BRITISH COLUMBIA HAS TO RESPECT TRADITIONAL GITANYOW GOVERNMENT - How Wii’litswx put “ the Crown” in its place!
JUDGE TEKASTIAKS SAYS, “RIGHT ON!”
Mohawk Nation News
Aug. 31, 2008. Canada is a colonial state and Canadian law is topsy turkey! The Indigenous hurricanes are coming. The Canadian levee has been breached. One of the last judgments of Madam Justice Neilson at the Supreme Court of British Columbia admits that the traditional Gitanyow government and social order has to be respected. Judge Neilson has just been promoted to the British Columbia Court of Appeal. There’s no doubt now. Her reasoning should stand unless Canada torpedoes it with another fit of the D.T.s [delirium tremens].
Why did this happen? The colonizers rely on the same earthly elements as we Onkwehonwe. The environment’s in a shambles. The air is polluted. So is most of the soil. We’re living on the last 10% of the fish in the oceans. We’re using up oil, gas and lumber like there’s no tomorrow. Everyone’s scared. Some members of colonial society are starting to wake up. If their destructive mania does not stop soon, we’re all doomed.
Let’s take a look at Judge Nielson’s reasoning in Wii’litswx v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests) [2008 BCSC 1139].(You can find the full text by Googling “Canlii”). What did she do when the B.C. Ministry of Forests gave out timber licences on Gitanyow land without Gitanyow consent?
Our nationhood has been violated by illegal timber licences ever since 1888 when Britain’s PriCouncil decided St. Catherine’s Milling and Lumber Company v. The Queen. The colonizers didn’t consult the Saulteaux before deciding that the right to timber licences on Saulteaux national territory belonged to Ontario’s provincial government, not Canada’s federal government. As if! Neither colonial government had a right!!
Britain’s Privy Council specifically said that it was not determining “the precise quality of the Indian right”. The colonizers relied on a legal delusion. They pretended that “Indians” had only a “personal and usufructuary right dependent upon the goodwill of the Crown”. What? We never heard of the Crown before contact. Our rights don’t depend on the Crown that came to town!
St. Catherine’s Milling implicitly gave Ontario permission to manage Saulteaux resources. This was illegal. There was no explanation as to how the British Crown got jurisdiction in the first place. But the colonizers went crazy and their scramble for Indigenous resources escalated.
The colonial pillage has continued for over a century. A few Canadian judges are beginning to come to their senses. They have finally recognized that we were here first. Wow!!! They finally found their glasses!!!
The Supreme Court of Canada decisions in Haida Nation v. British Columbia [2004 SCC 73 (CanLii)] and Taku River Tlingit First Nation v. British Columbia [2004 SCC 74 (CanLii)] are still trespassing wholesale, but they have finally recognized that there is a “duty to consult” us before they take our stuff. (We’ve been saying this all along).
Canada’s economy is totally dependant on stealing our assets – the resources that we hold in trust for our coming generations. That has to be the main reason why the “white” settler states have refused to sign the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This ploy does not get them off the hook. They’ve signed all sorts of treaties and accords agreeing that humans are equal. They have to start doing this in practice.
Wii’litswx gets down to the nitty-gritty. It forces them to take a first step. The text on Canlii is long and tedious. “Chief Justice Lamer described the import of s.35(1)…blah, blah,blah”; “The difference between the TSA and the TFLA is…blah, blah, blah”, “Sections 16.3 and 16.4 acknowledge that…blah, blah blah”. It’s got lots of quotes about Whereas, LUP, MoF, GFA, SRMP. 45 pages of dense bureaucratese!!
You have to wonder. How did the Gitanyow manage the forest and turn it into an internationally coveted resource without using a single sheet of paper?
Judge Nielson pointed out that there was “a long and troubled history of over-logging and unfulfilled silviculture obligations on Gitanyow traditional territory”. The Crown agreed that it had “a duty to meaningfully consult with the Gitanyow in good faith and to reasonably accommodate its concerns and interests”. It ignored them. As the judge said, “Meaningful consultation and accommodation” is more than just “thorough discussion”. She found that the Ministry of Forests should have come up with a plan “endorsed by the Gitanyow”.
We can’t agree with her here. It is Gitanyow territory. It’s their right to decide whether foreign corporations can cut their trees.
Judge Neilson recognized that the Gitanyow thought that ratification by their “Heredetary Chiefs” was essential. She said the Ministry of Forests could not issue the forestry licences without their opinions. This is confusing. British Columbia can’t prove its jurisdiction. It’s Ministry of Forests doesn’t have authority to issue any licences at all.
Wii’litswx did not discuss why the government of British Columbia was giving licences to lumber companies that extract rare resources for private benefit. It disregarded the needs of the people who actually live in British Columbia. However, Judge Neilson did discuss the stumpage fees that are paid to the provincial government by the corporations for the trees cut. The evidence showed that the Gitanyow claimed 50% of these fees. The Ministry of Forests’ tried to get away with paying a few hundred thousand dollars, using their own per capita formula. Judge Neilson did not accept their idea that this was “economic accommodation”. She’s was right on here!
From a Haudenosaunee perspective, Wii’litswx has a few good points. It is also disappointing. Why should the Gitanyow have to negotiate with a bunch of in-migrating colonists for “the right to harvest wood for domestic purposes”? It is their land and their wood!!
Judge Neilson did recognize that the Gitanyow’s clan-based Wilp system and boundaries are “an integral and defining feature” of their society. She supported the Gitanyow’s right to decide for themselves how to structure their laws and institutions. This is a departure from the Supreme Court of Canada’s practice of setting out good principles at the beginning and violating them in its final decision. Like when it says ambiguities should be determined in favour of “the Indians” and then decides that these same “Indians” don’t know how to interpret their own culture.
It’s time for the colonial junkies to kick their thieving habits. “Most are so stoned they’ve hit rock bottom and don’t even know it!” [A quote from Judge Tekastiaks “She-calls-it-like-it-is”]. Judge Neilson pointed out that recognition of Indigenous economic rights would have “wide-ranging repercussions for all citizens of British Columbia”. The joint planning process required is “evolutionary and long-term”. But if they don’t respect our rights, they are going to kill themselves.
She did not quash the illegal licences. The Gitanyow had already agreed to let the licensees continue to operate. [Band council sell outs again!] Judge Neilson invited further submissions on what to do. The traditional people can file a written objection to the Court. In effect, the judge has already invited them.
Back here on Kanienkehaka territory, we are in another world with rotten and out-dated judicial reasoning. Wii’litswx relied on Mitchell v. Minister of National Revenue [2001, SCC 33 (CanLii)] for the false idea that the Canadian Constitution aims to reconcile prior Indigenous occupation with “the Crown’s assertion of sovereignty”. This can’t be reconciled. There is no proof that the Crown’s sovereignty is legitimate anywhere.
Mitchell was decided before Haida and Taku. It said nothing about how we were not consulted on the invention of Canada or the phony border that divides Akwesasne. It concludes that even though the people of Akwesasne were living on islands in the river long before the invasion by colonists, they never crossed to the north shore to trade for anything!! This is ridiculous!
The Supreme Court of Canada seems to think that if you live on the part of Akwesasne claimed by the United States and you want to give your old washing machine to your sister who lives on the side claimed by Canada, you have to pay duty to Canada. This makes no sense!
The imposed boundary that runs through the middle of Akwesasne makes normal life impossible. Canadian officials use this as an excuse for abuse. Sadistic Canadian Border Service Agency guards are constantly stopping, harassing and assaulting our people. [Judge Tekastiaks suggests, “The white people should have a “white lane” like we do except with Indian border guards”.]
The “meaningful and reasonable process of consultation” relied upon by Judge Neilson in Wii’litswx is no where to be found in Canadian relations with the Kanienkehaka. Canadians have to start being lawful people. Every square inch of Turtle Island belongs to the Onkwehonwe. Canada and the United States have to sit down and talk with us if they want to survive the greedy and destructive habits they brought here.
Ieri’wa:onni, Judge Tekastiaks and MNN Staff
See www.mohawknationnews.com, click on "News" and go to "Canada" category.
PLEASE NOTE: As can be seen, it’s becoming critical for legal actions to be taken to protect our rights. We have no funds. Canada is hiring costly law firms to suppress our rights. If you can donate anything to our cause, it will be greatly appreciated.
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Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Leonard Peltier: Statement to 'Freedom for Political Prisoners' Denver 2008
Statement from Leonard Peltier
by Leonard Peltier Monday Aug 25th, 2008 10:08 AM
Greetings my friends and relatives, First of all, I can't express to you, near as much as I'd like to. The sincere appreciation I have that you would gather together remembering all the political prisoners, hostages and myself the way you have. Gatherings like this are extremely important because it reminds people of the sacrifices that are made daily through out the world for freedom, justice, and a clean and sane environment for our future generations. The powers that exploit our resources and people will always be there, generation after generation. And the creator will always call upon people to stand against that exploitation. Even if the creator does not call. Any just man or woman, with any semblance of justice, be it spiritual, social or environmental, He will find cause to take issue with those enemies of humanity and nature. One of the reasons I am so appreciative is because I want you to know, from where I stand the gatherings that you do mean so very very much to the other political prisoners, other hostages and myself. It is an extreme importance that political prisoners and hostages not be forgotten. Not necessarily for the sake of the prisoners and hostages themselves, but for the sake of future generations. To appreciate and protect and jealously guard the freedoms they possess; that was paid for with someone's life. I think the most difficult times for a political prisoner or hostage, is when people start to forget what their sacrifice was about, when people become complacent because of some economic level they have attained, and forget the sacrifices that were made and the danger of them losing those gains is imminent. And I know from personal experience, the joy I feel when I receive letters of appreciations or visitors and that is second to the joy I feel when I know that my efforts were not in vain. And there are young people taking up the cause and responsibility of regaining our lost freedoms and resources. I dearly miss the touch of friends, I dearly miss walking through a forest or across a meadow or even through the traffic of a busy street, or feeling the wind blowing against my skin, directly, rather than a window or some chain link fence. But with all this, I can't express to you how at a great loss I would feel if the reason and cause of the many political prisoners and hostages throughout the world was forgotten. Swept aside, because people become too comfortable with their status quo. I have been here for 33 years that is more than half of my life. I would give almost anything to go home. But I won't give up, I would give almost anything to be with my family. But I won't be quiet. I would give almost anything to say goodbye to this place, but I won't say goodbye to my beliefs and our struggle. I would give almost anything to walk out this door and never return. But I will never walk away from the love of my people. When I think of the things that I hear and see in the media, about how many different special interest groups, speak of various subjects, like the right to live, or pro-life, I cant help but think, of the children around the world, who never get a chance to live because of the exploitation of their resources of their country and their people. All of the destruction that is taking place here and abroad is a direct result of people, special interest groups, whose interest is primarily wealth and taking more than they need. The religious people or should I say The spiritual people of America, and anywhere else for that matter, should seek to aggressively band together to stop the unjust wars that truly impact primarily the common man, the common man who in his village or farm, city or anywhere else is destroyed, by bombs, from the various governments. Governments; Who in the name of nationalism and patriotism seek to gain political power and control over someone else's resource and political system. They should actively band together and identify the things they have in common rather than dwelling on their differences. Perhaps I am rambling too much in my statement, after 33 years in prison and 63 years upon this earth, much of this time spent thinking, praying, analyzing, and mediating, on the information that I gather from various forms of writings, books and observations, I somehow feel I have a little bit of a right, to say what I think and feel. I love you all and I am so honored that I would be invited to make a statement to you. And if I could hug each one of you individually, I guarantee you would damn well be hugged! I have never given up in my struggle for freedom. Freedom is a natural inclination of all living creatures up on the earth. Even a newborn will struggle when held too tightly. I deeply regret being in prison I deeply regret losing family members while in here, I deeply regret all the wonderful things in life that I have missed, but I will never regret standing up for my people for as long as I can draw my breath. My heart is with them always, and my heart is with you today. So long for now; I will remember you in my prayers and until next time. Keep the faith.
Your relative always In the spirit of crazy horse, Leonard Peltier
by Leonard Peltier Monday Aug 25th, 2008 10:08 AM
Greetings my friends and relatives, First of all, I can't express to you, near as much as I'd like to. The sincere appreciation I have that you would gather together remembering all the political prisoners, hostages and myself the way you have. Gatherings like this are extremely important because it reminds people of the sacrifices that are made daily through out the world for freedom, justice, and a clean and sane environment for our future generations. The powers that exploit our resources and people will always be there, generation after generation. And the creator will always call upon people to stand against that exploitation. Even if the creator does not call. Any just man or woman, with any semblance of justice, be it spiritual, social or environmental, He will find cause to take issue with those enemies of humanity and nature. One of the reasons I am so appreciative is because I want you to know, from where I stand the gatherings that you do mean so very very much to the other political prisoners, other hostages and myself. It is an extreme importance that political prisoners and hostages not be forgotten. Not necessarily for the sake of the prisoners and hostages themselves, but for the sake of future generations. To appreciate and protect and jealously guard the freedoms they possess; that was paid for with someone's life. I think the most difficult times for a political prisoner or hostage, is when people start to forget what their sacrifice was about, when people become complacent because of some economic level they have attained, and forget the sacrifices that were made and the danger of them losing those gains is imminent. And I know from personal experience, the joy I feel when I receive letters of appreciations or visitors and that is second to the joy I feel when I know that my efforts were not in vain. And there are young people taking up the cause and responsibility of regaining our lost freedoms and resources. I dearly miss the touch of friends, I dearly miss walking through a forest or across a meadow or even through the traffic of a busy street, or feeling the wind blowing against my skin, directly, rather than a window or some chain link fence. But with all this, I can't express to you how at a great loss I would feel if the reason and cause of the many political prisoners and hostages throughout the world was forgotten. Swept aside, because people become too comfortable with their status quo. I have been here for 33 years that is more than half of my life. I would give almost anything to go home. But I won't give up, I would give almost anything to be with my family. But I won't be quiet. I would give almost anything to say goodbye to this place, but I won't say goodbye to my beliefs and our struggle. I would give almost anything to walk out this door and never return. But I will never walk away from the love of my people. When I think of the things that I hear and see in the media, about how many different special interest groups, speak of various subjects, like the right to live, or pro-life, I cant help but think, of the children around the world, who never get a chance to live because of the exploitation of their resources of their country and their people. All of the destruction that is taking place here and abroad is a direct result of people, special interest groups, whose interest is primarily wealth and taking more than they need. The religious people or should I say The spiritual people of America, and anywhere else for that matter, should seek to aggressively band together to stop the unjust wars that truly impact primarily the common man, the common man who in his village or farm, city or anywhere else is destroyed, by bombs, from the various governments. Governments; Who in the name of nationalism and patriotism seek to gain political power and control over someone else's resource and political system. They should actively band together and identify the things they have in common rather than dwelling on their differences. Perhaps I am rambling too much in my statement, after 33 years in prison and 63 years upon this earth, much of this time spent thinking, praying, analyzing, and mediating, on the information that I gather from various forms of writings, books and observations, I somehow feel I have a little bit of a right, to say what I think and feel. I love you all and I am so honored that I would be invited to make a statement to you. And if I could hug each one of you individually, I guarantee you would damn well be hugged! I have never given up in my struggle for freedom. Freedom is a natural inclination of all living creatures up on the earth. Even a newborn will struggle when held too tightly. I deeply regret being in prison I deeply regret losing family members while in here, I deeply regret all the wonderful things in life that I have missed, but I will never regret standing up for my people for as long as I can draw my breath. My heart is with them always, and my heart is with you today. So long for now; I will remember you in my prayers and until next time. Keep the faith.
Your relative always In the spirit of crazy horse, Leonard Peltier
Denver DNC: Mass arrested pressured to waive rights
Contacts: Brian Vicente, Director, National Lawyers Guild DNC People's Law
Project, (720) 280-4067
Miriam Stohs, Esq., Colorado Chapter liaison, NLG (303) 929-5501
FROM: NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD DNC PEOPLE'S LAW PROJECT CRITICIZES DNC COURT PROCEDURES
Denver-- The National Lawyers Guild DNC People's Law Project (PLP) criticizes the procedures that created a high risk of accused persons waiving their rights without access to lawyers or an adequate understanding of their cases.
The PLP is particularly concerned with today's phone call from the Denver County Courts alerting defendants that they could appear in court on Friday, August 29 "for an opportunity to dispose of their case." The information provided by court clerks did not inform defendants that they could set their cases for jury trial. Earlier this week, eighty-two persons were taken into custody during a preemptive mass arrest. Upon release, most defendants were told they had to appear in court on
September 2, 2008 even if they resided out of state. Although defendants were called throughout the day regarding the new court appearance, PLP attorneys were not notified of this hearing until late Thursday.
This development heightens PLP's concern that people are being unfairly pressured to plead guilty, rather than exercise their constitutional rights to trial. The PLP sees a pattern of unusual and potentially abusive practices implemented for the DNC, notably:
- Attorneys refused entry to the detention center to consult with detainees who requested counsel;
- Initial court appearances from Monday's arrests were scheduled for 1:00 AM, leaving activists and bystanders scrambling to obtain legal counsel in the dead of night;
- City Attorneys offered punitive plea bargains that ignored widespread absence of probable cause;
- The Court refused to release people on their recognizance regardless of an absence of criminal history and the presence of significant community ties; and
- The Sheriff failed to release individuals in a timely manner after they posted bond, transferring them to the county jail and slowly processing them out.
