Apache Reject Money and Bring Honor to Mount Graham
by Brenda Norrell
SAN CARLOS, Arizona, U.S.
San Carlos Apache rejected an offer of $120,000 from the University of Arizona, calling it a bribe, and said they would continue to honor their sacred Dzil Nchaa Si An (Mount Graham), as darkness envelopes the world because of violations of the sacred.
Apache elder Ola Cassadore-Davis, speaking in the Apache language during a special session of the San Carlos Apache Tribal Council, said the University of Arizona has done nothing but tell lies to the Apache people.
Speaking to university officials at the session, she said the offer of money is like an offer of ice cream.
"You talk to us now, offering bribes of cash in exchange for letting go of our defense for our Apache religion and culture, something like giving us a little ice cream to quiet us down.
"Money, like ice cream does not last, but our mountain stands there for us and we must stand for our mountain," said Davis, chairwoman of the Apache Survival Coalition.
After the council voted to reject the university’s offer, Apache elder Raleigh Thompson praised the council’s action. "I was so happy. They took a stand for their people, really their traditional people and their ancestors," said Thompson, former tribal councilman for 16 years.
During the San Carlos Apache Tribal Council session April 13, Peridot District Councilman Harding Burdette made the motion to reject the university’s offer said its documents are "deceiving and full of lies."
Councilman Myron Moses of Bylas District, speaking in Apache seconded the motion, and said the university erred greatly.
"If it wasn’t for the telescopes on top of Mount Graham and the University of Arizona having a special interest in it, there would be no interest at all, no interest in the Apache tribes, for me, for us, for our children and our grandchildren."
The university offer was the Northern Tribes Initiative, comprised of $40,000 a year from three universities involved in the Mount Graham International Observatory, to mitigate their role in the telescopes.
The University of Arizona, leader of an international consortium constructing the telescopes, made the offer with the University of Minnesota and the University of Virginia. The offer was for $120,000 in educational outreach, agricultural improvement and a summer camp for Apache children.
While the university assured Apache they would be allowed to pray on Mount Graham, San Carlos Apache Sandra Rambler pointed out that San Carlos Apache Wendsler Nosie had already been arrested by University of Arizona police while praying on Mount Graham.
"Does the University of Arizona think that sacred places and beliefs can be bought, like with a chest of trinkets to Manhattan Indians?" Rambler said.
Each summer, Nosie and other Apache lead a sacred run to the mountain and are joined by Pascua Yaqui, Hopi, Pueblos and other tribes who have prayed on the mountain since early times. In August 2003, indigenous runners came from as far away as Sonora, Mexico, for the run from Pascua Yaqui to Mount Graham.
Apache descendants of survivors of the massacre of Aravaipa Canyon ran through the rugged desert canyon even swimming through a river swollen from a flash flood during the two-day run. It concluded with a blessing ceremony on top of Mount Graham, with water from a sacred spring, beneath blue skies and the Apache’s "cloud people."
During the tribal council session in April, University of Arizona law professors Robert Williams and Robert Hershey-Lear, and Indian Law Clinic Coordinator Don Nichols made the presentation.
Williams said the initiative was part of mediation efforts between the University of Arizona and Apache tribes. He said existing outreach programs for the San Carlos Apache would continue, despite the council’s decision regarding this initiative.
However, in May 2003, the U.S. Department of the Interior determined Mount Graham to be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places as an Apache traditional cultural property and sacred site.
In December 2003, the White Mountain Apache Tribal Council unanimously passed a resolution urging the institutions "to cease and desist" operating the observatory, remove the installations and work with Apache tribes to restore the site to its natural state.
With ongoing American Indian protests, the University of Minnesota, which joined the telescope project in 2002, and Pope John Paul II have maintained support for the telescope complex.
Brenda Norrell
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com
other links:
http://www.brendanorrell.blogspot.com
Brenda Norrell is a staff writer for Indian Country Today
http://www.indiancountry.com
and a Contributing Editor for the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Mount Graham, American Indians Run for the Ancestors, by Brenda Norrell
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=1074&blz=1
Photo of Mount Graham courtesy of the Mt. Graham Coalition: http://www.mountgraham.org/
Additional Information
Ed Note: Although Native American Indian Traditions hold that the original Peoples of the Western Hemisphere were born from Mother Earth, in what is now known as the Americas, anthropologists still produce other theories which may even be found on some of the following websites.
NATIVE AMERICAN NATIONS
http://www.nativeculture.com/lisamitten/nations.html
The Apache Nation http://kathleen_burnett.homestead.com/Apache.html
" APACHE "
They called themselves Inde, or Nide "the people".
http://www.impurplehawk.com/apache.html
by Brenda Norrell
SAN CARLOS, Arizona, U.S.
