Black Mesa Indigenous Support

[blackcrowheart]

Black Mesa Indigenous Support
Subject: Struggle Continues on Black Mesa
Date: 1/3/2006 12:19:33 AM Pacific Standard Time

Greetings friends of Big Mountain and surrounding Dineh communities of
Black Mesa,

As the New Year begins there are new and rather startling developments
taking place on Black Mesa. That said, let us honor all the hard work
that grass roots organizations have done in contributing to the Mojave
Generating Station shutting down, the protection of the N-Aquifer and
the closure of the Black Mesa mine.

# Black Mesa Mine closes & the relocation office disbands. Victory?
Not according to many families of the Big Mountain communities. THE
STRUGGLE CONTINUES.
RIGHT NOW there is an amendment on the congressional floor that sets
a new timetable for the forced relocation of a number of Navajo
families on Black Mesa. This bill, S1003, comes at a time when the
world's largest coal company, Peabody Coal, prepares not only to
continue, but in fact to expand its strip mining of American Indian
lands. The company plans on drawing down yet another high-quality
residential aquifer in the process. However, something stands in
Peabody's way: Indigenous people live on the land above where the
water and billions of tons of low-sulfur coal lie. As with their
ancestors many generations back, these people live on the land that is
the base for their tradition, their spirituality, their water and
their livelihood.
blackmesais.org/struggle_continues05.htm

# Struggles Continue Despite Black Mesa Mine Shut Down By Bahe Y.
Katenay
Yes! Finally, we can all breathe a little easier the cleaner air, but
it's only temporary. The environmentalist and local Indigenous
activists' point of view may not see the whole picture. No, not in
terms of keeping the Black Mesa Mine operating and letting it suck-out
all the ancient pristine aquifer. But in terms of the human and
economic cost that the local indigenous mine workers and their
families are going to face.
blackmesais.org/struggles_continue1105.htm

# Stay with a family on Black Mesa. Come as an organized work crew
over a few days or weekend, or stay for a few weeks to longer. Honor
these traditional elders by volunteering to give them comfort and
peace by herding sheep, by organizing work crews to go to home sites,
and/or by providing other essential but appropriate skills such as
holistic therapy and renewable energy technologies. There's a Cultural
Sensitivity Packet at
www.blackmesais.org for new to Dineh culture and for tips on
what to bring.

# This spring a caravan will be traveling to Black Mesa from Northern
California and the San Francisco Bay Area. Carpenters, gardeners,
permaculture practioners, mechanics, body-workers, sheepherders,
anyone willing to put in a hand, join the caravan! Contact BMIS for
details.
[e-mail]


www.blackmesais.org

[Okwes]

Oglalas to honor spiritual runners

Oglalas to honor spiritual runners

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer
www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/01/04/news/local/news02.
txt

CRAWFORD, Neb. - As a group of Northern Cheyenne begin a 400-mile run
through the Black Hills to honor the 127th anniversary of their
tribe's escape from a Nebraska barracks to their Montana homeland,
Oglala relatives have stepped forward to offer healing ceremonies.

On Thursday, 120 Northern Cheyenne men, women and children will begin
the annual Fort Robinson Outbreak Spiritual Run, commemorating the
Jan. 9, 1879, escape of Chief Dull Knife and his band from the fort's
barracks. Runners will conclude their four-day journey Jan. 9 at
Busby, Mont.

In keeping with her Lakota traditions, Barbara Dull Knife, a direct
descendent of Chief Dull Knife and also an Oglala, with her husband
Wilmer "Buzz" Young Man Afraid Of His Horse Sr., both of Oglala, will
provide supper for the team of runners today at Crawford, Neb.

But Dull Knife, 60, said she believed the group also needed spiritual
healing as well as a hot meal after their first day's run. With that
in mind, she and several other Oglala tribal members organized a
Wiping of Tears ceremony for all of the runners participating in this
year's event and also for the 1879 casualties.

"No other tribe has wiped the Cheyenne tribe's tears," she
said. "This would help them heal."

Prairie Wind Casino will serve a meal at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 5, at
Loneman School in Oglala on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. A program
is scheduled to begin about 7 p.m. It is open to the public, she said.

Dull Knife said that after the death of a loved one, friends
traditionally gather to offer food, water, tobacco and to dry the
tears of those who mourn to help them go forward with their lives.

Dull Knife said that she, too, had experienced the kindness of the
community ceremony after a devastating loss in her life. It
strengthened her and helped her deal with grief.

"It helped to know that the community cared," she said.

It is that care and connection Dull Knife wants to share with the
Cheyenne.

According to organizers Phillip Whiteman Jr. and Lynette Two Bulls,
Whiteman and nine descendants of Chief Dull Knife's band went on a 76-
mile run through the Northern Cheyenne reservation communities in
1996 to undergo spiritual healing. Three years later, they charted
their spiritual run from Fort Robinson, Neb., through the Black Hills.

Whiteman said it was done to commemorate his ancestor's attempt to
escape a yearlong resettlement at Fort Reno, Okla. Suffering near-
extermination there, chiefs Dull Knife and Little Wolf, with about
350 Northern Cheyenne, decided to return to Montana.

To avoid military capture, the chiefs divided their people into two
groups as they traveled through Kansas. Little Wolf's group
eventually reached his homeland on the Powder River, but Dull Knife's
band surrendered to military officers at Fort Robinson near present-
day Crawford, Neb.

Yet, Dull Knife's band refused to return to Oklahoma.

Eventually restricting the group to barracks, military leaders
decided to withhold all food, water or wood for heat. For five days,
the group stayed in the barracks.

But at 10 p.m. on Jan. 9, 1879, in subzero temperatures, the starving
band broke out of the wooden building to flee toward its traditional
homeland. A majority of the Cheyenne were killed at the fort. Another
26 were killed about 40 miles from the fort the next morning. Their
bodies were buried in a depression known as "The Last Hole," Whiteman
said.

Whiteman said the few who survived were hidden in the lodges of Chief
Red Cloud, who happened to have camped that winter at Fort Robinson.

He said that to acknowledge that alliance between Lakota and Cheyenne
nations, the Oglala Sioux Tribe were sending runners to represent its
tribe.

"The runners not only pay homage to the Northern Cheyenne ancestors
that sacrificed their lives but to all native people's ancestors," he
said.

Organizers seek help for potluck

Organizers invite the Rapid City community to contribute to a potluck
meal on Friday, Jan. 6, to help feed participants of the Fort
Robinson Outbreak Spiritual Run.

In the past, several American Indian families have hosted the meal
for the Northern Cheyenne team of runners. Because of growing
participation — 120 team members are expected for the Friday supper —
organizers are asking for help from the community. People may bring a
salad, side dish, bread, drink or dessert to Mother Butler Center by
5 p.m. for the 6 p.m. meal. Cash donations also will be accepted.

An evening program provided by local representatives of the Lakota
nation will begin after the meal.

For information, call Marilyn Pourier at 441-8774.