A BENEFIT EVENT TO HELP TRADITIONAL RESIDENTS WHO ARE
STRUGGLING TO MAINTAIN A CULTURAL LIVELIHOOD ON BLACK
MESA. CULTURAL-IMMERSION PROJECT BY VOLUNTEERS WILL
HELP PLANT FIELDS IN ORDER TO REVIVE ENDANGERED CULTURAL
PRACTICES AND TEACH INDIGENOUS CULTIVATION METHODS.

Good Greetings (Yaa'at'eeh),

How many alternative ways are there to stop green house gas emmissions?
How many ways of political or legal means are there to halt global
warming? Do we go to the (western) scientific and legal experts in hopes
that they will guide us, everytime, into 'saving ourselves?'

BUT have YOU EVER thought of going out to A REAL Indigenous community, a
society that has existed for hundreds of thousands of years, and ask
them: "How can we take care of Mother Earth and how are we supposed to
live upon Her?"

Help us again to spread these announcements. On behalf of the Dineh elder
leaders of Big Mtn. and Black Mesa Indigenous Support, I hope you and
your friends will join us to celebrate Earth Day in a unique way on April
19th, on the Northern Arizona University campus.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Earth Day Concert for Black Mesa Navajos, Saturday, April 19th: Promoting
Volunteer Spring Planting Projects to assist aging traditional elders

Tuesday, April 09, 2008

Flagstaff, Arizona

The old practices of farming by manual means and without machine-driven
plows is fading into history as American society get their produce from
the supermarkets, and the American agricultural industries are
corporately owned. There are perhaps a small percentage of Americans that
maintain small gardens to grow some produce but in some cases, city water
supplies are being put to strict use only. Earth Day is normally a time
to appreciate and respect our environment, and to clean it up in
celebration. One important aspect of appreciating the environment has
been left out and that is remembering the once, intimate human bond with
the environment.

In an attempt to bring forth that missing aspect of Earth Day, a benefit
concert and art show and sale will be held on the Northern Arizona
University campus on April 19th beginning at 5 PM. This event will
feature Becky White and the Secret Mission and local blues musician /
historian, Ray Rossi. In addition to the concert, there will be an
hour-long presentation about the examples of how indigenous societies
once interacted with their environment in terms of subsistence which were
acquired from nature. This presentation will also include examples of the
cultural requirements used by indigenous peoples to acquire water, herbs,
building materials, farmlands, and meat from wild game.

Ray Rossi will begin his performance at 5:00 PM, the “Importance of the
Indigenous Connections to the Environment” presentation begins at 6:00
PM, and Becky White and the Secret Mission will take the stage at 7:00
PM. Becky White is a dedicated earth activist, life-long naturalists, and
believes in using music and art as crucial tools towards a planetary
balance. Their music can be described as, “rootsy, folk, punk, and
devotional music for the millennium.” There is a suggested $5 donation at
the door, and a small portion of donation will come from art sales.
http://www.beckywhitemusic.org/

This benefit event is an effort to support volunteer planting projects
that will take place this spring in remote areas of Black Mesa where
traditional Navajo elders are trying their best to maintain ancient
cultural belief systems. Their unique ways of practice are endangered
because of generational abandonment, and they also are confronted with
policies that pose cultural and environmental degradation due to
expanding coal mines. Furthermore, this is a humanitarian effort provided
to non-English speaking elders who wish to remain on their ancestral
lands and to continue to carry on as much cultural ways as possible.
Volunteer groups will composed of diverse individuals that will stay in
these remote locations up to two weeks helping with planting activities
as well as learning about natural practices of farming through structured
learning methods that will be conducted by local translators and elders.


For more information contact: Bahe Katenay
928-607-2990
Sheep_dog_nation49@yahoo.com