Together, these unusual practices raise PLP's concern that people have been and will be unfairly pressured to plead guilty. The PLP is organizing volunteer attorneys to be present at the special appearance set for Friday morning in Denver County Courtroom 100K.
The People's Law Project, a project of the Colorado Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, was established in late 2007 to ensure that peoples' voices are heard at the DNC and their constitutional rights are protected. The PLP is coordinating Legal Observers for public events and arranging legal representation for individuals who are arrested.
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
www.nlg.org
www.dnc-plp.org
Project, (720) 280-4067
Miriam Stohs, Esq., Colorado Chapter liaison, NLG (303) 929-5501
FROM: NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD DNC PEOPLE'S LAW PROJECT CRITICIZES DNC COURT PROCEDURES
Denver-- The National Lawyers Guild DNC People's Law Project (PLP) criticizes the procedures that created a high risk of accused persons waiving their rights without access to lawyers or an adequate understanding of their cases.
The PLP is particularly concerned with today's phone call from the Denver County Courts alerting defendants that they could appear in court on Friday, August 29 "for an opportunity to dispose of their case." The information provided by court clerks did not inform defendants that they could set their cases for jury trial. Earlier this week, eighty-two persons were taken into custody during a preemptive mass arrest. Upon release, most defendants were told they had to appear in court on
September 2, 2008 even if they resided out of state. Although defendants were called throughout the day regarding the new court appearance, PLP attorneys were not notified of this hearing until late Thursday.
This development heightens PLP's concern that people are being unfairly pressured to plead guilty, rather than exercise their constitutional rights to trial. The PLP sees a pattern of unusual and potentially abusive practices implemented for the DNC, notably:
- Attorneys refused entry to the detention center to consult with detainees who requested counsel;
- Initial court appearances from Monday's arrests were scheduled for 1:00 AM, leaving activists and bystanders scrambling to obtain legal counsel in the dead of night;
- City Attorneys offered punitive plea bargains that ignored widespread absence of probable cause;
- The Court refused to release people on their recognizance regardless of an absence of criminal history and the presence of significant community ties; and
- The Sheriff failed to release individuals in a timely manner after they posted bond, transferring them to the county jail and slowly processing them out.
Together, these unusual practices raise PLP's concern that people have been and will be unfairly pressured to plead guilty. The PLP is organizing volunteer attorneys to be present at the special appearance set for Friday morning in Denver County Courtroom 100K.
The People's Law Project, a project of the Colorado Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, was established in late 2007 to ensure that peoples' voices are heard at the DNC and their constitutional rights are protected. The PLP is coordinating Legal Observers for public events and arranging legal representation for individuals who are arrested.
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
www.nlg.org
www.dnc-plp.org
Denver police target arts organization
By The Other Side Arts
DENVER -- Denver Police targeted The Other Side Arts, a non profit art center as part of an effort to, "clean up the neighborhood" just before the Democratic National Convention. On Sunday afternoon, a number of police officers from Denver and Aurora Police Departments appeared outside of TOSA, some dressed in riot gear, and begin to investigate the property. They asked one of the residents if the cars parked along side our building belonged to them and began asking about the graffiti pieces on the building. The police were told by the resident that the cars belonged to TOSA artists and that the graffiti pieces were done by local artists with the permission of the organization. They were also told that the creation of one of the pieces was even commissioned by the organization and documented as a time-lapse video on our website. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAB6kMPWf0Q
TOSA has a long history with providing graffiti artists with space to create their pieces in a society where graffiti is under appreciated and misunderstood. After about an hour went by, the police proceeded to paint over all of the art pieces on the building. They entered the property and went through items in storage and destroyed TOSA signs in an effort to remove small "tags." They removed the organization's dumpster which also had some "tags" on the side of it and removed other private property belonging to another tenant of the property. One of the artists in the building was pressured by police to chain a gate which then blocked a fire exit and investigated the political art show "UnConventional" that was hanging in the gallery. The goal of the show was "to spark dialogue between diverse communities around our current political climate and how it affects the future of our country." Though the name of the exhibition is the same as a loosely organized protest group, there was absolutely no connection.
When the executive director, Crissy Robinette called officials to find out what happened, she was told that the organization was targeted by police because they had evidence that radical protesters were using the building. The City of Denver agency, Denver Partners Against Graffiti denies any record of the incident despite witnesses that saw their vehicles. On their website, the Denver Partners Against Graffiti have a policy that states: "The city must have a signed authorization form to remove graffiti from private property." http://www.denvergov.org/DenverPartnersAgainstGraffiti/AboutUs/tabid/384234/Default.aspx By the time the "clean up" was finished, there were so many officers on the site that an RTD bus had to pick them up.
This is the second time the organization was targeted by police. In May of 2002 the Denver Police Department responded to a fundraiser organized and benefiting Breakdown Book collective, another non-profit organization, that rented space at TOSA. At around 11 p.m., just as a DJ was firing up the turntables for the hundred or so peaceable attendees, a police helicopter and eleven squad cars arrived, reportedly in response to a noise complaint. The attendees were told to disperse or the police dogs would be let loose on them.
DENVER -- Denver Police targeted The Other Side Arts, a non profit art center as part of an effort to, "clean up the neighborhood" just before the Democratic National Convention. On Sunday afternoon, a number of police officers from Denver and Aurora Police Departments appeared outside of TOSA, some dressed in riot gear, and begin to investigate the property. They asked one of the residents if the cars parked along side our building belonged to them and began asking about the graffiti pieces on the building. The police were told by the resident that the cars belonged to TOSA artists and that the graffiti pieces were done by local artists with the permission of the organization. They were also told that the creation of one of the pieces was even commissioned by the organization and documented as a time-lapse video on our website. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAB6kMPWf0Q
TOSA has a long history with providing graffiti artists with space to create their pieces in a society where graffiti is under appreciated and misunderstood. After about an hour went by, the police proceeded to paint over all of the art pieces on the building. They entered the property and went through items in storage and destroyed TOSA signs in an effort to remove small "tags." They removed the organization's dumpster which also had some "tags" on the side of it and removed other private property belonging to another tenant of the property. One of the artists in the building was pressured by police to chain a gate which then blocked a fire exit and investigated the political art show "UnConventional" that was hanging in the gallery. The goal of the show was "to spark dialogue between diverse communities around our current political climate and how it affects the future of our country." Though the name of the exhibition is the same as a loosely organized protest group, there was absolutely no connection.
When the executive director, Crissy Robinette called officials to find out what happened, she was told that the organization was targeted by police because they had evidence that radical protesters were using the building. The City of Denver agency, Denver Partners Against Graffiti denies any record of the incident despite witnesses that saw their vehicles. On their website, the Denver Partners Against Graffiti have a policy that states: "The city must have a signed authorization form to remove graffiti from private property." http://www.denvergov.org/DenverPartnersAgainstGraffiti/AboutUs/tabid/384234/Default.aspx By the time the "clean up" was finished, there were so many officers on the site that an RTD bus had to pick them up.
This is the second time the organization was targeted by police. In May of 2002 the Denver Police Department responded to a fundraiser organized and benefiting Breakdown Book collective, another non-profit organization, that rented space at TOSA. At around 11 p.m., just as a DJ was firing up the turntables for the hundred or so peaceable attendees, a police helicopter and eleven squad cars arrived, reportedly in response to a noise complaint. The attendees were told to disperse or the police dogs would be let loose on them.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Denver Migrant March, photos by Mano Cockrum
"We Are America" migrant march for rights at Thursday's Democratic National Convention. Thousands marched and demanded a halt to ICE raids and for Congress to pass immigration reform laws. Photo Mano Cockrum (Hopi/Dine')
Denver Migrant March, photos by Mano Cockrum
"We Are America" migrant march for rights at Thursday's Democratic National Convention. Thousands marched and demanded a halt to ICE raids and for Congress to pass immigration reform laws. Photo Mano Cockrum (Hopi/Dine')
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Canada's covert police state: Killing the Indian again
CANADA A COVERT POLICE STATE? THE SCIENCE BEHIND “CANADA BORDER SERVICES AGENCY” CBSA ATTACK ON GRANDMOTHERS
Mohawk Nation News
Aug. 28, 2008. The CBSA is a congenital violator of Haudenosaunee, Canadian and international law. They have no right to be at Akwesasne. Even the Supreme Court of Canada recognizes that it has a fiduciary obligation to protect the Indigenous guardians of the territory its people are squatting on. Yet the CBSA routinely attacks the Kanionkehaka/Mohawk people of Akwesasne. On June 14th, 2008 they attacked Katenies and Kahentinetha. Why did this happen?
We are facing an updated version of colonial oppression – totalitarianism in new clothes. Every misdeed and pratfall of the CBSA was the product of several decades of careful psychological research and strategic planning. Human beings do not naturally kill each other. They have to be trained to do this. The CBSA agents have been manipulated to commit human rights abuses. They have little concern for Mohawk culture. The very placement of the border in the middle of the community proves that.
Their tactics are not new. The CBSA applies Nazi science. Prior to WW II the German state systematically dehumanized the Jewish people. This set up the conditions needed to create the holocaust. Pictures of them as vermin and rats were posted all over Germany . They were herded into concentration camps and murdered in gas chambers and put into ovens. Indigenous have been subjected to the same kind of dehumanization since the beginning of colonization. Media routinely portray us as smugglers, drug dealers and criminals. In 2006 the process was escalated with a New York Times article that sent the message worldwide. Why?
Military strategists have long been troubled by the reluctance of soldiers to kill the “enemy”. The instinct to recognize the humanity of another person is stronger than any of the political, social or “racial” constructs that a psychotic minority has imposed on human beings. Even in the most famous battles, only 15 to 20 % of soldiers fired their weapons at the “enemy”.
Only 2 or 3% are natural psychopaths who are willing to kill their fellow human beings. Contrary to Hollywood portrayals killing is not easy. It normally provokes extreme reactions like nausea, vomiting and long lasting post traumatic stress disorders.
This natural human desire for peace troubles military strategists. Extensive research has found that almost anyone can be trained to violate human rights or commit murder when certain conditions are met. [See Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, New York : Little, Brown & Co. 1995]
How cops, soldiers and state or criminal agents can kill:
1) Authoritarian Command: An order from someone in a position of authority. Colonial society has been conditioned to think that hierarchy is necessary. This creates an “obedience reflex”. When someone in a lab coat or uniform says “shoot” or “torture”, they obey.
2) Pack Mentality: People will commit crimes in a group which they would never do alone. There are two aspects. One is peer pressure. This explains why an ordinary young girl like Lindy England committed sexual atrocities at Abu Graib prison in Iraq . The other lets the individual avoid personal responsibility for a crime. As part of a firing squad, the killer can imagine that fatal bullet was fired by someone else.
3) Distancing the victims: It is easier to murder someone when their humanity is not obvious. Weapons that distance them so they can’t see the eyes or smell the fear are more effective. A spear is better than a dagger. Arrows and guns are better yet, especially if there is a scope that reduces the “enemy” to a “target”. Special bombs, unmanned aerial vehicles and other modern weaponry all shield potential killers from the agony of human carnage, making it easier to pull the trigger or press the lethal button. Americans can now direct battles from another continent like a video game. The lives taken are of no consequence.
4) Not looking at the victim’s eyes: More soldiers are shot in the back when they are fleeing than when they are attacking. Kidnappers are more likely to murder if the victim is hooded. This is why the target of a firing squad is blindfolded. It’s to facilitate murder.
5) Avoid thinking about common humanity: Seeing the potential victims doing ordinary things like eating, sharing a cigarette or even peeing deters a soldier from killing. Murder is easier when the “enemy’s” culture is not known or understood. This explains why Canadian schools do not teach anything about our cultures. This is what racial profiling is about. We are made to look like targets that do not or should not exist.
6) Bias media propaganda: Distancing is enhanced by reporting only negatively about the “other’s” culture, to create a twisted, unsympathetic and one-sided imagery.
7) Dehumanizing the targets: In Vietnam Americans called the villagers “gooks”, “geeks” and “targets”. Today people in the Middle East are called “extremists”, “fundamentalists”, “insurgents” or “Taliban”. In Canada “Indians” were excluded from the definition of a “person” who was identified as “an individual other than an Indian” in the Indian Acts between 1876 and 1952.
8) Conditioning: People can be taught to kill. Soldiers are now trained in conditions that imitate the real battle. We have heard several unconfirmed reports that a replica of Kahnawake was built on an army base in new Brunswick to condition soldiers to kill Mohawks. The historical 10-15% firing rate was increased to about 95% in Vietnam by teaching the soldiers to shoot human looking targets. In parts of Canada police have been trained to shoot at targets that resemble Indigenous women!
9) The “double bind”: To commit murder, the killer has to be put in a position where they themselves are at risk if they do not kill. There is little risk involved in committing the crime.
Many of these factors came into play when Katenies and Kahentinetha where attacked by CBSA. Before the incident arose, Canadians had already been conditions to believe that the border was legitimate and that Kanionkehaka are drug dealers, criminals and smugglers, even when we are moving within our own community. It was easy to set up the double bind.
The first officer put the two women in a vulnerable position. They pulled them over, took away their identity documents and car keys and set them up as targets by making them sit in the car for an hour surrounded by border agents. If any of these guys would have questioned what was happening, they would have risked losing their careers and their means of supporting their families as well as public dishonor and destitution. This made it easy for them “to go with the flow”.
Racial profiling was actively engaged. Most of the other cars pulled over were native women with children. Practicing aggression against Indigenous women made it easier for the guards to attack the two grandmothers.
Group dynamics were deployed when the direct assault began. The guards approached in a phalanx. Mob mentality ensured that none succumbed to feelings of common humanity or individual responsibility.
Mob mentality was confirmed by the use of authoritarian orders and distancing. An unseen voice gave directions on the cell phone to the commander on the spot. This ensured that none of the guards who committed the direct assaults would act on human feelings or accepted individual responsibility for their crimes. The controlling mind at the other end of the phone was removed from the murderous reality of his or her acts.
Katenies was grabbed from the side and thrown to the ground. Then they kneed on top of her and pushed her face into the ground until it was scraped, bloodied and dirtied. The pressure was calculated to make her feel like her bones were going to snap. The brunt of the assault was committed from behind where they did not see her face.
When they approached Kahentinetha she asked them what she was accused of and why was she being arrested. Her humanity was denied and the legal question was ignored. Once again the most damaging aggression came from behind. She was in a cell with her hands cuffed behind her back. The guards who compromised her life stood behind her where they couldn’t see her face as they tightened the handcuffs which cut off the blood supply. They ignored her cries of pain as the shock of the heart attack hit her. One man grabbed her pants and told her to bend over. 6 or 7 other officers were entering and leaving the room ensuring that peer pressure remained in effect.
This fed the murderous frenzy. The spell was broke when her brother, Frank Taiotekane Horn, appeared as an outside observer of professional stature. They knew he was a lawyer. Suddenly they were accountable. Before they let him in, they removed the handcuffs, gave her a place to sit and offered her a glass of water. Frank Horn saw her state and immediately called an ambulance.
Two Mohawk police officers from Akwesasne were posted at this border check point at the time to protect against degenerate conduct. Why did they stand by silently and watch. They were caught between group identities. Their identity with their people or as highly paid members of the violent colonial police force.
At the beginning one of them made a move to ensure that the rights of the women were respected. A call from someone in authority stopped the process. They succumbed to peer pressure asserted by the officers they have to associate with every day.
Much of the research on killing was done for peaceful purposes. It looks like it has been hijacked by a psychopathic minority. It is being used to promote war and kill Indigenous people.
Ieriwa’on:ni & MNN Staff
Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com
katenies20@yahoo.com
PLEASE NOTE: As can be seen, it’s becoming critical for legal actions to be taken to protect our rights. We have no funds. Canada is hiring costly law firms to suppress our rights. If you can donate anything to our cause, it will be greatly appreciated. Donate to: PayPal, www.mohawknationnews.com, or “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen/Thank you very much.
See MNN Category: “ Border/Jay Treaty “
New MNN Books Available Now!
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Mohawk Warriors Three - The Trial of Lasagna, Noriega, 20/20$20.00 usd
The On-Going Confusion between The Great Law and The Handsome Lake Code$20.00 usd
The Agonizing Death of "Colonialism" and "Federal Indian Law" in Kaianere'ko:wa/Great Law Territory
$20.00 usd
Who's Sorry Now? The good, the bad and the unapologetic Mohawks of Kanehsatake
$20.00 usd
Rebuilding the Iroquois ConfederacyKaroniaktajeh$10 usd
Warriors Hand BookKaroniaktajeh$10 usd
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Manager
Stay tuned!
www.mohawknationnews.com
Mohawk Nation News
Aug. 28, 2008. The CBSA is a congenital violator of Haudenosaunee, Canadian and international law. They have no right to be at Akwesasne. Even the Supreme Court of Canada recognizes that it has a fiduciary obligation to protect the Indigenous guardians of the territory its people are squatting on. Yet the CBSA routinely attacks the Kanionkehaka/Mohawk people of Akwesasne. On June 14th, 2008 they attacked Katenies and Kahentinetha. Why did this happen?
