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Black
Mesa Indigenous Support
P.O.
Box 23501, Flagstaff, Arizona 86002 Message Voice Mail: 928.773.8086 Email: blackmesais@riseup.net Newsletter:blackmesais@lists.riseup.net |
Indian Country Today November 12, 2004
From the fluffy, white clouds over the massive, snow-crested San
Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Ariz., Katsina spirits annually descend on the Hopi
homeland, bringing rain, hope and guidance to a people confronted with a
thirst for survival.
Beginning in February and ending in mid-July, the Katsinam play a
significant role in sacred ceremonies that date back thousands of years. The
ceremonies are the heart of a traditional, culturally rich way of life practiced by the
Hopi Tribe.
What is known as the Hopi Way also centers on subsistence dry-farming unique
to the Hopi people, many of whom reside in modest, sandstone houses in 12
villages clustered around three mesas on a vast and arid 1.6 million-acre
reservation in the high desert of Northern Arizona.
The only source of moisture for agriculture on Hopi is melting snow and
infrequent, scattered rain showers that fall on tiny fields of corn, squash,
beans and melon. These last few years the snowfall and rain showers have been
fewer and far between. Many of our streams and washes have dried up. Our crops
have failed.
The Hopi people have demanded that Peabody Energy, which manages a
reservation mine, stop using the Navajo Aquifer to slurry coal by a water pipeline
to the Mohave Generating Station 273 miles away in Laughlin, Nev. The aquifer
is our only source of water for drinking and ceremonies. It is as precious as
the blood that runs through our veins.
Without an outside source of water, the mine is expected to close next year,
at which time Hopi will lose coal royalties that contribute a third of our
government revenues, money used to provide jobs and essential services to the
tribe. Our situation is dire.
A referendum was held in May to decide whether the tribe should establish a
casino on tribal land in nearby Winslow. The Hopi people said: ''No. Gambling
is not the Hopi Way.''
So now we face great challenges. Lacking economic development and with
little infrastructure on the reservation, there are few jobs and opportunities for
young Hopi men and women. They are leaving our homeland, taking with them
children who no longer speak the Hopi language and who may never participate in
Hopi ceremonies.
And our way of life, the Hopi Way, is gradually becoming a way of the past.
Hope on the horizon
We have a strategy to bring hope to Hopi.
Fifteen miles north of Second Mesa, the tribe intends to grow Tawaovi, a
planned community of desperately needed housing, government offices and a modest
industrial park. It is the core of our strategy to create jobs and
opportunities for Hopi.
We also are planting the seeds to grow an energy economy around our
voluminous coal and mineral resources. We have enough supplies to generate power not
only for our people, businesses and industry, but consumer markets off the
reservation.
Energy production would be done in a manner respectful of the environment
and Hopi stewardship over the land. We are exploring renewable energies such as
solar and wind power. We have discussed potential partnerships with
investors seeking to manufacture bio-diesel fuels and ethanol.
We are pursuing the importation of water from off the reservation. We hope
to build a pipeline to tap the nearby Coconino Aquifer. We recently purchased
the rights to Colorado River water in the Cibola Basin in Southern Arizona.
Finally, we are restructuring our education system, upgrading and
standardizing our school curriculum to challenge our young people today, so they can
meet the challenges of higher education tomorrow. We need an educated, skilled
work force to serve a growing economy.
The education program will include instruction in the Hopi language, so our
young people can speak Hopi and participate in sacred ceremonies, so the Hopi
Way need not become a way of the past.
Reaching out
We have a long journey to a time of prosperity on Hopi. But we are confident
we can find our way. We cannot, however, go it alone.
We hope soon to play a significant role in the emerging national tribal
economy, a business and industrial network thus far fueled largely by tribal
gambling and tourism, but which will eventually involve all goods and services,
including energy production.
And we are asking the federal government to step forward and commit to its
trust responsibility to Native nations, particularly those practicing a way of
life that will not include government gaming. We on Hopi seek the same
quality of life others take for granted.
We do not ask for a handout. We ask for a helping hand. It is our hope the
nations leaders will recognize that the need to preserve and protect Hopi is
in the best interests of all American Indian and non-Native peoples.
And it is our prayer that for generations to come the Katsina spirits will
continue to descend from the clouds over the San Francisco Peaks, and find a
home on Hopi.
Wayne Taylor Jr. is chairman and CEO of the Hopi Tribe.
(http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=62) / Hopi
_http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096409866_
(http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096409866)