VOICES FROM OUR ANCESTORS AND OUR GREAT CREATOR

Anonymous Hopi Traditional,

I am from Hopi Nation. We have come here to talk to Peabody Mining Company about coal and water. Traditional and priesthood people don't want this mining. The Hopi prophecies say that we have to protect land and life. If we don't protect our beautiful Earth- our Heaven, our Mother, We will suffer with her. All over the country water will be contaminated and the air will be polluted. Living creatures will die from poisons left by industry. Peabody is also depleting our precious water resources. This is what Peabody is doing to the land in Arizona.

We Hopi are a Sovereign Nation. We have never signed any treaty with the US government, or with ANY government. Yet, the United States government did not see this and created the so-called Hopi Tribal Council. The United States government said that if 30 percent of the Hopi people vote to elect the Tribal Council this will be a legitimate council. But this did not happen. Less than 30 percent of the Hopi people voted, and some of the voters were not even Hopi.

Furthermore, John Boyden was a lawyer who worked for Peabody Coal. He was instrumental to the creation of the Hopi Tribal Council. He was biased, and not an impartial advocate for the Hopi people. Our ancestors fought against the creation of a Hopi Tribal Council which was not representative of the Hopi people, but the US government did not listen. Our ancestors warned that someday this would happen. White men will say that it is our own people that sold this land. I will not accept this.

Because the Hopi Tribal Council was created by the US government, they follow the white man's constitution and by-laws instead of the Hopi Laws and Constitution. I am glad that our ancestors never signed any treaties with any Government. Maybe someday someone will help the Hopi by investigating the Hopi Tribal Council, and revealing the injustice.

I cannot understand the Hopi Tribal Council. They claim that they helped stop the Vulcan Mine in the San Francisco Peaks at Flagstaff, Arizona. But it wasn't the Hopi Tribal Council that stopped the Vulcan Mine. It was their boss, Bruce Babbit. Babbit, as secretary of Interior paid one million dollars to close the mine. Maybe this can happen at Peabody Coal too. But I doubt it. Bahana, or white men, have obligated themselves to man made laws, instead of Creators Laws. By this he has neglected his original vow. This means not only his downfall but damage to the Earth as well.

Today the rights of Native peoples are being violated all over this country. All Native peoples defend land and life as we do, in order to live. Our roots are rooted in our Villages and it goes up to the whole Universe. If we break these roots, the world will get out of balance. Leading us to great destruction and judgment. The path of the Great Spirit has become difficult to see by almost all men. Even by many Natives, who have chosen instead to follow the path of white men, for material wealth. Many people no longer recognize the true path of the Great Spirit. They have in fact no respect for the Great Spirit or for our precious Mother Earth, who gives us all Life. Now our Brothers and Sisters become well educated in the ways of the Bahanas. They turn against their own leaders. They say they are going forward, not backward. They say the leaders never do anything good for them in material ways. Now they are disregarding the Great Laws. They ignore the advice of the traditional leaders.

We know from the previous worlds; there are warnings that people go out of balance. They no longer listened to their leaders and priests who warned them of danger and many times tried to guide them on the right path and repent. Instead they were laughed at and made fun of. One day the great destruction began to. People panicked. Some ran back to the Priests begging, "Oh, Great Ones, please help save us, we will reform." "We have warned you many times," the priests replied loudly. "Nothing can be done now. The time has come for you to depart, but you all deserve on least thing. Take your riches and your wealth and go down."

THIS is a small part of our history. I don't want this darkness to fall upon us again. The signs are here.

We Hopi don't believe in Voting. If you speak for the Creator you are a majority because the Great Spirit is the Majority. We don't believe in voting because if the few believe in Creator, then they become the Majority. The Hopi believe that it will come to that. Maybe one or a few people will left and if they believe in the creator than they will be in the majority. So it is today, when we speak to you, Lehman Brothers. Even though we are just a few here, we speak for the Creator, who is the majority. Therefore we demand you to stop the Peabody Coal Mining and the slurry. We demand again. Stop the coal mining and the coal slurry. I pray for you and hope that we open your eyes and you find the majority in your heart.

These are the voices from our ancestors. Our ancestors prophesized that this would happen. Now, we are repeating this prophecy from beginning to end.

Thank You

Traditional from Hopi Nation