We are facing an updated version of colonial oppression – totalitarianism in new clothes. Every misdeed and pratfall of the CBSA was the product of several decades of careful psychological research and strategic planning. Human beings do not naturally kill each other. They have to be trained to do this. The CBSA agents have been manipulated to commit human rights abuses. They have little concern for Mohawk culture. The very placement of the border in the middle of the community proves that.
Their tactics are not new. The CBSA applies Nazi science. Prior to WW II the German state systematically dehumanized the Jewish people. This set up the conditions needed to create the holocaust. Pictures of them as vermin and rats were posted all over Germany . They were herded into concentration camps and murdered in gas chambers and put into ovens. Indigenous have been subjected to the same kind of dehumanization since the beginning of colonization. Media routinely portray us as smugglers, drug dealers and criminals. In 2006 the process was escalated with a New York Times article that sent the message worldwide. Why?
Military strategists have long been troubled by the reluctance of soldiers to kill the “enemy”. The instinct to recognize the humanity of another person is stronger than any of the political, social or “racial” constructs that a psychotic minority has imposed on human beings. Even in the most famous battles, only 15 to 20 % of soldiers fired their weapons at the “enemy”.
Only 2 or 3% are natural psychopaths who are willing to kill their fellow human beings. Contrary to Hollywood portrayals killing is not easy. It normally provokes extreme reactions like nausea, vomiting and long lasting post traumatic stress disorders.
This natural human desire for peace troubles military strategists. Extensive research has found that almost anyone can be trained to violate human rights or commit murder when certain conditions are met. [See Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, New York : Little, Brown & Co. 1995]
How cops, soldiers and state or criminal agents can kill:
1) Authoritarian Command: An order from someone in a position of authority. Colonial society has been conditioned to think that hierarchy is necessary. This creates an “obedience reflex”. When someone in a lab coat or uniform says “shoot” or “torture”, they obey.
2) Pack Mentality: People will commit crimes in a group which they would never do alone. There are two aspects. One is peer pressure. This explains why an ordinary young girl like Lindy England committed sexual atrocities at Abu Graib prison in Iraq . The other lets the individual avoid personal responsibility for a crime. As part of a firing squad, the killer can imagine that fatal bullet was fired by someone else.
3) Distancing the victims: It is easier to murder someone when their humanity is not obvious. Weapons that distance them so they can’t see the eyes or smell the fear are more effective. A spear is better than a dagger. Arrows and guns are better yet, especially if there is a scope that reduces the “enemy” to a “target”. Special bombs, unmanned aerial vehicles and other modern weaponry all shield potential killers from the agony of human carnage, making it easier to pull the trigger or press the lethal button. Americans can now direct battles from another continent like a video game. The lives taken are of no consequence.
4) Not looking at the victim’s eyes: More soldiers are shot in the back when they are fleeing than when they are attacking. Kidnappers are more likely to murder if the victim is hooded. This is why the target of a firing squad is blindfolded. It’s to facilitate murder.
5) Avoid thinking about common humanity: Seeing the potential victims doing ordinary things like eating, sharing a cigarette or even peeing deters a soldier from killing. Murder is easier when the “enemy’s” culture is not known or understood. This explains why Canadian schools do not teach anything about our cultures. This is what racial profiling is about. We are made to look like targets that do not or should not exist.
6) Bias media propaganda: Distancing is enhanced by reporting only negatively about the “other’s” culture, to create a twisted, unsympathetic and one-sided imagery.
7) Dehumanizing the targets: In Vietnam Americans called the villagers “gooks”, “geeks” and “targets”. Today people in the Middle East are called “extremists”, “fundamentalists”, “insurgents” or “Taliban”. In Canada “Indians” were excluded from the definition of a “person” who was identified as “an individual other than an Indian” in the Indian Acts between 1876 and 1952.
8) Conditioning: People can be taught to kill. Soldiers are now trained in conditions that imitate the real battle. We have heard several unconfirmed reports that a replica of Kahnawake was built on an army base in new Brunswick to condition soldiers to kill Mohawks. The historical 10-15% firing rate was increased to about 95% in Vietnam by teaching the soldiers to shoot human looking targets. In parts of Canada police have been trained to shoot at targets that resemble Indigenous women!
9) The “double bind”: To commit murder, the killer has to be put in a position where they themselves are at risk if they do not kill. There is little risk involved in committing the crime.
Many of these factors came into play when Katenies and Kahentinetha where attacked by CBSA. Before the incident arose, Canadians had already been conditions to believe that the border was legitimate and that Kanionkehaka are drug dealers, criminals and smugglers, even when we are moving within our own community. It was easy to set up the double bind.
The first officer put the two women in a vulnerable position. They pulled them over, took away their identity documents and car keys and set them up as targets by making them sit in the car for an hour surrounded by border agents. If any of these guys would have questioned what was happening, they would have risked losing their careers and their means of supporting their families as well as public dishonor and destitution. This made it easy for them “to go with the flow”.
Racial profiling was actively engaged. Most of the other cars pulled over were native women with children. Practicing aggression against Indigenous women made it easier for the guards to attack the two grandmothers.
Group dynamics were deployed when the direct assault began. The guards approached in a phalanx. Mob mentality ensured that none succumbed to feelings of common humanity or individual responsibility.
Mob mentality was confirmed by the use of authoritarian orders and distancing. An unseen voice gave directions on the cell phone to the commander on the spot. This ensured that none of the guards who committed the direct assaults would act on human feelings or accepted individual responsibility for their crimes. The controlling mind at the other end of the phone was removed from the murderous reality of his or her acts.
Katenies was grabbed from the side and thrown to the ground. Then they kneed on top of her and pushed her face into the ground until it was scraped, bloodied and dirtied. The pressure was calculated to make her feel like her bones were going to snap. The brunt of the assault was committed from behind where they did not see her face.
When they approached Kahentinetha she asked them what she was accused of and why was she being arrested. Her humanity was denied and the legal question was ignored. Once again the most damaging aggression came from behind. She was in a cell with her hands cuffed behind her back. The guards who compromised her life stood behind her where they couldn’t see her face as they tightened the handcuffs which cut off the blood supply. They ignored her cries of pain as the shock of the heart attack hit her. One man grabbed her pants and told her to bend over. 6 or 7 other officers were entering and leaving the room ensuring that peer pressure remained in effect.
This fed the murderous frenzy. The spell was broke when her brother, Frank Taiotekane Horn, appeared as an outside observer of professional stature. They knew he was a lawyer. Suddenly they were accountable. Before they let him in, they removed the handcuffs, gave her a place to sit and offered her a glass of water. Frank Horn saw her state and immediately called an ambulance.
Two Mohawk police officers from Akwesasne were posted at this border check point at the time to protect against degenerate conduct. Why did they stand by silently and watch. They were caught between group identities. Their identity with their people or as highly paid members of the violent colonial police force.
At the beginning one of them made a move to ensure that the rights of the women were respected. A call from someone in authority stopped the process. They succumbed to peer pressure asserted by the officers they have to associate with every day.
Much of the research on killing was done for peaceful purposes. It looks like it has been hijacked by a psychopathic minority. It is being used to promote war and kill Indigenous people.
Ieriwa’on:ni & MNN Staff
Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com
katenies20@yahoo.com
PLEASE NOTE: As can be seen, it’s becoming critical for legal actions to be taken to protect our rights. We have no funds. Canada is hiring costly law firms to suppress our rights. If you can donate anything to our cause, it will be greatly appreciated. Donate to: PayPal, www.mohawknationnews.com, or “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen/Thank you very much.
See MNN Category: “ Border/Jay Treaty “
New MNN Books Available Now!
The books below, email us:
Mohawk Warriors Three - The Trial of Lasagna, Noriega, 20/20$20.00 usd
The On-Going Confusion between The Great Law and The Handsome Lake Code$20.00 usd
The Agonizing Death of "Colonialism" and "Federal Indian Law" in Kaianere'ko:wa/Great Law Territory
$20.00 usd
Who's Sorry Now? The good, the bad and the unapologetic Mohawks of Kanehsatake
$20.00 usd
Rebuilding the Iroquois ConfederacyKaroniaktajeh$10 usd
Warriors Hand BookKaroniaktajeh$10 usd
Mail checks and money orders to...
MNNP.O. Box 991Kahnawake, QC J0L 1B0
Purchase t-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePress Store
http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews
Subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php
Sign Women Title Holders petition!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois
Link to MNN
Get the code and banners to link to Mohawk Nation News.
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/pg.php?page=promote.html
Your Support
Make a contribution to our newsgroup.
Secure your online transaction with PayPal®.
Donate
Nia:wen,
Kahentinetha
kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
Speaking & Contemporary Native Issues Workshops
Katenies
katenies20@yahoo.com
Manager
Stay tuned!
www.mohawknationnews.com
Friday, August 15, 2008
Border Wall causes flood in O'odham territory
Contact: Robin Silver, (602) 799-3275
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Damaged by Border Wall Flood Obstruction
New Park Service Report Details Environmental, Infrastructure Damage Caused by Predictable Border Wall Flood Problems
By Center for Biological Diversity
PHOENIX — A newly obtained National Park Service report details ecological and infrastructure damage in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument caused by flood obstruction and debris accumulation along recently constructed portions of the border wall. Damage includes severe erosion, infrastructure damage, and movement of floodwaters and drainages behind debris obstructions into adjacent deserts and, in one case, through a border-crossing station.
An environmental analysis conducted by the Department of Homeland Security in 2007 concluded that the fence would “…not impede the natural flow of water.” It would be “…designed and constructed to ensure proper conveyance of floodwaters and to eliminate the potential to cause backwater flooding on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border.” Further, Customs and Border Protection would “…remove debris from the fence within washes/arroyos immediately after rain events to ensure that no backwater flooding occurs.” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has since exempted the border wall from all environmental laws.
“The callousness displayed by Homeland Security in ignoring warnings to damage a national treasure is mind-boggling,” said Robin Silver of the Center for Biological Diversity. “The border wall does not stop humans, but it will stop jaguars and other wildlife. It is already wreaking havoc on the southern part of Oregon Pipe National Monument.”
“The contrast between the report findings and the environmental assessment displays the Bush administration’s wholly meaningless approach to environmental analysis,” said Silver. “The administration essentially did no analysis at all.”
The Park Service report shows several instances in which debris collected in flash floods in south-flowing drainages caused natural resource and infrastructure damage and states that National Monument resources and infrastructure will continue to be impacted, as well as resources and infrastructure on neighboring lands in the United States and Mexico. The report anticipates the following short- and long-term impacts:
Accelerated scour below the pedestrian fence will damage the structural integrity of the vehicle barrier along the U.S./Mexico boundary unless continued maintenance occurs.
Floodwaters will flow laterally along the pedestrian fence and on the patrol road. These flows will result in erosion and scour above and below the foundation wall of the fence, including areas hundreds of feet outside existing drainage channels. As a consequence, the need for routine maintenance and repairs of the patrol road and vehicle barrier will increase.
The patrol road associated with the pedestrian fence will change vegetation in Organ Pipe by changing rainfall retention or runoff along the northern road edge.
Riparian vegetation will change in response to increased sedimentation.
Channel morphology and floodplain function will change over time.
Channelized waters will begin a gullying process that has the potential to transform land surfaces in the affected watersheds.
“While the Bush administration may claim it’s taking environmental impacts of the border wall into consideration, building wire mesh fences across washes prone to debris-laden floods is fundamentally flawed,” said Silver. “It’s time for Homeland Security to lift its embargo on environmental laws. The border fence does not stop humans. Now we have more proof if the wall’s destruction of our national treasures.
###
.
National Park Service report:
Effects of the International Boundary Pedestrian Fence in the Vicinity of Lukeville, Arizona, on Drainage Systems and Infrastructure, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
Prepared August 2008
On July 12, 2008, a summer storm delivered 1–2 inches of rain in about 1.5 hours in the south-central portion of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (OPCNM). The flash flooding that ensued tested the ability of the newly constructed pedestrian fence along the U.S./Mexico border to accommodate flood flows. The purpose of this report is to document the July 12 storm event, the performance of the pedestrian fence during the flash flood, the effects of the flood on floodplains and channel morphology of south-flowing drainage systems of OPCNM, and the implications for infrastructure maintenance.
Background
The pedestrian fence in the vicinity of Lukeville, Arizona, is 5.2 miles long. It was completed during the spring and summer of 2008. The fence is located within the 60-ft strip of land adjacent to the international boundary known as the ‘Roosevelt Reserve,’ set aside for public highways by presidential proclamation in 1907. The fence is located several feet north of the existing vehicle barrier, which is several feet north of the international boundary. Adjacent to the pedestrian fence is a dirt patrol road about 45 feet wide that was constructed as part of the pedestrian fence project.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), designed the pedestrian fence. A typical fence section is 15 feet tall and is composed of wire mesh panels (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Close-up view of wire mesh on a typical fence panel.
10 Organ Pipe Drive
Ajo, Arizona 85321
520 387-6849 phone
520 387-7144 fax
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Organ Pipe Cactus
National Monument
Panels at drainage crossings have grates that were designed to accommodate a flood event (Figure 2). Grate openings are 6-inches (in) high and 24-in wide, with 1-in by 3-in bars.
Summer Thunderstorms and the 12 July 2008 Storm Event
The area experiences two annual rainfall periods that, in part, define the Sonoran Desert. The winter season is driven by westerly or northwesterly winds bringing moisture from the Pacific Ocean. Winter storms typically occur between November to April, and are gentle rains that rarely cause flooding. The Arizona or Mexican monsoon typically lasts from July to September in southwestern Arizona. The summer rainy season is driven by southerly or southeasterly winds that bring moisture northward from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico into the desert southwest. Extreme surface heating, combined with the moist air, powers monsoon thunderstorms. These violent storms are often accompanied by strong winds, lightning and flash flooding. Summer thunderstorms are the regional flood source (USGS 1999). On July 12 in the late afternoon, a monsoon thunderstorm occurred over south-central OPCNM. The radar rainfall estimate for that day from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the thunderstorm centered north of Lukeville, in the vicinity of the OPCNM headquarters (Figure 3). The map shows a very small area receiving rain in excess of 2.5 inches (in red, Figure 3).
Figure 2. Fence panels at drainage crossings (above) have wire mesh above larger grate openings intended to accommodate flood flows.
A different radar rainfall estimate map for the 6-day period July 9 to July 15 shows that monsoonal storms of the magnitude of the July 12 storm are a widespread and normal occurrence across southern Arizona (Figure 4) (NWS, July 15, 2008). At the headquarters climate station, light rain occurred on July 9 and July 10 as well as the heavy rain of July 12. The cumulative total of these rains is shown on Figure 4.
Inches
Figure 3. The radar rainfall estimate (in inches) for a 24-hour period from 0500 Mountain Standard Time (MST) July 12 to 0500 MST July 13, 2008, Arizona (NOAA, 18 July 2008). Data is truncated just south of the international boundary.
ARIZONA
Typical of monsoon thunderstorms, the rainfall event of July 12 was intense and brief. Weather instrumentation near OPCNM headquarters recorded 1.99 inches of rain in about 1.5 hours. This climate station is part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) and is operated by the NPS. A few miles south of headquarters, another rain gauge recorded 1.28 inches of rain in about one hour and 45 minutes, or 0.71 inch per hour. Rainfall at this site, located about 1.5 miles west-northwest of Lukeville, was measured by a tipping bucket with Hobo recorder. Figure 5 shows the locations of the climate station and rainfall gauge.
Summer storm events such as the July 12 storm occur regularly within OPCNM. Based on a 60 year record of daily rainfall at OPCNM headquarters, rainfall events in excess of 2 inches occurred
AJO
Lukeville
Figure 4. Regional radar precipitation estimates for 9:04am MST July 9, to 7:33am MST July 15, 2008 (NWS, 15 July 2008).
AJO
Lukeville
Figure 5. Extent of watersheds draining into Mexico and crossing the pedestrian fence. NPS drainage numbers and names are also listed in Table 1. The drainage area numbers and sizes calculated by OPCNM are different from those used in the hydrologic analysis (USACE/Kiewit 2008a).
12 times, or once every five years. Events between 1.50 – 1.99 inches occurred about once every 3 years, and events between 1.0 – 1.49 inches occurred nearly every year.
The probability that flash flooding will occur due to a monsoonal storm event in the Sonoran Desert is determined by many factors, including the total amount of rainfall, the rate of rainfall (intensity), extent of the storm, the size of the affected watersheds, how much of the area of each drainage area receives rain, and soil saturation preceding the event.
Nearly all drainages crossing the international boundary at the pedestrian fence flow from north to south. The seven largest drainage basins range in size from nearly 1 square mile (sq mi) to over 16 sq mi (Table 1). Drainage areas as determined by OPCNM (Table 1) were derived from an accurate GIS database and were different than estimates in the drainage report (USACE 2008a, p15-16). The latter estimates for Estes and Victoria Wash were significantly underestimated.
