Emit Navakuku, Director of the Hopi Tribal Council who is working in collusion with the Federal Government (BIA) for stripmining by Peabody Coal Company, finally showed up at the site where the confrontation was takng place. He decided to have the machinery removed at the end of the seven hour stand-off with the promise that the machinery would not be brought back until residents of the area had met with himself or another government official. Emit Navakuku promised the meeting would take place May 16th by 10:00 a.m. . He also stated (on tape) that he knew that these sites where the BIA construction crews were attempting to dig were,
in fact sacred sites to the Dine residents.
On May 16th, the government offic-
ials failed to meet with over fifty Dine and
Hopi traditional people who waited all day at the said meeting site as agreed upon by Emit Navakuku, government official. The Traditional people were waiting to voice their united opposition to the BIA construction projects.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is no longer denying the fact that the direction of all this preliminary digging in Range Unit 259 is headed toward drilling for future stripmining and that Big Mountain is a target for mining coal and other resources. By federal law, the BIA's first responsiblity is to protect the human rights and the religious freedom of the Dine residents who are struggling to maintain their traditional way of life. Is our federal government neglecting this responsiblity and acting as an agent for corporate mining profit at the expense of traditional Native American people and their sacred land?
To get involved locally contact Michael Streeter at 462-2306.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2003
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited