Statement by Leonard Benally

April, 2001

To all the honest struggles, that united with us in NY

Thank you for being there and for all of your prayers. Our voices were heard and we will receive and answer for our demands for water on HPL and NPL in 3 weeks. We have also invited Lehman Brothers to Big Mountain to see the indigenous land we want to preserve as a National Historic Cultural Preservation Site.

We hope that by doing this action and the support and all voices united together to open the ears of the deaf beast. Yes brothers and sisters we still need your voices and a lot more voices to protect our indigenous people and make our cry strong. The support of good people, yes the support is still needed. Even though we are saying these things in retaliation they still want us to go ie. This weeks headlines in the SW papers said "Navajos will be ousted from Hopi Land." In the Newspaper about our New York protest the paper said we came there for sympathy and that Lehman Brothers felt this sympathy. We did not got there for sympathy. We went there for indigenous rights, water rights, religious freedom and human rights, not their rights

We've been like this 510 years. We had no rights, but now we are talking about what is rightfully ours and our dignity is not for sale. The coal and the water stay in the ground. We will never give up. We have a right to live our culture and our beliefs as indigenous Dineh and Hopi people. We are the Resistance, We will remain... Resist! Resist! Resist!

In solidarity

Leonard Benally