The headwaters of Smugglers, Tejano, Gachado, and Estes drainages are located in the Diablo/Ajo Mountains complex. These higher-elevation headwaters located on the eastern side of OPCNM—including Mount Ajo (4,808 ft), the highest point in the Ajo Mountains—typically receive more rainfall during the monsoon than lower-elevation sites (Holm & Conner 2006). The Victoria, Dowling and Headquarters drainage basins have headwaters located in the Puerto Blanco Mountains.
Table 1. The names of drainages crossing the international boundary at the pedestrian fence and the extent of the watersheds above the pedestrian fence.
Drainage Area
NPS Drainage USACE/Kiewit Estimate (acres)
Drainage Name Number Drainage Number NPS Kiewit
Tejano Wash 8 E16 10,500 9,384
Smugglers Wash 4 E8 9,548 9,491
Estes Wash 19 E31 7,988 3,741
Headquarters Wash HQ W1 4,938 4,754
Victoria Wash 2 W13 3,613 2,839
Gachado Wash 10 E20 3,464 3,419
Dowling Wash 1 W17 593 591
Fence Design and Performance Criteria
Fence design addressed security performance criteria as well as those relating to hydrology. The following discussion addresses only the design and performance criteria that relate to hydrology.
OPCNM’s early concerns about the effect of the pedestrian fence on floodwaters, floodplains, ecosystem function and infrastructure were based on first-hand knowledge of flash flooding and its frequency at OPCNM. Additionally, the vehicle barrier has afforded NPS staff the opportunity to observe how this very porous structure can cause scour and collect debris during a flood event. During scoping meetings and in comments on the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the pedestrian fence project (Baiza, in litt., 9 October 2007, USDHA 2007a, USDHS 2007b, Kiewit 2007, et al.), OPCNM expressed concerns that:
• The fence would impede the conveyance of floodwaters across the international boundary. • Debris carried by flash floods would be trapped by the fence, resulting in impeded flow and clean-up issues. • Backwater pooling would occur due to impeded flow. • Lateral flow due to backwater pooling would cause environmental damage as well as damage to patrol roads. • Significant increase in surface water depths (or rise in water elevation) would occur as a result of impeded flow, causing adverse affects on downstream and upstream resources and infrastructure in OPCNM and Mexico.
Addressing OPCNM’s concerns, the Final Environmental Assessment (FEA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) stated that, in addition to security criteria, the fence would “…not impede the natural flow of water” (U.S. Border Patrol 2007a). It would be “…designed and constructed to ensure proper conveyance of floodwaters and to eliminate the potential to cause backwater flooding on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border” (U.S. Border Patrol 2007a). Further, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “…will remove debris from the fence within washes/arroyos immediately after rain events to ensure that no backwater flooding occurs” (U.S. Border Patrol 2007a).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), OPCNM, USACE and Kiewit met in December 2007 to discuss how the fence design met the required performance standards. In the meeting handout, Kiewit stated the design would “…permit water and debris to flow freely and not allow
ponding of water on either side of the border” because the drainage crossing grates “…met hydraulic modeling requirements” (Kiewit 2007).
The hydrologic design criteria included in the final drainage report (USACE 2008a) were as follows:
• Rise in water elevation due to the fence for a 100-year frequency event would be limited to 6 inches in rural areas. • Design would consider and protect against scour or long-term degradation at or downstream of the fence location. • Design would protect against ponded water along the fence.
The drainage report stated that the final fence design satisfied all performance criteria (USACE 2008a).
The USACE/Kiewit based the fence design on a hydrologic analysis that used a 100-year storm as the base storm for determining peak discharge in all drainage basins (USACE 2008a). Two methods were used to determine the 100-year water surface elevations. For drainage areas greater than 10 square miles the 100-year water surface elevations were determined by using equations recommended by the U.S. Geological Service (USGS), even though the USGS advised that the method is not applicable at average elevations below 1,730 feet. (USACE 2008a, USGS 1999). The USGS method for estimating peak discharges from rural streams uses four variables: drainage area (in square miles), average annual precipitation, average basin elevation, and average annual evaporation (USGS 1999). Drainage areas were calculated using a GIS dataset of unknown source, rather than the more accurate OPCNM dataset. USACE/Kiewit’s final calculations for 100-year water surface elevations included considerations given to elevation rise due to the fence posts and grates.
For drainage areas less than 10 square miles, the Natural Resource Conservation Service ‘curve number method’ was used to estimate discharge (USACE 2008a). USACE/Kiewit used the NOAA Atlas 14 to determine precipitation frequency estimate for the project (Bonnin et al. 2006). Atlas 14 for the Ajo, Arizona, area predicts that a storm lasting 1.5 hours with a rainfall intensity of 0.71 inches per hour would occur once every 5 years (based on a partial duration series). Hourly rainfall data from the headquarters climate station confirms a slightly more frequency occurrence (once every 3 years).
Performance of the Pedestrian Fence
This section of the report compares the performance standards set by the FONSI (USBP 2008) and those set by the final drainage report (USACE 2008a) with the actual performance of the fence, as documented by OPCNM. As the USBP performance standards are different from the USACE standards, each will be addressed separately.
FONSI Standard: The pedestrian fence would “…not impede the natural flow of water” and would allow “…proper conveyance of floodwaters.” It would “…eliminate the potential to cause backwater flooding on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border.”
The pedestrian fence impeded the natural flow of water and did not properly convey floodwaters during the July 12 storm. Mainstem drainage channels contained flood flows until reaching the proximity of the pedestrian fence. Debris blockages formed at the upstream side of the fence, restricting water flow and causing significant water elevation rise (Figure 6). The foundation wall of the pedestrian fence stopped subsurface sediment flow, which added to the water elevation rise. Backwater flooding occurred in most washes. Figure 6. At this drainage crossing west of Lukeville, debris filled most of the length of the drainage grate, causing backwater pooling of 1-2 feet depth. Photograph was taken on July 15, 2006.
FONSI Standard: Flood debris would be removed “…immediately after rain events to ensure that no backwater flooding occurs.”
Removing debris after a flood is ineffectual at stopping backwater flooding while a flash flood is occurring. Backwater flooding occurs during a flood. Removing debris after a flood will reduce the pooling that would take place during the next flood, compared with leaving the debris in place.
USACE Performance Standard: Rise in water elevation due to the fence for a 100-year frequency event would be limited to 6 inches in rural areas.
The storm of July 12 has a return frequency of about once every three years (OPCNM data), or once every five years according to NOAA (2006, partial duration series). According to the design criteria, the fence should not have caused the extensive significant water elevation rise, backwater pooling, or lateral flows from a relatively frequent storm event.
Floodwaters at the pedestrian fence were several feet deep in all the drainages listed in Table 1 as well as in a number of moderate-sized drainages. Since floodwaters were contained within natural channels except at the pedestrian fence, we can deduce that the fence caused a significant portion of the rise. The foundation wall likely contributed to backwater pooling by stopping subsurface flows, adding to water elevation rise.
During the July 12 event, water elevations at nearly all major drainages crossed by the fence rose so significantly that backwater pooling occurred and floodwaters flowed laterally (east-west or west-east) along the fence. Among the more significant lateral flow events were:
• Victoria Wash, with a drainage area of 5.6 square miles, rose against the pedestrian fence and flowed over 1,100 feet to the west into a minor channel. Fine sediment deposits on the fence between the two washes reached a height of 1-2 feet. Where the main channel crossed the fence, the high water mark was about 7 feet above the foundation wall of the fence (Figure 7). It is uncertain how much of this rise was due to the fence. • Smugglers’ Wash, with a watershed of nearly 15 square miles, left its channel at the pedestrian fence and flowed more than 500 feet to the east. It discharged into a channel that normally drains a 0.15 square mile basin.
Figure 8 (left). Impounded by the pedestrian fence, floodwaters from Headquarters Wash, which normally flows from north to south, flowed to the east along the fence and into the Mexican Port of Entry in Sonoyta, Sonora. The white SUV is southbound into Mexico.
Figure 7. The floodwaters of Victoria Wash (W13) were blocked by debris and rose to a depth of about 7 feet.
About 2 feet of coarse debris were deposited against the fence (upper photo, July 14, 2008). A band of fine sediment marks the high water line at flood stage.
The same site as above, after flood debris was cleared (middle photo, July 16, 2008). Distance from the foundation wall of the fence to the high water line is over 7 feet.
• Gachado Wash, which drains an area of 5.4 square miles, also flowed over 300 feet to the west into another channel. Coarse woody debris was deposited on the patrol road as far as 400 feet west of Gachado Wash. Wash bed sands were deposited on the road surface between these two drainage channels, indicating that the velocity of floodwater was sufficient to carry sand particles. • Estes Wash travelled more than 500 feet to the west along the pedestrian fence foundation. Prior to the construction of the pedestrian fence, lateral flow of floodwaters along the international boundary had never been documented in the project area. • Headquarters Wash flowed over 200 feet to the east along the pedestrian fence and through the international port of entry. It caused flood damage to private property, government offices and commercial businesses in Lukeville, Arizona, and Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico (Figure 8).
Backwater pooling against the fence caused sedimentation to occur, at least in stream reaches near the fence. Sedimentation occurs when floodwater velocity decreases or is stopped by an impoundment. Evidence of sedimentation due to the pedestrian fence would include the presence of fine sediments in stream reaches normally having only sand and gravel. The flood of July 12 deposited a thick layer of fine sediments on the lower reaches of major washes.
We could not determine the depth of sediments deposited on the patrol road because on July 16 they were either covered with debris or they had been removed prior to our visit.
Fine sediment deposits were documented in stream reaches above the patrol road. Accumulation of fine sediments in these stream reaches will, over the long term, change the hydrology of these drainage systems upstream. Downstream from the fence in Mexico, drainages will be affected eventually by the decrease in sedimentation.
Notable fine sediment deposits were documented in Tejano Wash (Figure 9), Estes Wash, Dowling Wash, Victoria Wash, and Smugglers’ Wash upstream from the patrol road on July 16, 2008. These deposits were also observed at Gachado and Headquarters washes, but the observation was not photographically recorded, as repeat photography did not occur at this sites.
Text Box: Figure 9. Prior to fence construction (above), the bed of Tejano Wash (E16) was composed of coarse sand and gravel (NPS photo, 9 July 2008). After the flood (below), flood debris can be seen in the foreground of the same scene, and a new deposit of fine sediment can be seen in the midground (NPS photo, 16 July 2008). USACE Performance Standard: Design would consider and protect against scour or long-term degradation at or downstream of the fence location.
Considerable scour occurred downstream from the pedestrian fence. Some of this scour can be attributed to the pedestrian fence, while some sites will require addition time and study to determine if the pedestrian fence accelerated scour or not.
Scour that can be attributed to the pedestrian fence include areas where lateral flows or backwater pools crossed the fence outside of natural drainages. Scour also occurred at the upstream side of the foundation wall (Figure 10).
Figure 10. Floodwaters flowed laterally along the pedestrian fence, causing scour at the foundation wall and erosion of the patrol road in places. (NPS wash 17, east of Lukeville, July 16, 2008).
A water elevation rise of up to 7 feet at the pedestrian fence caused significant scour at the foundation wall and vehicle barrier on the downstream side. Erosion control fabric was displaced and in most large wash crossings is no longer functional (Figure 11).
USACE Performance Standard: Design would protect against ponded water along the fence.
We assume this design standard was written to protect against ponded water on the patrol road during and after rainfall events. The design appears to have met this standard for the patrol road. Some ponding did occur, however, in areas upstream from the patrol road where road elevations are above the natural surface elevations, especially where small drainages are impounded by the road or where road berms block runoff. During the next few decades, vegetation change will occur in those areas along the northern edge of the patrol road that receive and retain runoff.
Figure 11. Left: Downstream from the pedestrian fence, a 7-ft tall cascade of water caused downstream scour at Victoria Wash (NPS photo July 16, 2008). A Kiewit photo taken before construction (USACE 2008a) shows no scour at this site.
Right: At Estes Wash, floodwaters flowed along the foundation wall on the downstream side, causing scour at the vehicle barrier. At this site, the erosion control fabric remained in place, although exposed.
Conclusion
Our data and observational information show that the pedestrian fence did not meet the standards set by the FONSI (USBP 2008) or the USACE’s hydrologic performance standards (USACE 2008a). As a consequence, natural resources of OPCNM and NPS infrastructure will be impacted, as well as resources and infrastructure on neighboring lands in the U.S. and Mexico. Short- and long-term impacts that are expected due to the pedestrian fence include the following:
• Accelerated scour below the pedestrian fence will damage the structural integrity of the vehicle barrier along the U.S./Mexico boundary unless continued maintenance occurs. • Floodwaters will flow laterally along the pedestrian fence and on the patrol road. These flows will result in erosion and scour above and below the foundation wall of the fence, including areas hundreds of feet outside existing drainage channels. As a consequence, the need for routine maintenance and repairs of the patrol road and vehicle barrier will increase. • The patrol road associated with the pedestrian fence will change vegetation in OPCNM by changing rainfall retention or runoff along the northern road edge. • Riparian vegetation will change in response to increased sedimentation. • Channel morphology and floodplain function will change over time. • Channelized waters will begin a gullying process that has the potential to transform land surfaces in the affected watersheds.
We recommend that third-party, objective experts should conduct a review of the performance of the fence with regards to hydrologic criteria. The fence needs to properly convey debris-laden flood flows. Significant pooling, lateral flows and scour should be minimized by improved fence design. The structural integrity of the vehicle barrier needs to be maintained because it continues to play a strategic role in border security and resource protection. Road-edge effects on vegetation should be minimized by better management of berms and road elevations.
Literature Cited
Bonnin, G M, D Martin, B Lin, T Parzybok, M Yetka, and D Riley. 2006. NOAA, National Weather Service, Silver Spring, Maryland. Online: http://hdsc.nws.noaa.gov/hdsc/pfds/sa/az_pfds.html
Holm, P and C Conner. 2006. Chapter 8: Climate. In Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Ecological Monitoring Program 2006 Annual Report. Unpublished report, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona.
Kiewit. 2007. Unpublished meeting handout. December 6, 2007, interagency meeting. 19pp.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 2008a. Design complete package: drainage report for Project D-2: Ajo 3.1 miles east to 2.1 miles west of Lukeville, AZ POE. Contract No.: W912BV-07-D-2022, Task order No.: CQ01. Report prepared by Kiewit for US Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District. 27 pp + 148pp appendix.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 2008b. Design Complete Submittal for Project D-2: Ajo 3.1 miles east to 2.1 miles west of Lukeville, AZ POE. Contract No.: W912BV-07-D-2022, Task order No.: CQ01. Report prepared by Kiewit for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District.
U.S. Border Patrol, Tucson Sector. 2007. Final environmental assessment for the proposed installation of 5.2 miles of primary fence near Lukeville, Arizona. U.S. Border Patrol, Tucson Sector, Tucson, Arizona.
U.S. Border Patrol, Tucson Sector. 2008. Finding of no significant impact for the proposed installation, operation and maintenance of primary pedestrian fence near Lukeville, Arizona. 8pp.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Border Patrol. 2007a. Preliminary draft environmental assessment for the installation of 4.2 miles of pedestrian fence. Office of Border Patrol, Tucson Sector, Arizona.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Border Patrol. 2007b. Final environmental assessment for the proposed installation of 5.2 miles of primary fence near Lukeville, Arizona. Office of Border Patrol, Tucson Sector, Arizona.
U.S. Geological Service. 1999. The National flood-frequency program—methods for estimating flood magnitude and frequency in rural areas in Arizona. USGS Fact Sheet 111-98.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Damaged by Border Wall Flood Obstruction
New Park Service Report Details Environmental, Infrastructure Damage Caused by Predictable Border Wall Flood Problems
By Center for Biological Diversity
PHOENIX — A newly obtained National Park Service report details ecological and infrastructure damage in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument caused by flood obstruction and debris accumulation along recently constructed portions of the border wall. Damage includes severe erosion, infrastructure damage, and movement of floodwaters and drainages behind debris obstructions into adjacent deserts and, in one case, through a border-crossing station.
An environmental analysis conducted by the Department of Homeland Security in 2007 concluded that the fence would “…not impede the natural flow of water.” It would be “…designed and constructed to ensure proper conveyance of floodwaters and to eliminate the potential to cause backwater flooding on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border.” Further, Customs and Border Protection would “…remove debris from the fence within washes/arroyos immediately after rain events to ensure that no backwater flooding occurs.” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has since exempted the border wall from all environmental laws.
“The callousness displayed by Homeland Security in ignoring warnings to damage a national treasure is mind-boggling,” said Robin Silver of the Center for Biological Diversity. “The border wall does not stop humans, but it will stop jaguars and other wildlife. It is already wreaking havoc on the southern part of Oregon Pipe National Monument.”
“The contrast between the report findings and the environmental assessment displays the Bush administration’s wholly meaningless approach to environmental analysis,” said Silver. “The administration essentially did no analysis at all.”
