Amhran nam Bandia: Seven Arrested at Peaceful March for Sacred San Francisco Peaks

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Seven Arrested at Peaceful March for Sacred San Francisco Peaks

Requesting anyone who can to head over to the Coconino jail right now to join the solidarity and support rally. Reports are coming in that police attacked marchers today.

klee benally being arrested

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Sunday, Aug. 7, 2011

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Seven of the fiercest warriors who have been protecting the peaks were targeted and arrested in front of Macy's Coffeehouse on Sunday afternoon.

Undercover police have infiltrated the hundred person march and are attempting to squash the growing anti-Snowbowl movement! If you're in Flagstaff, please go join the march downtown. They will soon be moving over to the jail to rally and organize legal/financial support.

This was a peaceful march that was surrounded by police from the minute it formed and they were just waiting to pounce. And they did!

Native Americans are struggling to defend sacred San Francisco Peaks from snow to be made from sewage water at the Snowbowl tourists resort on the Peaks. The mountains are sacred to 13 Native American Nations, medicine plants are gathered there, and ceremonies held there. The pipeline is already resulting in clearcutting of grandmother trees.

www.justpedal.org is taking donations for bail. All bail will be refunded. It is $238 per person.

Check back for updates.

police arresting Klee Benally some more
Up to the moment discussion and immediate updates also happening on Facebook and Twitter.

protesting the desecration of the sacred san francisco peaks

peaceful solidarity march

I am pretty sure all these photos are courtesy of Youth of the Peaks, via Brenda Norrell. Will update later. Action still in progress. More photos at Censored News.

No comments:

Gaelic Polytheism, Cultural Preservation, Indigenous Solidarity

Occasional musings from one of the original troublemakers behind the contemporary Gaelic Polytheist (GP) (Gaelic: Ioma-Dhiadhachd Ghàidhealach; Irish: Ildiachas Gaelach) and Celtic Reconstructionist traditions. Allegedly the person to blame for that unwieldy, awkward, misinterpreted and misrepresented, umbrella tradition name (CR), and most definitely to blame for the Nigheanan nan Cailleach agus Ora nam Bandia branches of the community.

Clann Eóghainn na h-Oitrich, NicAoidh, agus Eóganachta. Tha mi a fuireach ann Wabanahkik. Co-còrdadh: Gä•sweñta’.

While my family culture growing up was predominantly diasporan Gael (Irish/Scottish-American), and my low BQ gives me white skin privilege / passing privilege, I also have Indigenous heritage from both Turtle Island (Yę Iswąre tatene utkéware hęwu) and Sápmi, as well as cherished African-American ancestors who survived the Middle Passage and the Underground Railroad. I am one of the people who has researched Cherokee blood myths to find the hidden truth that so many of us share - Black ancestors who made the excruciating choice to assimilate and pass in order to stay alive after escaping slavery.

As an unenrolled relative, reconnecting with the community we're pretty certain my ancestors are from, I'm a long-term member of several Indigenous-led collectives, active in Indian Country in largely a backup/support role since the 1980s, and in more recent years in interfaith and political work as both a collective member, extended family member, and as a representative of both our GP groups and the descendant crew. I don't presume to steer the canoe, even when I'm another grunt helping paddle one that my cousins, aunties, and adopted siblings have built and are helming. But except for my fellow Gaels and other diverse relatives, I jumped out of the ship over a decade ago. I'd much rather dive deep with the prop-fouling otters, be a shieldmaiden in the metaphorical jet ski clan, and continue my work with the side of the family I live with now, than get back into that rotting colonists' ship... unless it's to sabotage and change the course. Which I've been known to do sometimes.

It's one of multiple ways that my life is lived in liminal zones.

And if it's not abundantly clear, I fully support and unreservedly defend Indigenous Sovereignty: the right of Tribal Nations to determine their citizenship criteria, as well as their right to set the definition of who is and is not Indigenous. Descendants - those of us with documented ancestry but whose ancestors chose to separate from the tribe and live as non-Natives - need to abide by the criteria for Indigeneity set by the Nations we descend from. Even if it's complicated and not what you want to hear. And this applies exponentially if the documentation is iffy. To violate that boundary by trying to claim full Native status - by self-Indigenization - is dishonorable to the ancestors, as well as a violation of hospitality. Real descendants seeking to reconnect need to do so with profound respect, and on the terms set by the living relatives and Elders in that specific culture and community. And if the answer is "No," or "Not that way," to accept that.

I serve on the governing councils of CAORANN and Gaol Naofa; however, all opinions expressed on this blog, and posted elsewhere under my own name on social media, are my own.