Urgent Help Needed
The Sovereign Dineh Nation has been resisting relocation for over two decades. Already more than 14,000 Dineh have been relocated. Another 3000 remain on their ancestrial homeland in Northern Arizona atop Black Mesa (aka: Big Mountain). Now, for the first time since relocation began, an oppurtunity has arisen that could end this nightmare. The United Nations Human Rights Commission has begun an investigation of human rights abuses that is focused on Black Mesa. The UN report will come out in Geneva this April and again in October in New York. The remaining Dineh on Black Mesa need urgent supplies so that they can remain healthfully intact when these reports come out. The Sovereign Dineh Nation must be intact at that time.
A look at the facts:
· Over 14,000 Dineh have been relocated since 1979.
· The primary relocation site is within the region of a 100,000,000 gallon radioactive spill.
· Forced livestock reductions up to 95% seige food, wool (warmth) and trade.
· Hundreds of head of livestock have been posioned (dead) by pollutants and "unknown" sources.
·Elderly people have bee phsically threatened and intimidated.
·Law enforcement "visiting" these elderly carry automatic weapons.
·The "Bennett" freeze makes it illegal to fix homes or build structures, including outhouses.
·It is illegal to gather wood. All heating on Black Mesa is from wood burning stoves.
·Over 20,000 archeological sites have been destroyed by strip mining.
·During a UN visit, 28 Anasazi burial sites were desecrated by coal mining operations.
·The Dineh who are resisting relocation live on the very grounds their ancestors are buried.
·Every well on Black Mesa has been drained of water by mining.
·Over 30 billion gallons of pristine aquifer has been slurried with coal to Nevada (275 miles) then dumped into the desert.
·Some elderly people must travel up to 50 miles to get drinking water.
· The author of the "Relocation Act", John Boyden, was also the attorney for the mining company and the tribal council at the same time.
·The tribal council whose law enforcment agency claims jurisdiction over Black Mesa has had 5 tribal presidents in six months time. Corruption runs throughout reservation government.
The Sovereign Dineh Nation is a recognized NGO at the United Nations and their struggle is supported by over 250 other NGOs including the World Council of Churches and the United Methodist Church.
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