From: Jennifer Barr-DiPiazza <Jennifer@peacefund.org>
Bob, can you please post this to the list ASAP. This is urgent
for today.
thanks, Jenn
-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Taaffe [mailto:bambam@anthro.umass.edu]
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2000 9:08 PM
To: tom taaffe
Subject: How you can help the Dine'h (Navaho)
Dear Friends,
We are organzing a letter writing campaign to President on
Monday, February
7th. In order to reach the President's desk, we need to have
more than 30
people send their message on the same day. For that reason, we
will be
targeting different political leaders on different days. To that
end, we
ask that you circulate this letter (and the brief background material
that
will come to you in an accompanying e-mail) to your friends,
family and
listserves and to write to the President on this very important
matter.
When you write your letter of support, pleas CC a copy to us
(bambam@anthro.umass.edu), so we can track our efforts.
We have enclosed a sample letter in this e-mail which you can
either copy
and send or use as a model for your own efforts. We have also
enclosed the
President's e-mail address in this e-mail. Please take a moment
and support
the Dine'h Elders in their struggle to remain on their ancestral
lands. If
you are writing from a country other than the US, please also
contact your
Foreign Ministry and ask them to support the Dine'h and convey
their
concerns to the US Embassy.
If you wish to join the Friends of Big Mountain Listserve and
recieve other
updates, please respond to bambam@anthro.umass.edu and we will
be happy to
add you to our list.
Thank you for your support.
Thomas Taaffe
Listserve Manager
Friends of Big Mountain
President Clinton's e-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
Sample letter:
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20500
February 6, 2000
Dear Mr. President:
We are concerned about the eviction hearings of traditional
Dine'h (Navajo)
in US District Court in Phoenix which are began to be processed
on February
1, 2000. Please issue an Executive Order forbidding any forced
evictions of
Dine'h from Hopi Partition Lands (HPL) in northeastern Arizona,
while you
still can!
Forcing Dine'h to sign unfair "Accommodation Agreement"
leases to settle
legal claims the Hopi Tribal Council brought against the United
States is
neither permanent nor fair. Dine'h are told they must sign AA
leases under
PL 104-301 to stay on the HPL, or face forced eviction to radioactive
"New
Lands" contaminating the Rio Puerco near Sanders. This is
unacceptable!
AA leases are a bad solution and continue to be resisted by
Dine'h because
lease terms limit their sheepherding subsistence, interfere with
their
land-based worship, and deny their due process and constitutional
rights.
Also, leases are temporary and ignore the needs of future Dine'h
generations.
Forbidding construction or repair of housing for 33 years to force
Dine'h to
move under PL 93-531 is a cruel and inappropirate measure to solve
problems
that the United States has created. Young Dine'h families have
had to crowd
into deteriorating existing housing or move away; those who have
made
repairs or built homes since 1966 are told to dismantle them or
face
demolition. Promises that the ban will be lifted under AA leases
remain
unfulfilled. Adequate housing is their treaty right and human
right! Why
force them to give up other rights in order to regain this basic
right?
Court-ordered evictions would be enforced by a multijurisdictional
police
task force led by the Department of Justice, who is currently
under
investigation for their role in the tragic fire at the Branch
Dividian
Compound at Waco, Texas. Forced evictions can only bring further
tragedy and
national disgrace. Please forbid any forced evictions!
The United States must become more "accommodating"
and stop bullying
American Indians. This is your opportunity to leave a legacy of
righting
centuries of wrongdoing, starting with traditional Dine'h on the
HPL.
Show your commitment to human rights here at home. Please issue
an Executive
Order forbidding forced eviction of Dine'h, before it is too late!
Yours very truly,
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