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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