Dear Media Representative,
The deadline is fast approaching for about 3,000 Navajo Indians,
many of
whom are elderly women, that the U.S. government wants to forcibly
relocate to lands contaminated by the worst nuclear waste spill
in U.S.
history. Likened by some to those actions taken in the old West
to
eradicate Native Americans who where simply in the way of progress,
this
forced relocation is over resources - coal resources.
The official story offered by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) is
that the 3,000 remaining Navajo (over 10,000 have already been
relocated
over the last 25 years), known as the Dineh in their native tongue,
are
part of a land dispute between them and the Hopi Tribe, the designated
owners of the land. Records show, though, that over the last 50
years,
this land dispute has been carefully orchestrated by the U.S.
government
and the Peabody Coal Company, the owners of the largest strip
coal mine
in the country, to provide a cover story for the real purpose
-
eliminate any barrier to expansion of the coal mine.
Coal from the mine feeds the Mojave Generating Station, the
largest
polluter in the nation, and supplies power throughout the Western
U.S.
It is jointly owned by Southern California Edison Company, the
Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power and others.
Actions taken by the BIA include confiscation of the Dineh's
livestock
upon which their lives depend, confiscation of firewood and a
prohibition against rebuilding their homes damaged by coal mine
explosions or building new ones. There is a constant atmosphere
of
harassment. To the Dineh, to relocate from their lands is to disappear
and those that remain wish to defend their right to stay.
The American people and the people of the world have been kept
in the
dark about this story. There has been virtually no coverage of
these
human rights abuses in the mainstream media. I hope you will consider
bringing this situation to the attention of your audience.
If you would like more information about this American tragedy,
you can
check out the following sources:
Overview of the situation by Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. for
the LYCOS
Environment News Service. At the end of each article are many
Internet
links to resources:
* Part 1: Mining - the Navajo - to Extinction Resource Extraction
and
The Genocide of the Navajo People at
http://www.jps.net/jackieg/articles/may03-1999g.html
* Part 2: How the West Was Lost at
http://www.ens.lycos.com/ens/may99/1999L-05-16g.html
Detailed account of the current situation including interviews
with
Dineh in the August 5, 1999 issue of the Los Angeles New Times:
* Power Play by Victor Mejia at
http://www.newtimesla.com/1999/080599/feature1-1.html
Direct contacts for this story appear below. There is a 14-minute
video
documentary available. Thank you for considering this important
story.
Sincerely,
--
Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Studies
Author, "Healing Our World" on the Environment News
Service at
http://www.ens.lycos.com/ens/features/healing/index.html
Visit Jackie's website on teaching, activism and an archive
of over
100
of his articles at http://www.deepteaching.com
CONTACTS
For a 14-minute video documentary about this tragedy called
"Vanishing
Prayer," contact Steve Sugarman, Social and Environmental
Entrepreneurs
(the financial representatives for the Sovereign Dineh Nation)
, 20110
Rockport Way, Malibu, CA, 90265-5340, Telephone: (310) 456-3534.
Email:
SEE8541@aol.com
Marsha Monestersky, Consultant to Sovereign Dineh Nation
Phone: (520) 673-3461, E-mail: dinetah29@aol.com
Web site: http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/welcome.html
Action Resources Center in Los Angeles coordinates many direct
actions,
including food drops for the Dineh.
Contacts:
Jennafer Waggoner at arcla@envirolink.org
Mauro deOliveira at meyesol@eudoramail.com
Contact: Dr. Thayer Scudder (626)395-4207;email:tzs@hss.caltech.edu
Background: Professor of Anthropology at California Institute
of
Technology
and consultant to the UN and World Bank with respect to relocation
programs.
Studied the Dineh case extensively. Scudder is the author of No
Place to
Go,
published by the Univ. of Arizona Press.
For information on uranium contamination of the "New Lands":
The site
near Chambers, AZ, was
contaminated by the worst spill of radioactive material in US
history
and should have been declared a Superfund site for cleanup. Instead,
the
US purchased it at a discount and made it the prime site for relocated
Dineh
families.
Contact: Alex Varella (410) 822-8452
Background: Alex was an attorney at the EPA for over 20 years
and is
familiar with the case.
Contact: Paul Robinson and Chris Shuey, Southwest Research
&
Information Center (505) 262-1862
Background: Experts on the Church Rock spill that contaminated
the Rio
Puerco, already heavily contaminated from 30 years of mine dewatering.
For general overview information: Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.,
Professor
of Environmental Studies. Email at jackie@deepteaching.com