Dear Luna and Ancient Forest supporters,

Hundreds including Julia Butterfly Hill Gather on Black Mesa to Support Resistance of Dineh Elders

This February 1 marks the beginning of a complex campaign to remove Dineh from their homes, initiated by Senator and presidential hopeful John McCain. Elders of the Sovereign Dineh Nation have been resisting relocation at the hands of the United States government and major energy corporations including Peabody Western Coal Company. Since the presence of the highest deposits of coal, oil and uranium in North America were discovered below the Hopi and Navajo reservation.

Peabody Coal and the U.S government have been waging a long-term campaign to drive the traditional Dineh from their ancestral homeland. Since the 1970s more than 14,000 Dineh people residing on the Hopi Partition Land, designated exclusively for Hopi use, have been relocated to neighboring cities. Within six years of the first relocation program 25% of the Dineh relocated had died from relocation related illnesses. Today open uranium mines still lie uncovered, water, and ground contaminated by Peabody Coal Company’s mining facilities.

Julia Butterfly Hill, recently descended from her two-year vigil atop an ancient redwood tree in Humboldt County, plans to join Dineh elders in Big Mountain to support their resistance efforts. ‘We recognize the scars caused by our government and corporations which have violated indigenous people and the sacred land. We must do all we can to keep this form of genocide from being perpetrated.’

The traditional Dineh elders residing on Hopi Partitioned Land have taken a vow never to leave their sacred homeland. They say they will die defending it.

Hopi Tribe
Wayne Taylor, Chairman
Eugene Kaye, Chief of Staff
P.O. Box 123
Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039

Dear Mr. Taylor and Mr. Kaye,

I am writing to urge you to support the establishment of the Dine Nation homeland as a National Cultural Historic Site. The land is far more valuable for its sacred sites and medicine grounds than for any coal company's short term profits. Please learn from the example of the Lakota Nation that has consistently resisted the theft of the Black Hills and refused to accept the one-time cash payment offered in exchange for that historic and sacred land.

The lessons learned by the elders living on the same land for generation after generation cannot be passed on if the land is lost. No classroom can replace the natural world.

Our future on this planet, if we are to have one, depends on all nations coming together and learning from one another. As the native inhabitants of this continent, the world is depending on you to teach us how to be stewards of the land. Selling the land so that it can be strip mined for coal which will only pollute the air and poison the rain is no example for this or any other generation. Please do not let the mistakes of the United States become the mistakes of the Hopi as well.

In the coming weeks, many people from all over the world will travel to the Big Mountain region to show their support for Dine Nation and the natural world. Please use your power and influence to ensure that these peaceful demonstrators and witnesses are treated with all the kindness and respect that reflects the height of interaction between human beings. Heed the compass of your hearts in these trying times.

Thank you for your leadership and consideration.

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