San Carlos Apache rejected an offer of $120,000 from the University of Arizona, calling it a bribe, and said they would continue to honor their sacred Dzil Nchaa Si An (Mount Graham), as darkness envelopes the world because of violations of the sacred.
Apache elder Ola Cassadore-Davis, speaking in the Apache language during a special session of the San Carlos Apache Tribal Council, said the University of Arizona has done nothing but tell lies to the Apache people.
Speaking to university officials at the session, she said the offer of money is like an offer of ice cream.
"You talk to us now, offering bribes of cash in exchange for letting go of our defense for our Apache religion and culture, something like giving us a little ice cream to quiet us down.
"Money, like ice cream does not last, but our mountain stands there for us and we must stand for our mountain," said Davis, chairwoman of the Apache Survival Coalition.
After the council voted to reject the university’s offer, Apache elder Raleigh Thompson praised the council’s action. "I was so happy. They took a stand for their people, really their traditional people and their ancestors," said Thompson, former tribal councilman for 16 years.
During the San Carlos Apache Tribal Council session April 13, Peridot District Councilman Harding Burdette made the motion to reject the university’s offer said its documents are "deceiving and full of lies."
Councilman Myron Moses of Bylas District, speaking in Apache seconded the motion, and said the university erred greatly.
"If it wasn’t for the telescopes on top of Mount Graham and the University of Arizona having a special interest in it, there would be no interest at all, no interest in the Apache tribes, for me, for us, for our children and our grandchildren."
The university offer was the Northern Tribes Initiative, comprised of $40,000 a year from three universities involved in the Mount Graham International Observatory, to mitigate their role in the telescopes.
The University of Arizona, leader of an international consortium constructing the telescopes, made the offer with the University of Minnesota and the University of Virginia. The offer was for $120,000 in educational outreach, agricultural improvement and a summer camp for Apache children.
While the university assured Apache they would be allowed to pray on Mount Graham, San Carlos Apache Sandra Rambler pointed out that San Carlos Apache Wendsler Nosie had already been arrested by University of Arizona police while praying on Mount Graham.
"Does the University of Arizona think that sacred places and beliefs can be bought, like with a chest of trinkets to Manhattan Indians?" Rambler said.
Each summer, Nosie and other Apache lead a sacred run to the mountain and are joined by Pascua Yaqui, Hopi, Pueblos and other tribes who have prayed on the mountain since early times. In August 2003, indigenous runners came from as far away as Sonora, Mexico, for the run from Pascua Yaqui to Mount Graham.
Apache descendants of survivors of the massacre of Aravaipa Canyon ran through the rugged desert canyon even swimming through a river swollen from a flash flood during the two-day run. It concluded with a blessing ceremony on top of Mount Graham, with water from a sacred spring, beneath blue skies and the Apache’s "cloud people."
During the tribal council session in April, University of Arizona law professors Robert Williams and Robert Hershey-Lear, and Indian Law Clinic Coordinator Don Nichols made the presentation.
Williams said the initiative was part of mediation efforts between the University of Arizona and Apache tribes. He said existing outreach programs for the San Carlos Apache would continue, despite the council’s decision regarding this initiative.
However, in May 2003, the U.S. Department of the Interior determined Mount Graham to be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places as an Apache traditional cultural property and sacred site.
In December 2003, the White Mountain Apache Tribal Council unanimously passed a resolution urging the institutions "to cease and desist" operating the observatory, remove the installations and work with Apache tribes to restore the site to its natural state.
With ongoing American Indian protests, the University of Minnesota, which joined the telescope project in 2002, and Pope John Paul II have maintained support for the telescope complex.
Brenda Norrell
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com
other links:
http://www.brendanorrell.blogspot.com
Brenda Norrell is a staff writer for Indian Country Today
http://www.indiancountry.com
and a Contributing Editor for the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Mount Graham, American Indians Run for the Ancestors, by Brenda Norrell
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=1074&blz=1
Photo of Mount Graham courtesy of the Mt. Graham Coalition: http://www.mountgraham.org/
Additional Information
Ed Note: Although Native American Indian Traditions hold that the original Peoples of the Western Hemisphere were born from Mother Earth, in what is now known as the Americas, anthropologists still produce other theories which may even be found on some of the following websites.
NATIVE AMERICAN NATIONS
http://www.nativeculture.com/lisamitten/nations.html
The Apache Nation http://kathleen_burnett.homestead.com/Apache.html
" APACHE "
They called themselves Inde, or Nide "the people".
http://www.impurplehawk.com/apache.html