Note: The description below explains that the most recent version of the NDAA contained a rider that ceded Apache land in so-called Arizona, including the Sacred Site of Oak Flat, to Resolution Copper to mine. There have been many actions in protest of this. And now, a team from Apache stronghold is caravaning from there to so-called Washington, DC to protest and support legislation sponsored by Raul Grijalva to repeal the land grab and block mining.
The Apache Stronghold asks for allies to join them in solidarity. We hope that you will welcome them if they pass through your area and that you will join them in Washington, DC for the rally at the Capitol. The tentative travel schedule is copied below. Popular Resistance
The Southeast Arizona land exchange was one of the bills that was attached to the National Defense Authorization Act and passed by the U.S. House and the Senate. It is a bill pushed by Arizona Representatives Gosar & Kirkpatrick and Arizona Senators McCain and Flake (and prior to Flake, Kyle) which for over the past 10 years has not been able to get enough votes for passage in either the House or the Senate. The Arizona Congressmen could not get the bill to pass using the normal Congressional procedures. This is because the bill gives land at Apache Leap and Oak flat in Southeastern Arizona to a foreign Mining Company, Resolution Copper, without any environmental impact studies or without consultation with San Carlos Apache and Tribes that consider the area sacred. The last time the bill came up for vote in the House of Representatives it was shut down by New Mexico Representative Lujan who proposed an amendment to the bill that required that Native American concerns regarding Sacred Sites be addressed.
Because Gosar and Kirkpatrick did not want that amendment added to the bill, the vote was delayed and never moved forward . If the Bill was to go to a vote again the the House of Representatives, the Lujan sacred sites amendment could have been added which meant that the sacred site issue would keep the exchange from taking place so it never came up for a vote in the house again. Until it was added to a land package and when introduced on the floor touted the rule that the entire National Defense Authorization Act could not be torn apart and all riders added would go as a package. Now this bill has been snuck in a land package that has been added to the National Defense authorization Act that must be signed by Obama to fund the U.S. Military.
The San Carlos Apache tribe has worked tirelessly to avoid this from happening. The discussions of the land package in the House and the Senate did not cover the bills history, all it covered was “jobs”. The scariest part of the presentation in the U. S. Senate of the land package was the discussion regarding all the land in the Western United States. A map showed that the States in the West had enormous pieces of property that is U. S. Trust Property. This includes all reservations in the West and all land that is held by the federal government including numerous Sacred Sites, including Oak flat.
Tentative schedule:
Apache Stronghold National Convoy to Washington D.C.
July 5th – Sacred Mt. Graham, Arizona. Run begins at top of Mt Graham at Treasure Park at 4 a.m.
Run is to Oak Flat, AZ
July 6th- Sacred Oak Flat, Arizona Leave 7am
Phoenix, AZ- Press conference 9am-10am
12pm Salt River, AZ
3pm Camp Verde, AZ
5pm Tonto, AZ travel time (2hrs 32min)
8pm White River, AZ
12 midnight Window Rock, AZ (Set up Camp, Sleep) leave for Jicarilla 9am (Travel time 3hrs 46min)
July 7th- 1pm Jicarilla, AZ Leave for Denver 2pm (travel time 5hrs 55min)
July 7th 8pm Denver, Colorado (set up camp, sleep) Host: American Indian Movement CO 4Winds
July 8th, Denver, Colorado (Day events tba)
July 9th 3pm PineRidge, South Dakota (Leave 9am for Rosebud) AIM, Moccasins on the Ground
July 10th- 11am- Rosebud, South Dakota (set up camp, Sleep) Leave for MN 9AM (travel time 7hr 4min)
July 11th- 8pm-Minneapolis, Minnesota (set up camp, Sleep) leave for Chicago 11am (Travel time 6hr 55min)
July 13th- 6pm-Chicago, Illinois (set up camp, sleep) Leave for Cleveland the 14th 9am (travel time 5h4 37min)
July 14th Travel from Chicago to Pittsburgh (9hrs)
July 15th- morning- Pittsburgh press event
Noon- leave for Carlisle, PA, visit to Carlisle Industrial Indian School Camp at State Park
July 16th- York , PA Sacred Site , press event Harrisburg State Capital
July 17th- Friday- Sat July 18th- 7am- New York, New York, meet at Central Park , Good Morning America, Time Square, South Bronx, Brooklyn, Statue of Liberty, 9/11 memorial
July 18th – Philadelphia Saturday afternoon.
July 19th Philadelphia
July 20th-travel
July 21st- July 22th- Washington, D.C. Apache Stronghold resistance rally to protect sacred Oak Flat
21st. Meet at Rock Creek Park –Sacred Run on 16th ST NW , ending at Lafayette Square in front of White House, march down the green to the Capital Building. Protest is on lawn in front of the Capital.
22nd-protest at Capital