O’odham in Mexico, Raramuri/Tarahumara in Mexico, the Yaqui Nation in Arizona and other Indigenous Peoples whose rights are being violated by border rules and border wall construction.

The Indigenous Alliance Without Borders was created in 1997 in response to harassment of Indigenous Peoples crossing the border. Border agents were violating and destroying ceremonial items and frightening and intimidating women, children and elders.

“We have tried to set up permanent border crossing rights for the Yaqui, Gila River Pima and Raramuri.” Matus said the alliance recently began working with Tewa from El Paso, Texas, where the border wall construction is now destroying cultural rights and sacred places.

“The wall itself is a lethal weapon that the US government is using to kill thousands of undocumented crossers.”

Matus said the border wall is destroying the environment, sacred sites and the connection between relatives in Mexico and the United States.

“Now they are destroying and dividing the Tewa and Kumeyaay ceremonial grounds,” he said of the Tewa in the region of El Paso, Texas, and Kumeyaay, in California and Baja, Mexico.

Matus said the alliance is examining possible legislation to ensure border crossing rights. However, he said Indian Nation governments need to support border crossing rights in order for legislation to pass in the United States. At the same time, the United States government is intimidating tribes to prevent them from exercising their rights at the border.

“We are all terrorists as far as they are concerned. They put us through all these obstacles as we try to cross that border," Matus said.

While Indigenous Peoples are attempting to maintain their culture and ceremonies, they are unjustly targeted.“For national security reasons, we can not bring our elders across the border for ceremonies,” Matus said.

Copyright Brenda Norrell, may not be republished without permission, or used for commercial gain.

Apache Stronghold joins Poor People's Campaign in Washington, Dec. 4, 2017

APACHE STRONGHOLD joins POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN

in WASHINGTON DC on DECEMBER 4, 2017

WHAT: Press Conference & Mass Meeting, goo.gl/8dM2W4

DATE: Monday, December 4, 2017

TIME: 10:00am

WHERE: United Methodist Building (Conference Rm 1),

100 Maryland Avenue NE, Washington, DC

Washington, D.C.: On Monday, December 4, 2017, Apache Stronghold, an Arizona-based nonprofit of Western Apache families and other Indigenous peoples, will make the journey to Washington, DC, to join and support the "Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival."

Please attend the press conference and mass meeting, learn about how to get involved, and find a way to support work of Apache Stronghold and join the Poor People's Campaign for our times.

In recent battles to protect their sacred and ecologically unique lands, groundwater resources, riparian habitats, and endangered species against both U.S. legislators and multinational mining companies, the San Carlos Apache Tribe has come up short. In 2014, as part of a must-pass $500 billion omnibus military funding bill, Arizona politicians sneaked in a rider to give away 2,422 acres of public lands to a $72.9 billion company, Rio Tinto—despite the fact that unemployment on the San Carlos Apache reservation is at 67 percent. According to Apache Stronghold founder Wendsler Nosie, "This is where we say, 'Enough is enough. No more.'"

Apache Stronghold will add volume to the collective voice of the new Poor People's Campaign for, as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in 1963,

Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles of racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its Indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it. 

Apache Stronghold is a grassroots Indigenous organization committed to protecting sacred Chí'chil Biłdagoteel (Oak Flat) and Dził Nchaa Si'An (Mount Graham), fighting for clean air, water, and food, and battling continued colonization. Apache Stronghold supports the Poor People's Campaign's call for education, housing, jobs, and social mobility, just as Dr. King proposed in his still unfinished revolution 50 years ago.

To learn about Apache Stronghold and its efforts to preserve Western Apache culture and religious freedom, and to defend Western Apache sacred places such as Dził Nchaa Si'An and Chí'chil Biłdagoteel, visit:

• "What's at Stake in Oak Flat?" goo.gl/G2gX9r
• "Apaches Fight Mining Company Over Land" (video), goo.gl/SV48Sy

To learn more about the Poor People's Campaign, visit: poorpeoplescampaign.org

Press Contact:

Wendsler Nosie, founder, Apache Stronghold

Phone: 928-200-7762; Email: Apaches4ss@yahoo.com

P.O. Box 766, San Carlos, Arizona 85550; http://www.apache-stronghold.com

Attorney Rachel Lederman -- New case to focus on mass arrest of Standing Rock Water Protectors

Militarized police at Standing Rock. Photo by Rob Wilson.

