Mon, 22 Feb 1999

From: Leanora E Winters lwinters@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu

To: airos@unlinfo.unl.edu

Subject: Big Mountain Issue Comments for: Mr. Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs

Women of All Red Nations is most concerned with the Bureau of Indian Affair's (BIA) massive campaign of livestock confiscation and impoundment on the area known as the Hopi Partitioned Lands, in the State of Arizona.

We ask that the BIA stop what amounts to cruel, targeted extermination of Dineh/Navajo elders. There are alternatives to these draconian measures.

The conflict of interest is very clear in this action of systematic harassment and removal. While claiming that BiA's sole purpose is to protect deteriorating range conditions, the livestock impoundment targets the very people threatened by policies generated by the 1974 and 1996 Navajo/Hopi Settlement Acts. These people are being torn from their traditional lands and relocated to contaminated lands where they experience long term exposure to hazardous materials and the consequential health risks.

Elders like Zonnie Whitehair and Roberta Blackgoat, who face the possible loss of their herds, their livelihoods, their means of survival must not continue to be subjected to what appears to be calculated terror.

We ask that the BIA reconsider current policies which are transforming a self-sufficient people into government dependent people. This outcome seems to contradict other recent U. S. federal policy. Moreover, the right of the Dineh people to pursue their traditional religion, culture, and livelihood/means of survival should be respected.

Women of All Red Nations will continue to watch this evolving situation with great interest and hope that the principles that protect human dignity and respect the unique nature of indigenous societies will be upheld.

Leanora E. Winters International Coordinator Women of All Red Nations 301-855-2722 202-994-3365 (Fax)