The Park Service report shows several instances in which debris collected in flash floods in south-flowing drainages caused natural resource and infrastructure damage and states that National Monument resources and infrastructure will continue to be impacted, as well as resources and infrastructure on neighboring lands in the United States and Mexico. The report anticipates the following short- and long-term impacts:
Accelerated scour below the pedestrian fence will damage the structural integrity of the vehicle barrier along the U.S./Mexico boundary unless continued maintenance occurs.
Floodwaters will flow laterally along the pedestrian fence and on the patrol road. These flows will result in erosion and scour above and below the foundation wall of the fence, including areas hundreds of feet outside existing drainage channels. As a consequence, the need for routine maintenance and repairs of the patrol road and vehicle barrier will increase.
The patrol road associated with the pedestrian fence will change vegetation in Organ Pipe by changing rainfall retention or runoff along the northern road edge.
Riparian vegetation will change in response to increased sedimentation.
Channel morphology and floodplain function will change over time.
Channelized waters will begin a gullying process that has the potential to transform land surfaces in the affected watersheds.
“While the Bush administration may claim it’s taking environmental impacts of the border wall into consideration, building wire mesh fences across washes prone to debris-laden floods is fundamentally flawed,” said Silver. “It’s time for Homeland Security to lift its embargo on environmental laws. The border fence does not stop humans. Now we have more proof if the wall’s destruction of our national treasures.
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National Park Service report:
Effects of the International Boundary Pedestrian Fence in the Vicinity of Lukeville, Arizona, on Drainage Systems and Infrastructure, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
Prepared August 2008
On July 12, 2008, a summer storm delivered 1–2 inches of rain in about 1.5 hours in the south-central portion of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (OPCNM). The flash flooding that ensued tested the ability of the newly constructed pedestrian fence along the U.S./Mexico border to accommodate flood flows. The purpose of this report is to document the July 12 storm event, the performance of the pedestrian fence during the flash flood, the effects of the flood on floodplains and channel morphology of south-flowing drainage systems of OPCNM, and the implications for infrastructure maintenance.
Background
The pedestrian fence in the vicinity of Lukeville, Arizona, is 5.2 miles long. It was completed during the spring and summer of 2008. The fence is located within the 60-ft strip of land adjacent to the international boundary known as the ‘Roosevelt Reserve,’ set aside for public highways by presidential proclamation in 1907. The fence is located several feet north of the existing vehicle barrier, which is several feet north of the international boundary. Adjacent to the pedestrian fence is a dirt patrol road about 45 feet wide that was constructed as part of the pedestrian fence project.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), designed the pedestrian fence. A typical fence section is 15 feet tall and is composed of wire mesh panels (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Close-up view of wire mesh on a typical fence panel.
10 Organ Pipe Drive
Ajo, Arizona 85321
520 387-6849 phone
520 387-7144 fax
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Organ Pipe Cactus
National Monument
Panels at drainage crossings have grates that were designed to accommodate a flood event (Figure 2). Grate openings are 6-inches (in) high and 24-in wide, with 1-in by 3-in bars.
Summer Thunderstorms and the 12 July 2008 Storm Event
The area experiences two annual rainfall periods that, in part, define the Sonoran Desert. The winter season is driven by westerly or northwesterly winds bringing moisture from the Pacific Ocean. Winter storms typically occur between November to April, and are gentle rains that rarely cause flooding. The Arizona or Mexican monsoon typically lasts from July to September in southwestern Arizona. The summer rainy season is driven by southerly or southeasterly winds that bring moisture northward from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico into the desert southwest. Extreme surface heating, combined with the moist air, powers monsoon thunderstorms. These violent storms are often accompanied by strong winds, lightning and flash flooding. Summer thunderstorms are the regional flood source (USGS 1999). On July 12 in the late afternoon, a monsoon thunderstorm occurred over south-central OPCNM. The radar rainfall estimate for that day from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the thunderstorm centered north of Lukeville, in the vicinity of the OPCNM headquarters (Figure 3). The map shows a very small area receiving rain in excess of 2.5 inches (in red, Figure 3).
Figure 2. Fence panels at drainage crossings (above) have wire mesh above larger grate openings intended to accommodate flood flows.
A different radar rainfall estimate map for the 6-day period July 9 to July 15 shows that monsoonal storms of the magnitude of the July 12 storm are a widespread and normal occurrence across southern Arizona (Figure 4) (NWS, July 15, 2008). At the headquarters climate station, light rain occurred on July 9 and July 10 as well as the heavy rain of July 12. The cumulative total of these rains is shown on Figure 4.
Inches
Figure 3. The radar rainfall estimate (in inches) for a 24-hour period from 0500 Mountain Standard Time (MST) July 12 to 0500 MST July 13, 2008, Arizona (NOAA, 18 July 2008). Data is truncated just south of the international boundary.
ARIZONA
Typical of monsoon thunderstorms, the rainfall event of July 12 was intense and brief. Weather instrumentation near OPCNM headquarters recorded 1.99 inches of rain in about 1.5 hours. This climate station is part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) and is operated by the NPS. A few miles south of headquarters, another rain gauge recorded 1.28 inches of rain in about one hour and 45 minutes, or 0.71 inch per hour. Rainfall at this site, located about 1.5 miles west-northwest of Lukeville, was measured by a tipping bucket with Hobo recorder. Figure 5 shows the locations of the climate station and rainfall gauge.
Summer storm events such as the July 12 storm occur regularly within OPCNM. Based on a 60 year record of daily rainfall at OPCNM headquarters, rainfall events in excess of 2 inches occurred
AJO
Lukeville
Figure 4. Regional radar precipitation estimates for 9:04am MST July 9, to 7:33am MST July 15, 2008 (NWS, 15 July 2008).
AJO
Lukeville
Figure 5. Extent of watersheds draining into Mexico and crossing the pedestrian fence. NPS drainage numbers and names are also listed in Table 1. The drainage area numbers and sizes calculated by OPCNM are different from those used in the hydrologic analysis (USACE/Kiewit 2008a).
12 times, or once every five years. Events between 1.50 – 1.99 inches occurred about once every 3 years, and events between 1.0 – 1.49 inches occurred nearly every year.
The probability that flash flooding will occur due to a monsoonal storm event in the Sonoran Desert is determined by many factors, including the total amount of rainfall, the rate of rainfall (intensity), extent of the storm, the size of the affected watersheds, how much of the area of each drainage area receives rain, and soil saturation preceding the event.
Nearly all drainages crossing the international boundary at the pedestrian fence flow from north to south. The seven largest drainage basins range in size from nearly 1 square mile (sq mi) to over 16 sq mi (Table 1). Drainage areas as determined by OPCNM (Table 1) were derived from an accurate GIS database and were different than estimates in the drainage report (USACE 2008a, p15-16). The latter estimates for Estes and Victoria Wash were significantly underestimated.
The headwaters of Smugglers, Tejano, Gachado, and Estes drainages are located in the Diablo/Ajo Mountains complex. These higher-elevation headwaters located on the eastern side of OPCNM—including Mount Ajo (4,808 ft), the highest point in the Ajo Mountains—typically receive more rainfall during the monsoon than lower-elevation sites (Holm & Conner 2006). The Victoria, Dowling and Headquarters drainage basins have headwaters located in the Puerto Blanco Mountains.
Table 1. The names of drainages crossing the international boundary at the pedestrian fence and the extent of the watersheds above the pedestrian fence.
Drainage Area
NPS Drainage USACE/Kiewit Estimate (acres)
Drainage Name Number Drainage Number NPS Kiewit
Tejano Wash 8 E16 10,500 9,384
Smugglers Wash 4 E8 9,548 9,491
Estes Wash 19 E31 7,988 3,741
Headquarters Wash HQ W1 4,938 4,754
Victoria Wash 2 W13 3,613 2,839
Gachado Wash 10 E20 3,464 3,419
Dowling Wash 1 W17 593 591
Fence Design and Performance Criteria
Fence design addressed security performance criteria as well as those relating to hydrology. The following discussion addresses only the design and performance criteria that relate to hydrology.
OPCNM’s early concerns about the effect of the pedestrian fence on floodwaters, floodplains, ecosystem function and infrastructure were based on first-hand knowledge of flash flooding and its frequency at OPCNM. Additionally, the vehicle barrier has afforded NPS staff the opportunity to observe how this very porous structure can cause scour and collect debris during a flood event. During scoping meetings and in comments on the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the pedestrian fence project (Baiza, in litt., 9 October 2007, USDHA 2007a, USDHS 2007b, Kiewit 2007, et al.), OPCNM expressed concerns that:
• The fence would impede the conveyance of floodwaters across the international boundary. • Debris carried by flash floods would be trapped by the fence, resulting in impeded flow and clean-up issues. • Backwater pooling would occur due to impeded flow. • Lateral flow due to backwater pooling would cause environmental damage as well as damage to patrol roads. • Significant increase in surface water depths (or rise in water elevation) would occur as a result of impeded flow, causing adverse affects on downstream and upstream resources and infrastructure in OPCNM and Mexico.
Addressing OPCNM’s concerns, the Final Environmental Assessment (FEA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) stated that, in addition to security criteria, the fence would “…not impede the natural flow of water” (U.S. Border Patrol 2007a). It would be “…designed and constructed to ensure proper conveyance of floodwaters and to eliminate the potential to cause backwater flooding on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border” (U.S. Border Patrol 2007a). Further, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “…will remove debris from the fence within washes/arroyos immediately after rain events to ensure that no backwater flooding occurs” (U.S. Border Patrol 2007a).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), OPCNM, USACE and Kiewit met in December 2007 to discuss how the fence design met the required performance standards. In the meeting handout, Kiewit stated the design would “…permit water and debris to flow freely and not allow
ponding of water on either side of the border” because the drainage crossing grates “…met hydraulic modeling requirements” (Kiewit 2007).
The hydrologic design criteria included in the final drainage report (USACE 2008a) were as follows:
• Rise in water elevation due to the fence for a 100-year frequency event would be limited to 6 inches in rural areas. • Design would consider and protect against scour or long-term degradation at or downstream of the fence location. • Design would protect against ponded water along the fence.
The drainage report stated that the final fence design satisfied all performance criteria (USACE 2008a).
The USACE/Kiewit based the fence design on a hydrologic analysis that used a 100-year storm as the base storm for determining peak discharge in all drainage basins (USACE 2008a). Two methods were used to determine the 100-year water surface elevations. For drainage areas greater than 10 square miles the 100-year water surface elevations were determined by using equations recommended by the U.S. Geological Service (USGS), even though the USGS advised that the method is not applicable at average elevations below 1,730 feet. (USACE 2008a, USGS 1999). The USGS method for estimating peak discharges from rural streams uses four variables: drainage area (in square miles), average annual precipitation, average basin elevation, and average annual evaporation (USGS 1999). Drainage areas were calculated using a GIS dataset of unknown source, rather than the more accurate OPCNM dataset. USACE/Kiewit’s final calculations for 100-year water surface elevations included considerations given to elevation rise due to the fence posts and grates.
For drainage areas less than 10 square miles, the Natural Resource Conservation Service ‘curve number method’ was used to estimate discharge (USACE 2008a). USACE/Kiewit used the NOAA Atlas 14 to determine precipitation frequency estimate for the project (Bonnin et al. 2006). Atlas 14 for the Ajo, Arizona, area predicts that a storm lasting 1.5 hours with a rainfall intensity of 0.71 inches per hour would occur once every 5 years (based on a partial duration series). Hourly rainfall data from the headquarters climate station confirms a slightly more frequency occurrence (once every 3 years).
Performance of the Pedestrian Fence
This section of the report compares the performance standards set by the FONSI (USBP 2008) and those set by the final drainage report (USACE 2008a) with the actual performance of the fence, as documented by OPCNM. As the USBP performance standards are different from the USACE standards, each will be addressed separately.
FONSI Standard: The pedestrian fence would “…not impede the natural flow of water” and would allow “…proper conveyance of floodwaters.” It would “…eliminate the potential to cause backwater flooding on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border.”
The pedestrian fence impeded the natural flow of water and did not properly convey floodwaters during the July 12 storm. Mainstem drainage channels contained flood flows until reaching the proximity of the pedestrian fence. Debris blockages formed at the upstream side of the fence, restricting water flow and causing significant water elevation rise (Figure 6). The foundation wall of the pedestrian fence stopped subsurface sediment flow, which added to the water elevation rise. Backwater flooding occurred in most washes. Figure 6. At this drainage crossing west of Lukeville, debris filled most of the length of the drainage grate, causing backwater pooling of 1-2 feet depth. Photograph was taken on July 15, 2006.
FONSI Standard: Flood debris would be removed “…immediately after rain events to ensure that no backwater flooding occurs.”
Removing debris after a flood is ineffectual at stopping backwater flooding while a flash flood is occurring. Backwater flooding occurs during a flood. Removing debris after a flood will reduce the pooling that would take place during the next flood, compared with leaving the debris in place.
USACE Performance Standard: Rise in water elevation due to the fence for a 100-year frequency event would be limited to 6 inches in rural areas.
The storm of July 12 has a return frequency of about once every three years (OPCNM data), or once every five years according to NOAA (2006, partial duration series). According to the design criteria, the fence should not have caused the extensive significant water elevation rise, backwater pooling, or lateral flows from a relatively frequent storm event.
Floodwaters at the pedestrian fence were several feet deep in all the drainages listed in Table 1 as well as in a number of moderate-sized drainages. Since floodwaters were contained within natural channels except at the pedestrian fence, we can deduce that the fence caused a significant portion of the rise. The foundation wall likely contributed to backwater pooling by stopping subsurface flows, adding to water elevation rise.
During the July 12 event, water elevations at nearly all major drainages crossed by the fence rose so significantly that backwater pooling occurred and floodwaters flowed laterally (east-west or west-east) along the fence. Among the more significant lateral flow events were:
• Victoria Wash, with a drainage area of 5.6 square miles, rose against the pedestrian fence and flowed over 1,100 feet to the west into a minor channel. Fine sediment deposits on the fence between the two washes reached a height of 1-2 feet. Where the main channel crossed the fence, the high water mark was about 7 feet above the foundation wall of the fence (Figure 7). It is uncertain how much of this rise was due to the fence. • Smugglers’ Wash, with a watershed of nearly 15 square miles, left its channel at the pedestrian fence and flowed more than 500 feet to the east. It discharged into a channel that normally drains a 0.15 square mile basin.
Figure 8 (left). Impounded by the pedestrian fence, floodwaters from Headquarters Wash, which normally flows from north to south, flowed to the east along the fence and into the Mexican Port of Entry in Sonoyta, Sonora. The white SUV is southbound into Mexico.
Figure 7. The floodwaters of Victoria Wash (W13) were blocked by debris and rose to a depth of about 7 feet.
About 2 feet of coarse debris were deposited against the fence (upper photo, July 14, 2008). A band of fine sediment marks the high water line at flood stage.
The same site as above, after flood debris was cleared (middle photo, July 16, 2008). Distance from the foundation wall of the fence to the high water line is over 7 feet.
• Gachado Wash, which drains an area of 5.4 square miles, also flowed over 300 feet to the west into another channel. Coarse woody debris was deposited on the patrol road as far as 400 feet west of Gachado Wash. Wash bed sands were deposited on the road surface between these two drainage channels, indicating that the velocity of floodwater was sufficient to carry sand particles. • Estes Wash travelled more than 500 feet to the west along the pedestrian fence foundation. Prior to the construction of the pedestrian fence, lateral flow of floodwaters along the international boundary had never been documented in the project area. • Headquarters Wash flowed over 200 feet to the east along the pedestrian fence and through the international port of entry. It caused flood damage to private property, government offices and commercial businesses in Lukeville, Arizona, and Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico (Figure 8).
Backwater pooling against the fence caused sedimentation to occur, at least in stream reaches near the fence. Sedimentation occurs when floodwater velocity decreases or is stopped by an impoundment. Evidence of sedimentation due to the pedestrian fence would include the presence of fine sediments in stream reaches normally having only sand and gravel. The flood of July 12 deposited a thick layer of fine sediments on the lower reaches of major washes.
We could not determine the depth of sediments deposited on the patrol road because on July 16 they were either covered with debris or they had been removed prior to our visit.
Fine sediment deposits were documented in stream reaches above the patrol road. Accumulation of fine sediments in these stream reaches will, over the long term, change the hydrology of these drainage systems upstream. Downstream from the fence in Mexico, drainages will be affected eventually by the decrease in sedimentation.
Notable fine sediment deposits were documented in Tejano Wash (Figure 9), Estes Wash, Dowling Wash, Victoria Wash, and Smugglers’ Wash upstream from the patrol road on July 16, 2008. These deposits were also observed at Gachado and Headquarters washes, but the observation was not photographically recorded, as repeat photography did not occur at this sites.
Text Box: Figure 9. Prior to fence construction (above), the bed of Tejano Wash (E16) was composed of coarse sand and gravel (NPS photo, 9 July 2008). After the flood (below), flood debris can be seen in the foreground of the same scene, and a new deposit of fine sediment can be seen in the midground (NPS photo, 16 July 2008). USACE Performance Standard: Design would consider and protect against scour or long-term degradation at or downstream of the fence location.
Considerable scour occurred downstream from the pedestrian fence. Some of this scour can be attributed to the pedestrian fence, while some sites will require addition time and study to determine if the pedestrian fence accelerated scour or not.
