Copyright © 1998 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

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Emergency Grant Application
From the Sovereign Dineh Nation

By way of the Big Mountain List
Thursday, October 1, 1998

Copyright © 1998 SDN
All Rights Reserved

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This is a SDN fax requesting funding to send Dineh elders to the UN General assembly when Mr. Amor makes his report on human rights violations by the United States against the Dineh and Hopi peoples.

Sovereign Dineh Nation
P.O. Box 1968
Kaibeto, AZ 86053
(520) 673-3461
September 24, 1996

Emergency Grant Application

Re: Request for the assistance of Big Mountain supporters to provide funding for traditional Dineh (Navajo) people to travel to NY to respond to the United Nations report on the US which will be presented in early November to the Third Committee of the General Assembly.

Dear Big Mountain supporters,

On behalf of the Council of Elders, our Board of Directors, and the Representatives of Sovereign Dineh Nation we wish to express our appreciation for your support. At this time we are greatly in need of funds to travel to NY in early November to meet with UN officials and NGOs when Mr Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance of the UN Commission on Human Rights presents his report on the US to the Third Committee of the General Assembly.

As you know, we face many obstacles to religious freedom as land-based practitioners and the impacts on our sacred sites due to Peabody Coal Company's mining operations. At this time we urgently need your help to preserve our sacred land and ensure greater respect and reverence for Indigenous land-based religion and the protection of ancient Anasazi and Dineh sacred and burial sites. It is our hope that you can help provide funding for Dineh travel to New York.

The Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Mr. Amor of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights visited the Dinah in Black Mesa in February, 1998. This is the first time that the US is being investigated by the UN for vlolations of the right to freedom of religion or belief which are human rights This visit was in response to a complaint we filed in 1997 charging the US with human rights violations against the traditional Dineh people, charging that federal laws have denied us access to water, bulldozing of our homes, legalized the confiscation of our livestock, kept us from gathering firewood to heat our homes in winter, and prohibited any housing improvement.

Public laws 93-531 and 104-301, known as "relocation laws", have forced aver 12,000 traditional Dineh off their lands. About 3,000 remain, surviving by herding sheep and weaving rugs, living subject to frequent harassment by the US government's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

Since we practice a land-based, site-specific religion, the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance was invited to investigate human rights violations affecting Our religion. On February 3, 1998, over and over again, Dineh people recounted to Mr. Amor - their spiritual ties to the land and the destruction, both physical and spiritual, wreaked by the Peabody Coal Company, the partitioning of the land, and the relocation practices.

Oh August 30th. the vision of the people of Sovereign Dineh Nation was renewed, after almost 2 decades. The meeting was held at the home of Glenna Begay, a place that reminds us of the energy and hope born in our people when the UN Human Rights investigators and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) visited with us on Black Mesa in February

On September 19, a meeting took place of the Medicine Men's Association, the General Assembly of medicine men from across the Navajo Nation. On the agenda was discussion of a statement of support for Sovereign Dineh Nation to protect Anasazi and Dineh sacred sites, cemeteries - to stop the desecration by Peabody Coal Company

On September 30, the Center for Dine' Studies of Dine' Community College will host "Religious Intolerance on Black Mesa - The Hopes and Struggles of the People of Sovereign Dineh Nation." Forthcoming is a letter of support for Sovereign Dineh Nation from Dineh Community College.

Hundreds of testimonies appealing for justice have been submitted to the United Nations Commission On Human Rights, the US Department of the Interior, the US Department of Justice and Congress. They detail threats made against Dineh elders by US governmental officials that come to their door saying, "You must relocate or sign a 75-year lease Agreement to stay on your land, and if you do not sign your house will be burned down, and your possessions put on the "other side of the fence" And they say, "Your livestock will be confiscated." This is elder abuse As you ere aware, we hold sacred medicine bundles and remain on our sacred land in order to protect and preserve our sacred land and traditional ways

Dineh lives, culture, arid human rights are being sacrificed in order to provide short-term profits for a non-sustainable industry, Peabody Coal Company, also threatening the regional and global environment. Over 4,000 ancient Anasazi cliff houses, burial and ceremonial sites in the region have been destroyed, and these activities are condoned by the US government and the tribal councils in their pursuit of mining profits. The exploitation of natural resources and the destruction of ancient Anasazi and Dineh cemeteries continues.

