Support for Black Mesa is Needed!
From Black Mesa Indigenous Support (BMIS)

Greetings to all! 

Today we who work for social change face many issues. The so-called 'war on terrorism' in its racism, greed, and imperialism, impacts many people in ways reminiscent of how Native peoples and lands have been treated for the past 500 years. The war profiteers are the same corporations that have been benefiting from the exploitation of indigenous peoples. While many people have been protesting the Bechtel corporation's 680 million dollar contract to 'rebuild' Iraq, fewer people know about their involvement with Peabody Coal and the extraction of coal on the ancestral lands of Black Mesa.* In light of these sobering global developments, let's not forget this connection and the need for work supporting indigenous resistance and healing here at home.

Several events are being planned this spring here on Black Mesa that need support. Indigenous Peoples Project (IPP) is planning to visit the Navajo Reservation to provide a special clinic, cooking classes, and home visits in the region of Big Mountain June 10th and 11th. Funding and volunteers are still needed for this to be possible. A number of potential volunteers (including healing practitioners) have expressed interest in joining IPP already. With funding IPP will be able to make it out there; without funding, they can coordinate volunteers and donations from their home in Oregon. IPP's desire is to be out there June 10 and 11th for the Big Mountain clinic and kitchen, and then to Wheatfield's for a construction/stucco work party on their papercrete clinic building June 12-16th. For further information about IPP, their projects, and how you can plug in, see below.

Clandyken will be playing a benefit concert for the residents of the Big Mountain vicinity in Nevada City on May 30. Funds will be for corn and vegetable planting or be put into water systems, as it is really drying up out there. www.clandyken.com 

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF WAYS YOU CAN OFFER SUPPORT to the People of Black Mesa who are struggling to save their land, water, way of life, and resisting forced relocation:

  • Stay with a family on Black Mesa. BMIS has a list of families requesting support to come to Black Mesa for a few days to help on a specific project or for a month or longer to herd and shear sheep, haul water, and to help with spring planting and daily chores. BMIS requires supporters to read the cultural sensitivity / supporter packet found on-line at http://www.blackmesais.org/cultural_sen.html
     

  • If you have access to a computer, please share articles regarding Black Mesa and coal, water, and uranium the with BMIS so that it can get archived on the website. Very telling articles can be found in Tutuveni, Indian Country Today, Navajo Times, and various other publications.
      

  • Join or support the Annual Black Mesa Thanksgiving Food and Supply Run. Plan ahead. www.clandyken.com 
      

  • Residents and on-land supporters coordinating with BMIS are in process of collecting statements from Elders and are in need of donations for gas money.
      

  • Contact your elected and appointed public officials and urge them to repeal PL-93-531 (contact information provided on www.blackmesais.org
      

  • Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers on the various issues of Black Mesa.
      

  • Organize prayer vigils in support of the traditional Dine' and Hopi People.
      

  • Reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Work in your community to promote alternatives to fossil fuels.
      

  • Fundraise to bring human rights delegations to Black Mesa from all over the world so that they can write resolutions in their parliaments that no corporations from their countries exploit Black Mesa. (See the United Nations and European Union contacts.)
      

  • Learn about and support the grassroots people at Black Mesa.
       

The Indigenous Peoples Project is a non-profit organization that organizizes holistic health clinics featuring natural foods cooking classes, and the services of qualified health practitioners who volunteer their services in an effort to support indigenous people in their birthright to enjoy vibrant health on their ancestral homelands. Since the winter of 1996-97, the IPP has been a channel for natural products, services, education, organic food and gardens for Native American people who are taking responsibility for their health. Over the years the IPP has made 1-3 trips to the Navajo Reservation each year, bringing with them thousands of pounds of organic food, quality health supplements, garden seeds, as well as volunteers who work in the clinic, kitchen and gardens. In May 2001 the IPP began the construction of a clinic made of the amazing alternative building material known as Papercrete. They are in the final stages of completion of the clinic construction.

June 12-16 they are calling a four-day work party to complete the construction of their free health clinic in Wheatfields, AZ for the Navajo Nation. This clinic will be used to house the health services and educational programs of the IPP, and other like-minded individuals and organizations that offer their services. It will be used year around by traditional medicine men and women whose services are sought out by the people. It will also be utilized during and around the feasts and ceremonies that take place at that location. The building will be a blessing to all who come from near and far, for healing, support, and education. People from all parts of the reservation will come and enjoy the help of the many health practitioners who have joined in this service. Items for the clinic and interested practitioners are encouraged to contact IPP for more information about how to contribute to this ongoing project. July 6-13 they will be returning to the reservation to staff the clinic and an organic kitchen for a sundance ceremony. Volunteer health practitioners for the clinic and volunteers in the kitchen are needed for these projects. For ways to offer support with these projects contact IPP for their wish list and newsletter. Their EIN. (tax exempt) is available to you upon request.

Karen and Antonio Ferreira Indigenous Peoples Project Directors World Institute of Holistic Therapies 116 116 High Street, Ashland OR ipp@gaiasophia.com  541-482-9266

"We must not let artificial concepts of reservation boundaries and the rhetoric of corporate and governmental terrorism sway from us our inherent stewardship of our Awidelin Tsitda, Mother Earth." (quote found from the Shiwi Messenger by Cal Seciwa, Zuni Tribal Member.)

* http://www.blackmesais.org/bigmtbackground.html  

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Black Mesa Indigenous Support (BMIS) is a group of individuals acting to support the sovereignty of the indigenous people affected by mining activities on Black Mesa, who face forced relocation, environmental devastation, and cultural extinction at the hands of multi-national corporations, and United States and tribal governments. http://www.blackmesais.org 

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