Scour that can be attributed to the pedestrian fence include areas where lateral flows or backwater pools crossed the fence outside of natural drainages. Scour also occurred at the upstream side of the foundation wall (Figure 10).
Figure 10. Floodwaters flowed laterally along the pedestrian fence, causing scour at the foundation wall and erosion of the patrol road in places. (NPS wash 17, east of Lukeville, July 16, 2008).
A water elevation rise of up to 7 feet at the pedestrian fence caused significant scour at the foundation wall and vehicle barrier on the downstream side. Erosion control fabric was displaced and in most large wash crossings is no longer functional (Figure 11).
USACE Performance Standard: Design would protect against ponded water along the fence.
We assume this design standard was written to protect against ponded water on the patrol road during and after rainfall events. The design appears to have met this standard for the patrol road. Some ponding did occur, however, in areas upstream from the patrol road where road elevations are above the natural surface elevations, especially where small drainages are impounded by the road or where road berms block runoff. During the next few decades, vegetation change will occur in those areas along the northern edge of the patrol road that receive and retain runoff.
Figure 11. Left: Downstream from the pedestrian fence, a 7-ft tall cascade of water caused downstream scour at Victoria Wash (NPS photo July 16, 2008). A Kiewit photo taken before construction (USACE 2008a) shows no scour at this site.
Right: At Estes Wash, floodwaters flowed along the foundation wall on the downstream side, causing scour at the vehicle barrier. At this site, the erosion control fabric remained in place, although exposed.
Conclusion
Our data and observational information show that the pedestrian fence did not meet the standards set by the FONSI (USBP 2008) or the USACE’s hydrologic performance standards (USACE 2008a). As a consequence, natural resources of OPCNM and NPS infrastructure will be impacted, as well as resources and infrastructure on neighboring lands in the U.S. and Mexico. Short- and long-term impacts that are expected due to the pedestrian fence include the following:
• Accelerated scour below the pedestrian fence will damage the structural integrity of the vehicle barrier along the U.S./Mexico boundary unless continued maintenance occurs. • Floodwaters will flow laterally along the pedestrian fence and on the patrol road. These flows will result in erosion and scour above and below the foundation wall of the fence, including areas hundreds of feet outside existing drainage channels. As a consequence, the need for routine maintenance and repairs of the patrol road and vehicle barrier will increase. • The patrol road associated with the pedestrian fence will change vegetation in OPCNM by changing rainfall retention or runoff along the northern road edge. • Riparian vegetation will change in response to increased sedimentation. • Channel morphology and floodplain function will change over time. • Channelized waters will begin a gullying process that has the potential to transform land surfaces in the affected watersheds.
We recommend that third-party, objective experts should conduct a review of the performance of the fence with regards to hydrologic criteria. The fence needs to properly convey debris-laden flood flows. Significant pooling, lateral flows and scour should be minimized by improved fence design. The structural integrity of the vehicle barrier needs to be maintained because it continues to play a strategic role in border security and resource protection. Road-edge effects on vegetation should be minimized by better management of berms and road elevations.
Literature Cited
Bonnin, G M, D Martin, B Lin, T Parzybok, M Yetka, and D Riley. 2006. NOAA, National Weather Service, Silver Spring, Maryland. Online: http://hdsc.nws.noaa.gov/hdsc/pfds/sa/az_pfds.html
Holm, P and C Conner. 2006. Chapter 8: Climate. In Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Ecological Monitoring Program 2006 Annual Report. Unpublished report, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona.
Kiewit. 2007. Unpublished meeting handout. December 6, 2007, interagency meeting. 19pp.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 2008a. Design complete package: drainage report for Project D-2: Ajo 3.1 miles east to 2.1 miles west of Lukeville, AZ POE. Contract No.: W912BV-07-D-2022, Task order No.: CQ01. Report prepared by Kiewit for US Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District. 27 pp + 148pp appendix.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 2008b. Design Complete Submittal for Project D-2: Ajo 3.1 miles east to 2.1 miles west of Lukeville, AZ POE. Contract No.: W912BV-07-D-2022, Task order No.: CQ01. Report prepared by Kiewit for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District.
U.S. Border Patrol, Tucson Sector. 2007. Final environmental assessment for the proposed installation of 5.2 miles of primary fence near Lukeville, Arizona. U.S. Border Patrol, Tucson Sector, Tucson, Arizona.
U.S. Border Patrol, Tucson Sector. 2008. Finding of no significant impact for the proposed installation, operation and maintenance of primary pedestrian fence near Lukeville, Arizona. 8pp.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Border Patrol. 2007a. Preliminary draft environmental assessment for the installation of 4.2 miles of pedestrian fence. Office of Border Patrol, Tucson Sector, Arizona.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Border Patrol. 2007b. Final environmental assessment for the proposed installation of 5.2 miles of primary fence near Lukeville, Arizona. Office of Border Patrol, Tucson Sector, Arizona.
U.S. Geological Service. 1999. The National flood-frequency program—methods for estimating flood magnitude and frequency in rural areas in Arizona. USGS Fact Sheet 111-98.
Lakotah plan civil disobedience fishing near Rapid City
Lakotah plan civil disobedience fishing near Rapid City
info@republicoflakotah.com
605-867-1111505-577-4247
http://www.republicoflakotah.com/http://www.russellmeansfreedom.com/
Lakotah Plan Civil Disobedience Fishing Event on August 25, 2008All members of the tribes to the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty have the right to fish within the 1851 Treaty territory, which includes all of South Dakota from the east bank of the Missouri River.
By Republic of Lakotah
LAKOTAH REPUBLIC -- In the tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Russell Means, the Chief Facilitator of the Republic of Lakotah, is organizing a group of Lakotah Indians to enter Sheridan Lake Recreation Area near Rapid City, South Dakota, refuse to pay the admission fee, and fish without paying the license fee.
Means claims that Lakotah retained the right to fish and pass in the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty territory and that those rights continue today and backed by Article VI of the Constitution of the united states of America.
The event, which is being billed as the Lakotah Freedom Fishing Day, is about much more than the admission fee or the fishing license fee; it is about getting the South Dakota and United States governments to follow their own laws.
Means said, "After having been an occupied nation for over 150 years, we have asked the United States government to leave our country. Meanwhile, until the United States Government leaves Lakotah territory we will take every opportunity to insist it follow its own laws and that its states do the same."
Lakotah have given notice to Larry Long, the Attorney General of South Dakota, of its plans for this event. (A copy of the notice is online at: http://republicoflakotah.com/...) Means said he has not heard from Long yet and does not know if the state plans on allowing the Indians to fish and pass or if the park rangers will issue citations or arrest any of the Lakotah fishermen. Means plans to call in federal marshalls to enforce the treaty rights.
Means said, "According to the Civil Right Act, federal marshalls should arrest any state official who tries to stop Lakotah from entering the park and fishing.
However, if the United States ignores its own laws to deny Lakotah rights, it will certainly not be the first time."
This historic event is planned for Monday, August 25th, at 1:00 p.m.
Notice of Intent to Fish
August 12, 2008
Mr. Larry Long
Attorney General
State of South Dakota
1302 E. Hwy 14,
Suite 1
Pierre, South Dakota 57501
Dear Mr. Long:
The Republic of Lakotah is planning a "Lakotah Freedom Fishing Day" on Monday, August 25, 2008, at Sheridan Lake Area in the Black Hills. I am giving you advance notice of this event so that you will have sufficient time to do your legal research and, ideally, you and I can come to an understanding that will work best for everybody. As you may know, all members of the tribes to the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty have the right to fish within the 1851 Treaty territory (which includes all of South Dakota from the east bank of the Missouri River). The relevant language from Article 5 of the 1851 Treaty reads: "It is, however, understood that, in making this recognition and acknowledgement, the aforesaid Indian nations ... do not surrender the privilege of hunting, fishing, or passing over any of the tracts of country heretofore described."Some may assert that the 1851 Treaty was superseded by the 1868 Treaty. They are mistaken.
Article 17 the 1868 Treaty states: "It is hereby expressly understood and agreed by and between the respective parties to this treaty that the execution of this treaty and its ratification by the United States Senate shall have the effect, and shall be construed as abrogating and annulling all treaties and agreements heretofore entered into between the respective parties hereto, so far as such treaties and agreements obligate the United States to furnish and provide money, clothing, or other articles of property to such Indians and bands of Indians as become parties to this treaty, but no further."
Accordingly, under the treaties and Article 6 of the Constitution of the united states of America, Lakotah, and all Indians in tribes of the 1851 Treaty have the right to:
Enter the park with no fee, andFish with no licenseCatch as many fish as neededUnited States v. Winans, 198 US 371 (1905), and Tulee v. Washington, 315 U.S. 681 (1942), are two of the many cases which support this right to fish.
If you are considering countering by contending that, since Lakotah has withdrawn from the treaties, that it now has no further treaty rights, we would be glad to join you in that position.
However, that would also mean that: The Indians have the right to enter the park and fish with no interference from your agents; andAll agents of the State of South Dakota operating in Republic of Lakotah territory are trespassing.
We are planning on inviting the press.
Members of the press can either film:Indians being allowed to exercise their rights, or Your agents arresting Indians who are exercising their rights, followed by federal marshals arresting your agents for violating those rights.Also, if you do not instruct your agents to permit the entrance and fishing, there will be more press coverage when we sue your agents under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985 and you under § 1986.
Either way, it should be a great event. Please let me know, soon, how you intend to instruct your agents to deal with this. Please feel free to call me at 605-867-1025 to discuss this. If I do not hear from you, I will give you a call. I expect that you will also be hearing from the press. I look forward to a peaceful resolution on this.
Best,Russell Means
Chief Facilitator Provisional Government Republic of Lakotah
P.O. Box 429
Porcupine, Lakotah 57772
info@republicoflakotah.com
605-867-1111505-577-4247
http://www.republicoflakotah.com/http://www.russellmeansfreedom.com/
Lakotah Plan Civil Disobedience Fishing Event on August 25, 2008All members of the tribes to the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty have the right to fish within the 1851 Treaty territory, which includes all of South Dakota from the east bank of the Missouri River.
By Republic of Lakotah
LAKOTAH REPUBLIC -- In the tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Russell Means, the Chief Facilitator of the Republic of Lakotah, is organizing a group of Lakotah Indians to enter Sheridan Lake Recreation Area near Rapid City, South Dakota, refuse to pay the admission fee, and fish without paying the license fee.
Means claims that Lakotah retained the right to fish and pass in the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty territory and that those rights continue today and backed by Article VI of the Constitution of the united states of America.
The event, which is being billed as the Lakotah Freedom Fishing Day, is about much more than the admission fee or the fishing license fee; it is about getting the South Dakota and United States governments to follow their own laws.
Means said, "After having been an occupied nation for over 150 years, we have asked the United States government to leave our country. Meanwhile, until the United States Government leaves Lakotah territory we will take every opportunity to insist it follow its own laws and that its states do the same."
Lakotah have given notice to Larry Long, the Attorney General of South Dakota, of its plans for this event. (A copy of the notice is online at: http://republicoflakotah.com/...) Means said he has not heard from Long yet and does not know if the state plans on allowing the Indians to fish and pass or if the park rangers will issue citations or arrest any of the Lakotah fishermen. Means plans to call in federal marshalls to enforce the treaty rights.
Means said, "According to the Civil Right Act, federal marshalls should arrest any state official who tries to stop Lakotah from entering the park and fishing.
However, if the United States ignores its own laws to deny Lakotah rights, it will certainly not be the first time."
This historic event is planned for Monday, August 25th, at 1:00 p.m.
Notice of Intent to Fish
August 12, 2008
Mr. Larry Long
Attorney General
State of South Dakota
1302 E. Hwy 14,
Suite 1
Pierre, South Dakota 57501
Dear Mr. Long:
The Republic of Lakotah is planning a "Lakotah Freedom Fishing Day" on Monday, August 25, 2008, at Sheridan Lake Area in the Black Hills. I am giving you advance notice of this event so that you will have sufficient time to do your legal research and, ideally, you and I can come to an understanding that will work best for everybody. As you may know, all members of the tribes to the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty have the right to fish within the 1851 Treaty territory (which includes all of South Dakota from the east bank of the Missouri River). The relevant language from Article 5 of the 1851 Treaty reads: "It is, however, understood that, in making this recognition and acknowledgement, the aforesaid Indian nations ... do not surrender the privilege of hunting, fishing, or passing over any of the tracts of country heretofore described."Some may assert that the 1851 Treaty was superseded by the 1868 Treaty. They are mistaken.
Article 17 the 1868 Treaty states: "It is hereby expressly understood and agreed by and between the respective parties to this treaty that the execution of this treaty and its ratification by the United States Senate shall have the effect, and shall be construed as abrogating and annulling all treaties and agreements heretofore entered into between the respective parties hereto, so far as such treaties and agreements obligate the United States to furnish and provide money, clothing, or other articles of property to such Indians and bands of Indians as become parties to this treaty, but no further."
Accordingly, under the treaties and Article 6 of the Constitution of the united states of America, Lakotah, and all Indians in tribes of the 1851 Treaty have the right to:
Enter the park with no fee, andFish with no licenseCatch as many fish as neededUnited States v. Winans, 198 US 371 (1905), and Tulee v. Washington, 315 U.S. 681 (1942), are two of the many cases which support this right to fish.
If you are considering countering by contending that, since Lakotah has withdrawn from the treaties, that it now has no further treaty rights, we would be glad to join you in that position.
However, that would also mean that: The Indians have the right to enter the park and fish with no interference from your agents; andAll agents of the State of South Dakota operating in Republic of Lakotah territory are trespassing.
We are planning on inviting the press.
Members of the press can either film:Indians being allowed to exercise their rights, or Your agents arresting Indians who are exercising their rights, followed by federal marshals arresting your agents for violating those rights.Also, if you do not instruct your agents to permit the entrance and fishing, there will be more press coverage when we sue your agents under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985 and you under § 1986.
Either way, it should be a great event. Please let me know, soon, how you intend to instruct your agents to deal with this. Please feel free to call me at 605-867-1025 to discuss this. If I do not hear from you, I will give you a call. I expect that you will also be hearing from the press. I look forward to a peaceful resolution on this.
Best,Russell Means
Chief Facilitator Provisional Government Republic of Lakotah
P.O. Box 429
Porcupine, Lakotah 57772
Indigenous anti-mining organizer assassinated in Guatemala
Assassination of Local Anti-Mining Leader Leads up to the International Day of Indigenous Peoples
Support Justice for Indigenous Leaders and the Struggle for Self-determination of Indigenous Communities Throughout Guatemala
NISGUA is sad to report the following piece of news regarding the assassination of Antonio Morales, ex- Municipal council member of Colotenango, Huehuetenango in Western Guatemala. Antonio Morales, a Maya Mam community leader, was killed Thursday morning August 7, 2008.
Just over a month ago, on June 23, 2008 the municipality of Colotenango became one of 26 municipalities to reject mining on their territory through a community referendum. The assassination occurred one day before the International Day of Indigenous Peoples (August 8th). On this day rural communities and organizations were planning mobilizations throughout the country and particularly in Western Guatemala to voice their resistance to mega projects such as hard metal mining and hydroelectric dams, and defend their right to autonomy and self-determination.
Below you will find a communique from the Center for Human Rights Legal Action regarding the recent assassination.Below you will also find a communique sent out by the Peoples' Council of San Marcos declaring their resistance to transnational corporations and the destruction of the environment that sustains life.To participate in other urgent actions in support of communities resisting mining on their territories in the face of threats, and to demand that Canadian Mining Companies and the Guatemalan government work to STOP THE REPRESSION AGAINST ANTI-MINING ACTIVISTS in Guatemala visit: http://www.nisgua.org/
1. ****HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST IS ASSASSINATED****
The Center for Human Rights Legal Action- CALDH- condemns the assassination of our compañero of the Maya Mam people, Antonio Morales, resident of the community Tixel, municipality of Colotenango, department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Four gunshots (to the left and right sides of his thorax, near his heart, and in his right arm) took Morales´ life in front of his house, on the Interamerican highway, near the Chanjon bridge.
Antonio was a member of the Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC), characterized for being a very active person in the struggle for the rights of indigenous peoples, the defense of natural resources, respect for the community referendums, and especially in resistance to open-pit mining in the department of Huehuetenango. He served as First Councilman in the municipality of Colotenango, in the previous period, therefore having recognition from the community. In previous days, Morales had informed people of threats made against him by armed groups that operated in the region. These events are added to the intimidation and constant threats that human rights activists have received for the work they do in defense of human rights.WE DEMAND that the Public Ministry investigate the cowardly assassination of Antonio Morales and that the judicial bodies charge the material and intellectual authors of his death.