This past June, with the consent of the US government, during a United Nations investigation of religious intolerance. a Kiva containing 28 Anasazi burials was destroyed and is now under tons of dirt. This drag line is operating adjacent to a public access road. It is currently 100 yards from an occupied dwelling and the Navajo Nation as an agent of the coal mine is threatening eminent domain in order to force the elders living there to relocate. Peabody Coal Company says the area is uninhabited.

This summer, a cemetery by Ataid Y Lake and Maxine Kescoli was bulldozed. Human remains still lay scattered. We don't even know what happens to the remains that are removed. Next to the bulldozed area is a site where we make offerings and have held many ceremonies. When we pass on to the spirit world we can't even be buried on our land. We are powerless to protect even the burial sites of our ancestors These actions are being conducted and condoned in flagrant violation or our religion. After removal of the remains, many of the Anasazi burials sites are not even covered up. There is a sweat lodge in the area that was destroyed, they did not even bother to take the rake they used with them. This bulldozed area is currently 100 yards from an occupied dwelling.

Protests by our elders living in the region only resulted in threats and harassment by the tribes as agents of the coal mine. Our elders are being forced to stand by and witness the destruction, helpless to protect their sacred sites and cemeteries

In July, an area on Hopi Partition Land was cleared in advance of mining activities. Our old trees are energy for the people and we make offerings to these places. If these areas are all clear cut they are taking away our rights to our energy and natural resources, plants, hills, and springs. This cleared region is currently 100 yards from sacred springs on Glenna Begay's customary use area. They were planted there by Medicine people and contain a year-round water resource

Sections of the road that NGOs traveled from Kayenta to the Begay residence is now closed off and we are forced to use an alternative public road. Most of this construction was completed before a permit was ever issued by the US government's Office of Surface Mining. It Contains sharp turns, intersects with arid joins a mine haul road used by heavy equipment. Our children ride on school buses through this area and we are concerned because they are endangered. Big rocks used to line the road is destroying our vehicles and causes us to get flat tires frequently, sometimes we get as many as two or three flat tires at one time. We were never consulted before this road was constructed and we never gave our consent.

No one tells us about the mining operations and we have no voice in negotiations that take place behind closed doors by corrupt tribal and US governmental officials We are suffering from a Navajo Nation that has witnessed 4 presidents in the last six months due to convictions for ethics violations; an investigator from the Ethics and Rules office that was convicted for criminal sexual assault of his 15 year old daughter; numerous tribal council officials found guilty of pocketing tribal funds; office workers downloadinq pornography: approval of permits by officials that allows the destruction of our sacred shrines, homes and cemeteries.

It is these and other issues that we wish to bring to the attention of the UN and NGOs. This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples. It is time now, finally, for Justice.

Any financial assistance that Big Mountain supporters can provide will be greatly appreciated and is urgently needed to help fund Dineh travel to New York to meet with Mr Amor, the UN and NGOs. At stake is the survival of the people of Dineh Nation. Thank you in advance for your assistance and support. We will remain in communication with you end let you know the date for the upcoming historic meeting of Dineh, UN representatives and NGOs as soon as we know.

If you can provide an organizational tax-deductible contribution towards Dineh travel and outreach expenses to prepare for the UN please contact:

Steve Sugarman, Executive Director
Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE)
(an affiliate of the Earth Trust Foundation)
20110 Rockport Way, Malibu, CA 90265-5340
Phone: (310) 458-3534, Tax ID number 95-4116679

Please specify that your contributon is for the Dineh Project Thank you for your support.

Yours sincerely,

(signatures and thumbprints of signers)

Sovereign Dineh Nation (SDN) Organizational Structure Approved by Consensus on Sunday, August 30, 1998

Council of Elders - Board of Directors

Bitta C. Begay
Glenna C. Begay
Roberta BIackgoat
Huck Greyeyes
Rene Babbitt Lane
Jim Manson
Katherine A Smith
Kee Watchman
Oscar Whitehair
Pauline Whitesinger

Representatives

Carlos Begay
Helena Begay
John Benally
Leonard Benally
Sammy Keyonnie
Sam Lake
Wayne O'Daniel
Marsha Monestersky (& Consultant)
Bonnie Whitesinger

Associate

Norman Benally,
Dine' Mining Action Center (D'MAC)