This
Page and those linked to it are dedicated to the
memory, bravery, and legacy of Dine'h Elder and
spiritual leader Roberta Blackgoat and to the
preservation of her memory and her home site for
the rightful heirs to her legacy.
The
pages in this series contain statements and
photos of Roberta Blackgoat, as well as photos
of Roberta's home site taken by SENAA
members during what
would prove to be our last visit with her. These
are only a few of the statements made by Roberta
Blackgoat regarding the human rights violations
and attempted relocation of Dine'h from their
rightful ancestral homes. It is not intended to
be a comprehensive collection.
It
is the intention of this collection to offer
some insight into the values
and dedication that Roberta Blackgoat embodied. Hopefully it will also show the
importance of preserving the home site of this
beloved woman who has become an icon of
spiritual strength to her fellow resisters and
to countless people around the world who have
stood in support of the Dine'h Big Mountain
relocation resistance.
Roberta Blackgoat's work is an inseparable part
of the history of that resistance. Likewise, her home site is an
historic and historical landmark that should be
preserved as part of that area's history.
Included
in this tribute are the
opening statement of SENAA West councilman and
former director Matt Davison, and that of
present-day director Sara Hayes, both of which appear on
SENAA West's home page. Their words are
as pertinent now as when they were written. These
statements and the resources of SENAA
International we now rededicate to the memory of
Roberta Blackgoat and to the support of the
Dine'h resistance that
inspired them. It has been with Roberta
Blackgoat's guidance and
with no less determination that SENAA
International has entered into this battle
against the Beast In America for the
preservation of all Indigenous American
cultures, life ways, human rights, and spiritual
freedom.
The
battle of the Dine'h resistance is the battle of
every Indigenous American and First Nation. Its outcome will determine the outcome of future
relocation attempts against other First Nations,
communities, and families for the sake of
corporate greed and the self-serving interests
of the Beast In America.
Furthermore,
if the Beast In America is allowed to get away
with its human rights violations against even a
small group of Indigenous Americans, it is only
a matter of time until the human rights of every
minority will be routinely and maliciously
violated by other agencies of the government that claims to defend
those rights.
The
purpose behind the BIA-Peabody-owned Hopi Tribal
Council's intentions to demolish Roberta
Blackgoat's home site is nothing short of
psychological warfare, an attempt to break the
spirits of remaining Dine'h resisters by
destroying every reminder of
the woman who has become for them a cultural
icon and a symbol of spiritual strength and perseverance
against the Destroyer Of the Indigenous.
Moreover,
the Beast's claim to the land is nothing less
than government sanctioned armed robbery of Roberta Blackgoat's
rightful heirs.
Based
on the lie called the "Navajo-Hopi Land
Dispute," a lie contrived by lawyers who
were paid
and instructed by Peabody Coal and the Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA) and presented to U.S.
courts as truth, the Beast In America is
proclaiming by its actions that its authority is
superior to that of Creator. The Beast declares
that it has the power to forcibly remove the
People from the land that Creator entrusted to
their care. As Creator passed the care for the
land from Roberta Blackgoat's parents to her,
the care for that land now rightfully belongs to
Roberta's children and grandchildren. Through
fraud, lies, and deceit, the Beast now claims
that it is the new heir to the Blackgoat
children's birthright. The Beast
In America declares with both word and deed that
it has taken authority away from Creator and
that Creator's will is now inferior and
subject to the will of the Beast In America.
SENAA
International, like Roberta Blackgoat and Dine'h
resisters, refuses to recognize the
authority of the Beast In America to contradict
the will of Creator. We will always recognize
that Creator's authority is superior to any
claims of authority that any government or
government agency might presume to possess.
Roberta
Blackgoat was the one person whom the Beast In
America (BIA) could not defeat, the one voice
the BIA could not silence. She had become, in
every sense, the true Nemesis of the Beast In
America: the voice of divine retribution holding
the Beast responsible for its actions; the voice
of reason, right, truth, and trust in Creator amid the BIA-Peabody
greed, lies, deception, threats, and hypocrisy; the enemy
that the Beast could not conquer. Because
Roberta Blackgoat could not be defeated by the
Beast, she gave hope, strength, inspiration, and direction to
the other Big Mountain relocation resisters and
to all who supported them. She
showed that spiritual strength is the ultimate
strength. Together the resisters have stood firm and
immovable against the Beast and its minions
largely because of the courage they drew from Roberta
Blackgoat's example. For
that reason, the Beast now feels the need to
destroy the home site of its fiercest opponent,
as if eradicating her home site can ever erase
her memory or diminish the power of her
influence.
Roberta Blackgoat's home site
is an
historically important site as it now stands,
but it
is also a holy place. As he did for the woman
herself, Creator blessed that land
and put his hand of protection upon it for as long as
Roberta Blackgoat lived. She has done what Creator put her here to
do and is now in her spiritual home. Her home site
at Thin Rock Mesa is a memorial to her strength
and a reminder that Creator will protect those
who continue to seek and do his will until their tasks here
are finished and they are called to their
spiritual homeland. Roberta's home site reminds
us that this battle against the Beast In
America is ultimately a spiritual battle. We are
not wrestling against men but against
principalities and powers; against the spirits
of darkness in high places. What
happens on the spiritual plane is reflected in
the physical world. Roberta Blackgoat would not
allow the Beast to destroy her spirit or force
her to compromise her spiritual values or her
duty to Creator. In turn, Creator would not
allow the Beast to destroy her earthly home or
bring harm to her physical body. Creator took
Roberta Blackgoat on His own terms, in a
dignified way, and denied the Beast the
satisfaction of claiming any victory whatsoever
over her. The
Beast puts the Blackgoat home site on the
same level as the Camp Anna Mae Sun Dance
ground. Both are sites of intense spiritual
energy. The Beast reasons that the destruction
of the Blackgoat home site will have an impact
toward breaking the will of Dine'h resisters
that the destruction of Camp Anna Mae failed to
achieve. What
the Beast failed to learn from its illegal destruction of Camp Anna Mae is that the
destruction of the site, while greatly saddening
and a blatant infringement of Dine'h rights to
the free exercise of religion and to peaceably
assemble, only served to temper Dine'h will rather than break it. Creator, in His wisdom,
has structured this battle in such a way that no
matter how the Beast In America tries to break
the will of Dine'h and their supporters, it will
only serve to strengthen our resolve and further
the cause as long as we seek to do Creator's will with the same undoubting
faith that Roberta Blackgoat demonstrated. Finally,
what the Beast In America and its minions have
neglected to take into account is that every
soul involved in the destruction of our holy
places will be held accountable by Creator.
Their tactics certainly will not force the
People to abandon their duty to Creator and bow
before the Beast In America and the Destroyers
Of the Indigenous. Roberta Blackgoat's memory
and home site
will serve as symbols of that resolve. Roberta
Blackgoat won her war with the Beast. So can we.
That is Roberta Blackgoat's legacy to us all. Al
Swilling, Founder
SENAA
International |