WE DEMAND that the Guatemalan government guarantee the life and security of those who promote human rights in the country. We are in solidarity with the family of Antonio Morales, all the members of CUC, the campesino movement, and indigenous peoples.FOR THE RIGHT TO A JUST COUNTRY!*Guatemala, August 8th 2008.*
2. The Peoples’ Council of San Marcos, Guatemala That there may never be a people, nor two or three, that are left behind the rest.-Pop Wuj (Mayan spiritual teaching)August 9, 2008 — International Indigenous Peoples Day To: the three powers of the Guatemalan State—Mr. Álvaro Colom, President of GuatemalaMr. Arístides Baldomero Crespo Villegas, Chair of the Congress Mr. Oscar Humberto Vásquez Oliva, Chair of the Supreme Court of Justice The Peoples’ Council of San Marcos, in harmony and consensus with all the other peoples of the Americas/Abyayala, are filled with hope as we say to you on this Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Our Guatemala is a country where social relations are rooted in a dynamic interdependence with nature. It is a country where the sacredness of life marks the daily steps of the indigenous peoples that coexist with it — from the deepest rituals to the simplest tasks.As peoples, we continue to be excluded from development and decision-making. This happens in spite of our many experiences with democratic participation, including certain historical moments in which we found ourselves obligated to carry out tremendous sacrifices to confront oppression — an oppression which continues to present obstacles to the development of our country; an oppression which has reached an intolerable point.The imposition of transnational mega-projects — such as chemical open-pit or underground metal mining, hydroelectric dams, and the related problems of access to, use of and ownership of land — only brings us destruction, repression, and death. We see that “development” policies only benefit shameless speculating businesspeople, who are not obliged to pay taxes proportional to the wealth they obtain from these projects or proportional to their foreign capital. This occurs with the approval of every government administration. The government also carries out various development programs, directed by businesspeople serving in the public sector, whereby government resources are designated to rural areas and the indigenous and peasant populations; but these programs have very little impact because they do not have sufficient resources, nor do they contribute to the independence and self-sufficiency of the people that these programs are supposed to benefit. The government impedes our efforts to reconstruct the social fabric because it seeks partisan, sectoral gains and makes the population conform.Despite the historical marginalization and discrimination against our peoples, we have used our own creative capacities and resistance to dominant power structures through our own ways of life, our own economy, and our own solidarious organization to maintain ourselves and develop. This allows us to live at one with our values within the social and natural order, which is also at one with the cosmos, nature, and humanity.Trusting in the democratic processes that we have also pushed forward, raised up, and participated in, we have engaged in constant dialogue and consultation with our families, communities and peoples about the origin and destiny of our resources, goods and services. The next generations are our responsibility, and it falls on us and them to reaffirm our commitment to conserve this triple-harmony: humanity, nature, and cosmos.In the recent presidential elections, Mr. Álvaro Colóm offered that his government would establish a “social democracy with a Maya face.” We believed this and we voted for him. But the few initiatives that he has implemented towards this end have been left behind as a result of the weight that historical repressive powers still represent in this country. Our peoples are a force that has been continually disregarded and manipulated by those power structures that historically and currently comprise the Guatemalan state. The Colóm administration’s strength and power is rooted in its closeness to, dialogue with, and commitment to the poor and excluded who gave him the opportunity to be in the position of power that he holds today.In the name of this commitment by the President to undertake his government service with preference for the poor, peasant farmer, and indigenous peoples, we demand on this International Day of Indigenous Peoples:
Judicial Branch:Do not criminalize the struggles of indigenous peoples with regards to issues of agrarian land, mining and hydrolelecric projects.Executive Branch: Declare the contracts and licensing for exploration and exploitation of chemical metal mining harmful to the country; Make legally binding the 27 community consultations that have already happened, as well as those that will happen in different municipalities across the country; Carry out diversified hydroelectric projects and without impacting the flow of rivers. Respect prior community consultation; We want access to land, not to the way of the market. We want a solution to the agrarian conflicts and labor conflicts and a canceling of the agrarian debt; Reallocate public programs towards contributing to the economic independence of the indigenous and peasant farmer population; Comply with the obligation of applying the laws of International Labor Organization (ILO) convention 169, an international legal instrument with constitutional backing that regulates fundamental collective rights of indigenous peoples; Create policies and laws that include elements of holistic rural development and that prioritize small and medium economies, farm workers, and peasant farmers.
Legislative Branch:We declare you responsible for the creation of laws that directly prejudice against indigenous peoples and peasant farmers and benefit another sector.MOST URGENTLY:Judicial Branch: That you suspend the arrest warrents against: GREGORIA CRISANTA PEREZ BAMACA, CRISANTA HERNANDEZ PEREZ, PATROCINIA MATERO MEJIA, CATALINA PEREZ HERNANDEZ, OLGA BAMACA GONZALEZ, MARIA DIAZ, CRISANTA YOC Y MARTA PEREZ, indicated with the penal code identification number [1908-2008], under the purview of the Fifth Assistant to the Court of First Instance for Criminal and Narcotics Activity and Crimes against the Environment in San Marcos, for the existence of an unfounded resolution and lack of motive as required by law. That you respect the right to possess land for the inhabitants of Caserio San Francisco, San Pablo, and San Rafael Pie de la Cuesta, which are being affected by the implementation of hydroelectric projects and private companies.
Executive Branch: That you cancel the agrarian debts of 12 communities; create programs for land access with an alternative way to secure funding for land for 38 groups; that you resolve nine agrarian conflicts and 2 labor conflicts that are part of the peace institutionalization; and that you redirect public programs towards families that have been victimized by the food security crisis and the government’s inefficiency in addressing their agrarian and labor requests. The socio-economic and political crisis in which we find ourselves can provide your government with an opportunity to reconstruct our country, if you take this crisis on with dialogue and by working with the people. If you address this crisis with the interests of the powerful sectors in mind, it may be the last opportunity that we have to build ourselves as a country. Do not be intimidated by traditional elite and transnational powers that roam in this country — those who hold themselves captive and discredit legitimate actions in defense of the people and who force the state to defend their interests at all cost, even when defending their interests is detrimental to life itself.
Support Justice for Indigenous Leaders and the Struggle for Self-determination of Indigenous Communities Throughout Guatemala
NISGUA is sad to report the following piece of news regarding the assassination of Antonio Morales, ex- Municipal council member of Colotenango, Huehuetenango in Western Guatemala. Antonio Morales, a Maya Mam community leader, was killed Thursday morning August 7, 2008.
Just over a month ago, on June 23, 2008 the municipality of Colotenango became one of 26 municipalities to reject mining on their territory through a community referendum. The assassination occurred one day before the International Day of Indigenous Peoples (August 8th). On this day rural communities and organizations were planning mobilizations throughout the country and particularly in Western Guatemala to voice their resistance to mega projects such as hard metal mining and hydroelectric dams, and defend their right to autonomy and self-determination.
Below you will find a communique from the Center for Human Rights Legal Action regarding the recent assassination.Below you will also find a communique sent out by the Peoples' Council of San Marcos declaring their resistance to transnational corporations and the destruction of the environment that sustains life.To participate in other urgent actions in support of communities resisting mining on their territories in the face of threats, and to demand that Canadian Mining Companies and the Guatemalan government work to STOP THE REPRESSION AGAINST ANTI-MINING ACTIVISTS in Guatemala visit: http://www.nisgua.org/
1. ****HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST IS ASSASSINATED****
The Center for Human Rights Legal Action- CALDH- condemns the assassination of our compañero of the Maya Mam people, Antonio Morales, resident of the community Tixel, municipality of Colotenango, department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Four gunshots (to the left and right sides of his thorax, near his heart, and in his right arm) took Morales´ life in front of his house, on the Interamerican highway, near the Chanjon bridge.
Antonio was a member of the Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC), characterized for being a very active person in the struggle for the rights of indigenous peoples, the defense of natural resources, respect for the community referendums, and especially in resistance to open-pit mining in the department of Huehuetenango. He served as First Councilman in the municipality of Colotenango, in the previous period, therefore having recognition from the community. In previous days, Morales had informed people of threats made against him by armed groups that operated in the region. These events are added to the intimidation and constant threats that human rights activists have received for the work they do in defense of human rights.WE DEMAND that the Public Ministry investigate the cowardly assassination of Antonio Morales and that the judicial bodies charge the material and intellectual authors of his death.
WE DEMAND that the Guatemalan government guarantee the life and security of those who promote human rights in the country. We are in solidarity with the family of Antonio Morales, all the members of CUC, the campesino movement, and indigenous peoples.FOR THE RIGHT TO A JUST COUNTRY!*Guatemala, August 8th 2008.*
2. The Peoples’ Council of San Marcos, Guatemala That there may never be a people, nor two or three, that are left behind the rest.-Pop Wuj (Mayan spiritual teaching)August 9, 2008 — International Indigenous Peoples Day To: the three powers of the Guatemalan State—Mr. Álvaro Colom, President of GuatemalaMr. Arístides Baldomero Crespo Villegas, Chair of the Congress Mr. Oscar Humberto Vásquez Oliva, Chair of the Supreme Court of Justice The Peoples’ Council of San Marcos, in harmony and consensus with all the other peoples of the Americas/Abyayala, are filled with hope as we say to you on this Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Our Guatemala is a country where social relations are rooted in a dynamic interdependence with nature. It is a country where the sacredness of life marks the daily steps of the indigenous peoples that coexist with it — from the deepest rituals to the simplest tasks.As peoples, we continue to be excluded from development and decision-making. This happens in spite of our many experiences with democratic participation, including certain historical moments in which we found ourselves obligated to carry out tremendous sacrifices to confront oppression — an oppression which continues to present obstacles to the development of our country; an oppression which has reached an intolerable point.The imposition of transnational mega-projects — such as chemical open-pit or underground metal mining, hydroelectric dams, and the related problems of access to, use of and ownership of land — only brings us destruction, repression, and death. We see that “development” policies only benefit shameless speculating businesspeople, who are not obliged to pay taxes proportional to the wealth they obtain from these projects or proportional to their foreign capital. This occurs with the approval of every government administration. The government also carries out various development programs, directed by businesspeople serving in the public sector, whereby government resources are designated to rural areas and the indigenous and peasant populations; but these programs have very little impact because they do not have sufficient resources, nor do they contribute to the independence and self-sufficiency of the people that these programs are supposed to benefit. The government impedes our efforts to reconstruct the social fabric because it seeks partisan, sectoral gains and makes the population conform.Despite the historical marginalization and discrimination against our peoples, we have used our own creative capacities and resistance to dominant power structures through our own ways of life, our own economy, and our own solidarious organization to maintain ourselves and develop. This allows us to live at one with our values within the social and natural order, which is also at one with the cosmos, nature, and humanity.Trusting in the democratic processes that we have also pushed forward, raised up, and participated in, we have engaged in constant dialogue and consultation with our families, communities and peoples about the origin and destiny of our resources, goods and services. The next generations are our responsibility, and it falls on us and them to reaffirm our commitment to conserve this triple-harmony: humanity, nature, and cosmos.In the recent presidential elections, Mr. Álvaro Colóm offered that his government would establish a “social democracy with a Maya face.” We believed this and we voted for him. But the few initiatives that he has implemented towards this end have been left behind as a result of the weight that historical repressive powers still represent in this country. Our peoples are a force that has been continually disregarded and manipulated by those power structures that historically and currently comprise the Guatemalan state. The Colóm administration’s strength and power is rooted in its closeness to, dialogue with, and commitment to the poor and excluded who gave him the opportunity to be in the position of power that he holds today.In the name of this commitment by the President to undertake his government service with preference for the poor, peasant farmer, and indigenous peoples, we demand on this International Day of Indigenous Peoples:
Judicial Branch:Do not criminalize the struggles of indigenous peoples with regards to issues of agrarian land, mining and hydrolelecric projects.Executive Branch: Declare the contracts and licensing for exploration and exploitation of chemical metal mining harmful to the country; Make legally binding the 27 community consultations that have already happened, as well as those that will happen in different municipalities across the country; Carry out diversified hydroelectric projects and without impacting the flow of rivers. Respect prior community consultation; We want access to land, not to the way of the market. We want a solution to the agrarian conflicts and labor conflicts and a canceling of the agrarian debt; Reallocate public programs towards contributing to the economic independence of the indigenous and peasant farmer population; Comply with the obligation of applying the laws of International Labor Organization (ILO) convention 169, an international legal instrument with constitutional backing that regulates fundamental collective rights of indigenous peoples; Create policies and laws that include elements of holistic rural development and that prioritize small and medium economies, farm workers, and peasant farmers.
Legislative Branch:We declare you responsible for the creation of laws that directly prejudice against indigenous peoples and peasant farmers and benefit another sector.MOST URGENTLY:Judicial Branch: That you suspend the arrest warrents against: GREGORIA CRISANTA PEREZ BAMACA, CRISANTA HERNANDEZ PEREZ, PATROCINIA MATERO MEJIA, CATALINA PEREZ HERNANDEZ, OLGA BAMACA GONZALEZ, MARIA DIAZ, CRISANTA YOC Y MARTA PEREZ, indicated with the penal code identification number [1908-2008], under the purview of the Fifth Assistant to the Court of First Instance for Criminal and Narcotics Activity and Crimes against the Environment in San Marcos, for the existence of an unfounded resolution and lack of motive as required by law. That you respect the right to possess land for the inhabitants of Caserio San Francisco, San Pablo, and San Rafael Pie de la Cuesta, which are being affected by the implementation of hydroelectric projects and private companies.
Executive Branch: That you cancel the agrarian debts of 12 communities; create programs for land access with an alternative way to secure funding for land for 38 groups; that you resolve nine agrarian conflicts and 2 labor conflicts that are part of the peace institutionalization; and that you redirect public programs towards families that have been victimized by the food security crisis and the government’s inefficiency in addressing their agrarian and labor requests. The socio-economic and political crisis in which we find ourselves can provide your government with an opportunity to reconstruct our country, if you take this crisis on with dialogue and by working with the people. If you address this crisis with the interests of the powerful sectors in mind, it may be the last opportunity that we have to build ourselves as a country. Do not be intimidated by traditional elite and transnational powers that roam in this country — those who hold themselves captive and discredit legitimate actions in defense of the people and who force the state to defend their interests at all cost, even when defending their interests is detrimental to life itself.
Gentle Rage: Clyde Bellecourt remembers the birth of the American Indian Movment
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Listen at Earthcycles audio:
http://www.earthcycles.net/
SAN FRANCISCO -- Clyde Bellecourt spoke of the birth of the American Indian Movement forty years ago, remembering his mother’s own legacy and also the time of the end for the priests who were controlling the Sundance, during the 40th Anniversary, “AIM For Freedom,” photo exhibit sponsored by AIM-West.
During the culminating night of the exhibit at SomArts, July 30, Bellecourt shared his own journey and the birth of the American Indian Movement. He said his spirit name is Nee-gon-we-way-we-dun, “Thunder Before the Storm.”
Born May 8, 1936, to Anishinabe parents, it was his parents legacy that shaped his course in life. In boarding school, Bellecourt’s mother was punished severely for speaking her own language. Every time she was caught speaking her Native language, she had to scrub the floors with a toothbrush.
As a boy, Bellecourt noticed that whenever it rained, his mother’s knees would swell. “I remember asking her, ‘Mom what’s wrong with your knees?’” It wasn’t until long after the American Indian Movement formed that she told her son the true story. But even then, the young Clyde could hear her speaking her Anishinabe language late into the night with other women and having a wonderful time.
When he asked to learn the language, his mother would tell him to go to school and study hard. She said he might be a doctor someday. Bellecourt’s father also suffered and ultimately, like so many other young Native men, enlisted in the military because he wanted to get out of the “brutal education system,” the white European education conspiracy between the federal government and the churches, Bellecourt said.
After surviving World War I in Germany by piling dead bodies over him, Bellecourt’s father went on to be the father of seven girls and five boys. Still, when there was lightning and thunder, his father lived with the trauma of the war and would duck for cover.
When the American Indian Movement was formed on July 28, 1968, in Minneapolis, Bellecourt said, “My mother was scared to death.” Then, she began to see the change. She saw children going to powwows, Indians receiving legal services and the many programs started for culture and social services.
It was then that his mother told him why she was reluctant to teach him the Anishinabe language. “We didn’t want you to speak Indian because we didn’t want you to be punished, we didn’t want you to have to crawl across the floors and scrub floors …”
Remembering his mother, Bellecourt said she never gave up her language. It was the last sounds he heard when she was getting ready to pass to the Spirit World. “The last thing she did was she started singing Indian.” His mother was singing about the pristine lakes of White Earth.“She never gave up.”
Bellecourt found out why her knees always swelled when it rained. It was because she spoke Anishinabe in boarding school. “In the end they tied sacks of marbles on her knees and forced her to scrub floors with a toothbrush on her knees. That is why her knees swelled up when it rained.”
For Bellecourt, it was hard for him to control his anger. He said he would lock himself in his room. But, remembering her life story, he said, “It justified all the bad things that were happening to Indian people. I knew we had to continue.”
Bellecourt said Indian people are victims of the conspiracy between the federal government and the Christian churches, the conspiracy to strip the people of their lands, language and culture. Those same termination policies, however, meant to destroy the people, led the people to come together.
The American Indian Movement was created to create change for Indian people. On July 28, 1968, about 120 mostly women and children, came together. They called themselves the Concerned American Indian Coalition.
Bellecourt said he had spent much time in juvenile institutions and jails, but went on to work as an engineer.
On that night when the movement was formed, he said, “I got up and spoke about the terrible conditions for American Indian people.”