New case to focus on mass arrest of Standing Rock Water Protectors

Racism, disinformation and bias in North Dakota courts, attorneys fight for water protectors -- Attorney Rachel Lederman, Water Protector Legal Collective, speaking at AIM West Conference

Article by Brenda Norrell

Audio by Govinda Dalton

Spirit Resistance Radio

Censored News

Attorney Rachel Lederman
Photo by Karen Wright

SAN FRANCISCO -- In the State of North Dakota -- where prosecutors and the media work for the oil industry -- attorneys for Standing Rock water protectors are filing new charges following the mass arrest of 125 water protectors in prayer.

Speaking at the AIM West Conference here, Attorney Rachel Lederman, board member of the Water Protector Legal Collective, said a new lawsuit is being filed challenging the mass arrest of water protectors on Oct. 22, 2016.

“We are going to challenge this mass arrest in civil court,” Lederman said.

“They can’t surround 125 people on a prayer march -- surround them, and tell them to get on their knees -- arrest them, put them in dog kennel-like enclosures, tell them to strip search, do strip searches of elders, and hold them in jail for days without allowing them to be bailed out," Lederman said.
"We can't let this kind of thing go on."

Describing the uphill battle of fighting for justice in a racist and biased legal system in North Dakota, Lederman pointed out there has been a lot of pressure to prosecute water protectors in North Dakota.
"The oil industry rules."

Lederman also pointed out that the land where the resistance took place is protected by Treaty. The Treaty for this unceded land of the Dakota and Lakota is a legally binding agreement, she said.

Efforts are underway internationally to uphold this.

The judicial system in North Dakota has been racist and biased following the disinformation campaign of TigerSwan, she said.

Currently, two water protectors remain in jail on baseless charges, and seven people face federal charges.

"There is an enormous amount of bias and racism against the Indigenous defendants and allies resisting DAPL," she said of the resistance to Dakota Access Pipeline.

Most people in the northern part of the state are in favor of the oil industry, she said.

Lederman said there were 800 water protectors charged, and some are still being recharged.

--The Creation of Water Protector Legal Collective

Lederman, who also does work with the National Lawyer's Guild in San Francisco, said last September she answered a call to go out to the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline.
She helped form a new legal group to defend and advocate on behalf of that movement, Water Protector Legal Collective. WPLC has become an Indigenous led, independent non-profit, based in North Dakota.
The WPLC attorneys have been providing criminal defense for almost 800 arrested and charged criminally in North Dakota.

They are also coordinating federal offenses for seven people charged for serious federal charges.

Meanwhile, the attorneys have filed a civil lawsuit over the horrific police violence at Backwater Bridge on Nov. 20, 2016.
The attorneys are now preparing to file additional civil litigation, and involved in international efforts.
Between August of 2016 and February of 2017, about 800 people were arrested while protesting and in prayer ceremonies, resisting the Dakota Access pipeline.

“All of these people were charged  criminally, most in state court,” she said.
Justice in the cases was hindered by the lack of local attorneys in the public defender's office there.
"Almost all the 800 cases were without any legal basis,” she said.

"We had a challenging and interesting situation."
It was difficult for out-of-state attorneys to become licensed in North Dakota. It required extensive documents and was a long process that could take about one year.
So, WPLC petitioned the North Dakota Court to allow out-of-state attorneys to work in conjunction with local attorneys.
Now, out-of-state attorneys are representing hundreds of water protectors for free.
"There is an enormous amount of bias and racism against the Indigenous defendants and allies resisting DAPL.”

She said people in the northern part of the state are in favor of the oil industry.
Still, 300 cases have been dismissed, and almost 400 cases remain open.
"The court system became completely overwhelmed."
Instead of dumping the cases, which would have happened in San Francisco, the cases continue.
There are not the same speedy trial rights in North Dakota. Now, trials are scheduled through the spring of 2018.

-- Water Protectors Charged with Federal Crimes
Six water protectors continue to face charges in federal court: Red Fawn Fallis, Little Feather, Michael Marcus ‘Rattler,’ James White ‘Angry Bird,’ Brennon Nastacio, and Dion Ortiz.

Dion Ortiz and Littlefeather are still in jail.
“Those arrestees need more support," she said.

Red Fawn was recently released to a halfway house and awaits trial.

