I am Carlos Begay, spokesperson from the Cactus Valley Community.
I have
read the recent postings to the Big Mountain list and agree with
what John
Benally says. We need to fight with legal tools and with the
help of
supporters and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The Navajo
and Hopi
tribes and the US government do not help us and when we look around,
what we
see of the educated Dineh is that most of them have relocated
and the elders
are left resisting alone, illiterate, unable to understand the
numerous laws
that are passed that threaten their ability to survive.
The reason we traveled to New York to the United Nations a
couple of times is
to obtain the support of NGOs who we rely upon. We went to Geneva
and
throughout Germany because we did it together with the help of
Marsha
Monestersky, our Consultant who wrote grants to the World Council
of Churches
and United Methodist Church and due to the kindness of Gary Knack,
a
supporter from Maui Hawaii.
Marsha spends endless hours helping us for free. She does legal
research so
we can use the government's laws and words against them, including
the
Federal Regulations that allows us to get many animals out of
the BIA
impoundment yard, including 3 cows and 3 calves belonging to my
mother Glenna
Begay. She studies the Hopi Tribal Grazing Ordinance and the
BIA Grazing
Management Study so we can clearly expose blatent discrimination
by the Hopi
tribe against the Dineh in the allocation of sheep units on HPL.
This
research helps us a lot because when we approach lawyers to help
us they just
have their hand out for money that we do not have.
My people need help because we are suffering gross violations
of our
Constitutional rights and human rights and we are facing a forced
relocation
deadline of February 1, 2000. What we really need is for supporters
to help
us obtain legal help so we can stop the abuses by the US government
perpetuated against my people. What we need is help with funds
to pay for
lawyers so we can file injunctions in federal court and stop the
confiscations and obtain repeal of the Relocation Acts.
We have to depend upon support people who work for free, devoting
endless
hours and their expertise. We are thankful to them for this.
People like
Mauro Oliveria and others from SOL Communications who spend countless
hours
organizing food runs and for his work on a documentary that we
support.
People like Bill and Rita Sebastian who continue to devote endless
hours
helping us without ever asking for repayment of their debts.
People like
Eagle from Unity of Nations and Jennifer and Kim from ARC. And
people like
Julia who just left today, Sunday, June 20 to return home to LA.
Julia drove here Friday night, June 18, with her friend Muriel,
from LA to
escort an animals rights activist to the Winslow Tract on Saturday,
June 19,
meeting up with Anna Begay, an elder from Coal Mine Mesa and Marsha
Monestersky. The purpose, to investigate the abuse of relocated
cows
belonging to Dineh resisters, animals brought there just to avoid
confiscation by the BIA. These exiled cows on the Winslow Tract
face an
uncertain future, they are denied water, forage, and any chance
to return
home. Anna Begay who was there, together with Mae Tso and Mazzie
Begay all
said they were missing cows and calves that they fear are dead,
describing in
painful detail how their animals are starving and dying there
on lands they
do not know.
This land was leased by the Navajo tribe and is under the responsibility
of
the US Department of Agriculture. It is my hope that the animal
rights
activist can help stop this abuse against our animals. This is
a recent
issue we have begun to work on and this like all the other issues
requires
that we fight the governmental agencies with papers and with long
hours of
hard work and dedication.
I also wonder how the BIA can justify continuing to confiscate
our livestock
as a method of dealing with range management when the US Department
of
Agriculture is aware of the drought and its preferred method of
dealing with
this problem is to help the Navajo tribe complete an application
that will
provide funds to the tribe for HPL residents to receive hay, feed
and water
for their animals. Whose jurisdiction are we under? The Navajo
tribe uses
the excuse that we are under the Hopi tribe and the Hopi tribe
just denies us
everything. And in the meantime the US government continues to
steal our
animals and profit from their sale at public auction.
Please contact Roman Bitsuie, Executive Director, Navajo Hopi
Land
Commission, P.O. Box 2549, Window Rock, AZ 86515. Phone: (520)
871-6277.
Demand that he help the HPL residents. Ask him how he can allow
his own
people to starve when the US Department of Agriculture is willing
to help.
Make sure he does whatever is necessary to make sure that the
US Department
of Agriculture provides emergency relief to HPL residents.
This is some of the news that needs to be posted so I ask you
to please be
careful about what gets posted on the Big Mountain list. This
list should be
used for news and not for talk of violence, threats of violence
and attacks.
I know that threats against federal officials are against the
law and if you
threaten your employer or co-worker you can be terminated from
your job.
We do not want any talk of guns and ammunition or physical
fights by
supporters with the BIA. I am concerned about what will happen
to our elders
when these people go home. They are the ones that will suffer
for this.
To all the supporters, please know that I appreciate your support.
Yours sincerely,
Carlos Begay
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