At that time, there was nothing taught in the parochial schools about Indian people. There was nothing taught about the amount of food and medicine contributed by Indian people or how in South America, Indian people performed brain surgery while Europeans were still living in caves. There was no study of the advanced Indian aqueducts or the great pyramids, or of how Benjamin Franklin stayed with the Iroquois and took the knowledge of the Iroquois Confederacy to create the United States own confederacy.
“There was absolutely nothing to make our children feel good.”
Bellecourt said Indian people were living in dire poverty. But even now, he said, 90 percent of our people are unemployed, “even with a casino sitting in our backyard today.”
“Today they are digging us up all over the western hemisphere. They have never found a prison, or a guillotine. It must have been a great civilization. They found out that Indian people had no trace of alcohol.”
During the early years, as the Indian suicide rate increased to seven times the national average, Bellecourt began to search for answers in books, such as the hard-to-find, “Our Brothers Keeper,” on the US and Indian relationships. He said it was no longer the time to send people to a church or the BIA to get a handout, someone had to stand up for the treaty rights and against the police brutality.
“We chose to make that change by standing on our treaty rights.”
The American Indian Movement made its stand on treaty rights. Now, he said, Indian people are jeopardizing those very treaty rights, as they make agreements for casinos that include giving up hunting and fishing rights.
“Now, Indian people are making compacts with the states, giving up treaty rights, for casinos.”
“We don’t have to worry about the government anymore, we are terminating ourselves.”At that first meeting of the American Indian Movement 40 years ago, Bellecourt said he must have scared some people, as they took off out the door. He announced his solution and called it: “Confrontation politics.”
Bellecourt also pointed out that the United States didn’t give American Indians anythingbecause the land and everything else had been theirs before Europeans arrived. “They didn’t give us nothing. Everything that white America got, they got from us.”
The Black Hills meant nothing to the government. The land for Ceremonies and Ghost Dances, was to be Indian peoples “as long as the rivers flow, the grass grows and the sun shines.” Then gold and uranium were discovered and they came for the lumber and rich farm land. The government began to seize the land for gold.
“All the gold in Fort Knox comes from Indian land.”
During its four decades of accomplishments, the American Indian Movement operated a successful job training program for thousands of American Indians. “We got them off welfare rolls and put them on payrolls.”
But the main issue for AIM was to stop the United States from seizing Indian children, stealing children and separating families, never to see one another again. AIM helped create the Indian Child Welfare Act. AIM also created survival schools, where Indian children learned hunting, fishing, maple syrup gathering and wild rice harvesting, along with their studies. Among those was the Heart of the Earth Survival School. Meanwhile, AIM challenged the churches, forcing leaders to admit their violations of the sacred words.
Bellecourt said, “AIM is not just Wounded Knee.” He said it is not just protesting outside sports stadiums against mascots, although that is part of AIM.
“We had to create our own institutions. Even today, we can do that all across America.”
“It is not a walk or run across America. When the prayers are over, it is time to roll up the sleeves and get to work.
“The Creator is not going to help you unless you help yourself.”At the time, 40 years ago, Bellecourt said those who came together didn’t know they were fulfilling a prophecy. The prophecy said that five generations after the Massacre of Wounded Knee, that the drums would be heard again and the fires would be lit again.
Bellecourt recalled that first powwow held in a basement 40 years ago, with young boys coming with bells tied around their Levis. Still, women came dressed in the sacred jingle dress. Today, the powwows are huge and the ceremonies have been brought back.
“There was a time when everything was done through prayer, through a ceremony, through a song.”
There was a time when those prayers were always said, before the hunt or any action, for the “Creator to watch over us and Mother Earth to provide for us.”
Bellecourt also remembered when he was young, fishing with his father, catching large amounts of fish for the elderly and handicapped. Every day was thanksgiving and that is the way it is for Indian people.
“The American Indian Movement said: ‘We will never give up another inch of our land and we will fight for everything we have lost.’”
Speaking to the gathering at SomArts in San Francisco, Bellecourt said for those who want to become part of AIM, there are no fees or entrance requirements. “You just have to be who you are, fight and struggle, defend the treaty rights,” and defend the women and those who are suffering. Declaring everyone present a member of AIM, he said, “We are still at war, we are going to unite, and we are going to work together to fight injustice.”
Bellecourt said when he was in jail, he read “Black Elk Speaks,” and the history of Ojibwe Nation. He began to dream of the Sundances and could see the horses, the horses of many colors.“All I cold think about was, ‘When I get out of jail, I’m going to go to a Sundance.’”
When he did get out of jail, he went to the only Sundance there was, at Pine Ridge and saw Dennis Banks and Russell Means. Bellecourt said around the Sundance arbor, there was a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round. Everyone was eating snow cones and burgers.Bellecourt said he knew something had to be done.
Then, he was told that the Priest was coming to offer communion on the final day of the Sundance. He knew it had to stop.The Lakotas told Bellecourt that he had better talk to Frank Fools Crow, Lakota spiritual leader, before taking any action and he did. At that time, the government gave the church control over the Sundance. The Sundance and peyote use was sponsored and controlled by the church.
Bellecourt was told, “If you try to do something, they will put you in jail. You had better go talk to the warriors, the Sundancers." The Sundance was in a state of degradation because of the church control. But, now the warriors did not want it to continue.
At noon the priest came carrying a white leather bundle, with a pipe in it. The priest came to the Sundance arbor with altar boys. When Bellecourt went out into the arbor, the people screamed for him to go home to Minnesota. They told him he wasn’t from there. They threw things at him. Still, Bellecourt asked the priest to please leave and told him that the warriors did not want him there anymore.
As the priest was escorted out of the Sundance arbor, on one side was Bellecourt. On the other side, another warrior had stepped forward. It was Lee Brightman, Sioux/Creek.
Part II: Lee Brightman remembers the FBI at his window with guns drawn for one of the 10 Most Wanted: Dennis Banks. Brightman recalls the creation of the United Native America in California and publishing Warpath newspaper.
Listen to both audio tapes at Earthcycles:\http://www.earthcycles.net/
Earthcycles audios: 40th Annniversary of AIM:
2008-07-30_aim40thretrospectthunderbeforestorm.mp32008-07-30_aim40thretrospectleebrightman.mp3
Posted by brendanorrell@gmail.com at 12:04 AM
1 comments:
O Pechanga said...
And now, we come full circle. Many tribes like Picayune and Pechanga are treating their people as badly as the white man.The Pechanga Indian Removal Acts of 2004 and 2006 were stunning in their cruelty to their own people.Picayune has destroyed the cultural heritage of almost 50% of their people. They should be hanging their head in shame.
August 13, 2008 10:38 PM
Post a Comment
Links to this post
Gentle Rage: Clyde Bellecourt remembers the birth of the American ...
from: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/08/gentle-rage-clyde-bellecourt-remembers.html. By Brenda Norrell. Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/. Listen at Earthcycles audio:. http://www.earthcycles.net/ ...
Posted bySimon Kjikaqawej atAugust 13, 2008 2:17 PM
13 Aug 2008: Native News from PECHANGA.net
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Listen at Earthcycles audio:
http://www.earthcycles.net/
SAN FRANCISCO -- Clyde Bellecourt spoke of the birth of the American Indian Movement forty years ago, remembering his mother’s own legacy and also the time of the end for the priests who were controlling the Sundance, during the 40th Anniversary, “AIM For Freedom,” photo exhibit sponsored by AIM-West.
During the culminating night of the exhibit at SomArts, July 30, Bellecourt shared his own journey and the birth of the American Indian Movement. He said his spirit name is Nee-gon-we-way-we-dun, “Thunder Before the Storm.”
Born May 8, 1936, to Anishinabe parents, it was his parents legacy that shaped his course in life. In boarding school, Bellecourt’s mother was punished severely for speaking her own language. Every time she was caught speaking her Native language, she had to scrub the floors with a toothbrush.
As a boy, Bellecourt noticed that whenever it rained, his mother’s knees would swell. “I remember asking her, ‘Mom what’s wrong with your knees?’” It wasn’t until long after the American Indian Movement formed that she told her son the true story. But even then, the young Clyde could hear her speaking her Anishinabe language late into the night with other women and having a wonderful time.
When he asked to learn the language, his mother would tell him to go to school and study hard. She said he might be a doctor someday. Bellecourt’s father also suffered and ultimately, like so many other young Native men, enlisted in the military because he wanted to get out of the “brutal education system,” the white European education conspiracy between the federal government and the churches, Bellecourt said.
After surviving World War I in Germany by piling dead bodies over him, Bellecourt’s father went on to be the father of seven girls and five boys. Still, when there was lightning and thunder, his father lived with the trauma of the war and would duck for cover.
When the American Indian Movement was formed on July 28, 1968, in Minneapolis, Bellecourt said, “My mother was scared to death.” Then, she began to see the change. She saw children going to powwows, Indians receiving legal services and the many programs started for culture and social services.
It was then that his mother told him why she was reluctant to teach him the Anishinabe language. “We didn’t want you to speak Indian because we didn’t want you to be punished, we didn’t want you to have to crawl across the floors and scrub floors …”
Remembering his mother, Bellecourt said she never gave up her language. It was the last sounds he heard when she was getting ready to pass to the Spirit World. “The last thing she did was she started singing Indian.” His mother was singing about the pristine lakes of White Earth.“She never gave up.”
Bellecourt found out why her knees always swelled when it rained. It was because she spoke Anishinabe in boarding school. “In the end they tied sacks of marbles on her knees and forced her to scrub floors with a toothbrush on her knees. That is why her knees swelled up when it rained.”
For Bellecourt, it was hard for him to control his anger. He said he would lock himself in his room. But, remembering her life story, he said, “It justified all the bad things that were happening to Indian people. I knew we had to continue.”
Bellecourt said Indian people are victims of the conspiracy between the federal government and the Christian churches, the conspiracy to strip the people of their lands, language and culture. Those same termination policies, however, meant to destroy the people, led the people to come together.
The American Indian Movement was created to create change for Indian people. On July 28, 1968, about 120 mostly women and children, came together. They called themselves the Concerned American Indian Coalition.
Bellecourt said he had spent much time in juvenile institutions and jails, but went on to work as an engineer.
On that night when the movement was formed, he said, “I got up and spoke about the terrible conditions for American Indian people.”
At that time, there was nothing taught in the parochial schools about Indian people. There was nothing taught about the amount of food and medicine contributed by Indian people or how in South America, Indian people performed brain surgery while Europeans were still living in caves. There was no study of the advanced Indian aqueducts or the great pyramids, or of how Benjamin Franklin stayed with the Iroquois and took the knowledge of the Iroquois Confederacy to create the United States own confederacy.
“There was absolutely nothing to make our children feel good.”
Bellecourt said Indian people were living in dire poverty. But even now, he said, 90 percent of our people are unemployed, “even with a casino sitting in our backyard today.”
“Today they are digging us up all over the western hemisphere. They have never found a prison, or a guillotine. It must have been a great civilization. They found out that Indian people had no trace of alcohol.”
During the early years, as the Indian suicide rate increased to seven times the national average, Bellecourt began to search for answers in books, such as the hard-to-find, “Our Brothers Keeper,” on the US and Indian relationships. He said it was no longer the time to send people to a church or the BIA to get a handout, someone had to stand up for the treaty rights and against the police brutality.
“We chose to make that change by standing on our treaty rights.”
The American Indian Movement made its stand on treaty rights. Now, he said, Indian people are jeopardizing those very treaty rights, as they make agreements for casinos that include giving up hunting and fishing rights.
“Now, Indian people are making compacts with the states, giving up treaty rights, for casinos.”
“We don’t have to worry about the government anymore, we are terminating ourselves.”At that first meeting of the American Indian Movement 40 years ago, Bellecourt said he must have scared some people, as they took off out the door. He announced his solution and called it: “Confrontation politics.”
Bellecourt also pointed out that the United States didn’t give American Indians anythingbecause the land and everything else had been theirs before Europeans arrived. “They didn’t give us nothing. Everything that white America got, they got from us.”
The Black Hills meant nothing to the government. The land for Ceremonies and Ghost Dances, was to be Indian peoples “as long as the rivers flow, the grass grows and the sun shines.” Then gold and uranium were discovered and they came for the lumber and rich farm land. The government began to seize the land for gold.
“All the gold in Fort Knox comes from Indian land.”
During its four decades of accomplishments, the American Indian Movement operated a successful job training program for thousands of American Indians. “We got them off welfare rolls and put them on payrolls.”
But the main issue for AIM was to stop the United States from seizing Indian children, stealing children and separating families, never to see one another again. AIM helped create the Indian Child Welfare Act. AIM also created survival schools, where Indian children learned hunting, fishing, maple syrup gathering and wild rice harvesting, along with their studies. Among those was the Heart of the Earth Survival School. Meanwhile, AIM challenged the churches, forcing leaders to admit their violations of the sacred words.
Bellecourt said, “AIM is not just Wounded Knee.” He said it is not just protesting outside sports stadiums against mascots, although that is part of AIM.
“We had to create our own institutions. Even today, we can do that all across America.”
“It is not a walk or run across America. When the prayers are over, it is time to roll up the sleeves and get to work.
“The Creator is not going to help you unless you help yourself.”At the time, 40 years ago, Bellecourt said those who came together didn’t know they were fulfilling a prophecy. The prophecy said that five generations after the Massacre of Wounded Knee, that the drums would be heard again and the fires would be lit again.
Bellecourt recalled that first powwow held in a basement 40 years ago, with young boys coming with bells tied around their Levis. Still, women came dressed in the sacred jingle dress. Today, the powwows are huge and the ceremonies have been brought back.
“There was a time when everything was done through prayer, through a ceremony, through a song.”
There was a time when those prayers were always said, before the hunt or any action, for the “Creator to watch over us and Mother Earth to provide for us.”
Bellecourt also remembered when he was young, fishing with his father, catching large amounts of fish for the elderly and handicapped. Every day was thanksgiving and that is the way it is for Indian people.
“The American Indian Movement said: ‘We will never give up another inch of our land and we will fight for everything we have lost.’”
Speaking to the gathering at SomArts in San Francisco, Bellecourt said for those who want to become part of AIM, there are no fees or entrance requirements. “You just have to be who you are, fight and struggle, defend the treaty rights,” and defend the women and those who are suffering. Declaring everyone present a member of AIM, he said, “We are still at war, we are going to unite, and we are going to work together to fight injustice.”
Bellecourt said when he was in jail, he read “Black Elk Speaks,” and the history of Ojibwe Nation. He began to dream of the Sundances and could see the horses, the horses of many colors.“All I cold think about was, ‘When I get out of jail, I’m going to go to a Sundance.’”
When he did get out of jail, he went to the only Sundance there was, at Pine Ridge and saw Dennis Banks and Russell Means. Bellecourt said around the Sundance arbor, there was a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round. Everyone was eating snow cones and burgers.Bellecourt said he knew something had to be done.
Then, he was told that the Priest was coming to offer communion on the final day of the Sundance. He knew it had to stop.The Lakotas told Bellecourt that he had better talk to Frank Fools Crow, Lakota spiritual leader, before taking any action and he did. At that time, the government gave the church control over the Sundance. The Sundance and peyote use was sponsored and controlled by the church.
Bellecourt was told, “If you try to do something, they will put you in jail. You had better go talk to the warriors, the Sundancers." The Sundance was in a state of degradation because of the church control. But, now the warriors did not want it to continue.
At noon the priest came carrying a white leather bundle, with a pipe in it. The priest came to the Sundance arbor with altar boys. When Bellecourt went out into the arbor, the people screamed for him to go home to Minnesota. They told him he wasn’t from there. They threw things at him. Still, Bellecourt asked the priest to please leave and told him that the warriors did not want him there anymore.
As the priest was escorted out of the Sundance arbor, on one side was Bellecourt. On the other side, another warrior had stepped forward. It was Lee Brightman, Sioux/Creek.
Part II: Lee Brightman remembers the FBI at his window with guns drawn for one of the 10 Most Wanted: Dennis Banks. Brightman recalls the creation of the United Native America in California and publishing Warpath newspaper.
Listen to both audio tapes at Earthcycles:\http://www.earthcycles.net/
Earthcycles audios: 40th Annniversary of AIM:
2008-07-30_aim40thretrospectthunderbeforestorm.mp32008-07-30_aim40thretrospectleebrightman.mp3
Posted by brendanorrell@gmail.com at 12:04 AM
1 comments:
O Pechanga said...
And now, we come full circle. Many tribes like Picayune and Pechanga are treating their people as badly as the white man.The Pechanga Indian Removal Acts of 2004 and 2006 were stunning in their cruelty to their own people.Picayune has destroyed the cultural heritage of almost 50% of their people. They should be hanging their head in shame.
August 13, 2008 10:38 PM
Post a Comment
Links to this post
Gentle Rage: Clyde Bellecourt remembers the birth of the American ...
from: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/08/gentle-rage-clyde-bellecourt-remembers.html. By Brenda Norrell. Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/. Listen at Earthcycles audio:. http://www.earthcycles.net/ ...
Posted bySimon Kjikaqawej atAugust 13, 2008 2:17 PM
13 Aug 2008: Native News from PECHANGA.net
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