--Water Protector Attorneys do not support plea agreement or diversion
Recently judges tried to close down the program where out-of-state attorneys represent water protectors.

But that effort was defeated.
"It is beyond the ability of the local attorneys to deal with."
There are large numbers of cases which have no basis for arrest, no witnesses.
Prosecutors are putting pressure on water protectors to enter into plea agreements. However, WPLC does not support this.
For water protectors, the charges have been an economic burden, because they must return to North Dakota for trial.

Meanwhile, local attorneys were overwhelmed with the amount of discovery in the cases.
She said none of the water protectors represented by Water Protector Legal Collective have taken plea agreements or diversion offers.

However, some of those charged did accept these. They were represented by local lawyers, not WPLC.
Still, the prosecutors continue to file new charges with new penalties. This can result in new warrants, even though there is no factual or legal basis for the charges.

Regardless of the baseless charges, Lederman said, “We are starting to get large numbers of cases dismissed.”

-- Police Violence at Backwater Bridge
Water Protector Legal Collective attorneys filed a federal lawsuit over the Nov. 20, 2016, police violence at Backwater Bridge.
Sheriff and local police fired water cannons, explosive grenades and so-called less-lethal weapons at water protectors, she said.
"Many were engaged in prayer and singing on the bridge throughout the night."
As a result of the police violence, hundreds of water protectors suffered injuries and hypothermia. Dozens were taken to the hospital, she said.
One woman lost part of her arm due to an explosive grenade.
Another woman suffered a detached retina and lost partial vision, as a result of a chemical weapon canister.
Water protectors suffered broken bones and horrible injuries.
A lawsuit was filed immediately.
Water protectors’ attorneys asked the judge for an injunction to restrict the use of dangerous munitions, in order to halt police shooting these into crowds in the dark in the future.

It is an uphill battle, she said. Even though it is federal court, it is still federal court in North Dakota.
A local judge has been very influenced by local media, and the disinformation campaign of TigerSwan. Water protectors were portrayed as a terrorist group by TigerSwan, she said.
This case was taken up by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minn.
The Court of Appeals confirmed the lower court’s decision, and denied these restrictions, which would have halted the use of those weapons.

The Eight Circuit is the most conservative circuit, she said.
"We are still fighting."
None of the legal or factual issues have been resolved in this case.
A class action lawsuit continues for compensation for those injured on the night of Nov. 20 at Backwater Bridge. This case continues in Bismarck, North Dakota.

-- New lawsuit over police mass arrest on Oct. 22
Now, another lawsuit will be filed as a result of the mass arrest on October 22, when 125 water protectors were arrested on their Prayer March.
They were diverted by police into an empty field, and surrounded by ATV buggies. At gunpoint, police told water protectors, “Get on your knees, you are under arrest.”
There was no dispersal order, no opportunity to leave. There are no witnesses on behalf of state.
Still, three people were found guilty in state criminal court. As a result of these random sentences, two water protectors were sentenced to jail. One for eight days and another for 18 days.
The court’s action was random, since 125 people were charged and most of the charges were dismissed.
“We are going to challenge this mass arrest in civil court.”

“They can’t surround 125 people on a prayer march, surround them, and tell them to get on their knees, arrest them, put them in dog kennel like enclosures, tell them to strip search, do strip searches of elders, and hold them in jail for days without allowing them to be bailed out.”
"We can't let this kind of thing go on."

--Surviving the pressure to prosecute, protecting the water
During questions following her talk, Lederman was asked if there is more pressure to prosecute with Donald Trump in office.
Lederman said pressure to prosecute hasn't increased. There was already a lot of pressure to prosecute.
"The oil industry rules."

Prosecutors are working for the oil industry, she said.

She also pointed out that the Dakota Access Pipeline was originally to be in the Bismarck area, but was redirected to the Standing Rock area to poison their water.
Now, there is a spill of Keystone pipeline in South Dakota not far away from Standing Rock.
Lederman said she hopes to see more protests, more resistance.
The model of Standing Rock camps’ Water Protector Legal Collective, which created legal support in a rural area, can be replicated, she said.
Meanwhile, the legal battle over the DAPL pipeline continues. Recently, the speeded-up permit was ruled illegal in federal court in Washington, D.C. However, the federal court has not stopped operation of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The Treaty is a legally binding document. This is unceded land of the Dakota Lakota Nations, she said.

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Copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News

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