#ApacheStronghold at #MartinLutherKingJr's #MontgomeryAlabama Dexter Avenue Baptist Church

"We ask you to please keep us in your prayers as we move East to continue our prayer journey to the #SupremeCourt to stop the shattering of the human existence and to protect #MotherEarth. It’s time to wake up the people of this country to stop the desecration of all our spiritual connection to Mother Earth and #Usen (God)."

By Apache Stronghold, #CensoredNews, September 1, 2024

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- "The Apache Stronghold made a stop on their Journey of Prayer to the Supreme Court in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the civil rights movement and home of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. first served as a full-time pastor.

"This church and Dr. King played a central role in uniting the local community in the struggle against what King called the evils of #materialism, #militarism, and #racism.

"The Stronghold was reminded that in 2013, Dr. #WendslerNosieSr., in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, received the Presidential Award from the National Progressive Baptist Convention, becoming the first #NativeAmerican to receive the award.

"Dr. Nosie remembered how humbling it was that people in the East thought of him in the West and that these struggles for civil and human rights are connected to what this whole journey to the supreme court is all about.

"The struggle for freedom continues as Dr. Nosie reflected, 'It’s time to use all our combined voices for civil and human rights to fight for Mother Earth, the greatest gift God has given us.' So far on this journey we are happy to see that the churches are bringing in the importance of protecting Mother Earth. We have to make the air, the water, the earth a priority because we will only be able to stop the shattering of human existence by protecting God’s greatest gift, our Mother Earth."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/09/apache-stronghold-welcomed-at-martin.html

#WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #EarthIsLife #SCOTUS
#SaveOakFlat #SanCarlosApache
#Arizona #ProtectOakFlat
#DefendTheSacred
#IndigenousActivism
#WaterIsLife #SacredSites #RecycleCopper
#MiningWithoutConsent
#ProtectTheSacred #CulturalGenocide #Ecocide #NativeAmericanNews
#NoMiningWithoutConsent
#CorporateColonialism
#ChichilBiłdagoteel #RespectTheTreaties #HumanRights

#ApacheStronghold #PrayerJourney to #SupremeCourt: Oak Flat Mirrors National Struggle for Sacred

By Apache Stronghold, #CensoredNews, August 30, 2024

"On July 11th, 2024, the Apache Stronghold started the journey of prayer to the Supreme Court to stop the shattering of human existence and to protect #MotherEarth. We have traveled, held ceremonies and gathered prayers from Tribes, Communities, Churches, and people in support of saving Oak Flat and religious freedom and protections for all. We began in the Northwest, West Coast, South, Mid- west to the East to gather in Washington DC at the Supreme Court on September 11.

"We are appealing a lower court ruling that would have allowed the total destruction of Oak Flat by allowing the land to be transferred to #ResolutionCopper, a foreign owned company, owned by #BHP and #RioTinto.
We will appeal Apache Stronghold v. United States to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 11. The case involves the federal government’s planned destruction of Oak Flat—known in Apache as Chi'chil Biłdagoteel —a sacred site where Western Apaches and other Native peoples have worshipped since time immemorial. Oak Flat is the birthplace of our religion and the site of sacred ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else.

"The United States is now planning to transfer ownership of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a foreign- owned mining company that plans to destroy it. Resolution’s mine will swallow Oak Flat in a two-mile- wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater, ending Apache religious practices forever.

"Our lawsuit challenges the destruction of Oak Flat as a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (#RFRA), #TheUSConstitution, and the #1852Treaty with the #WesternApaches. In March, the sharply divided Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 6-5 vote, ruled that the obliteration of Oak Flat does not amount to a 'substantial burden' on our religious exercise and that the Constitution and federal civil rights laws do not apply to the government’s disposition of 'its own land.'

"In September, we will ask the Supreme Court to correct this ruling and hold that federal law protects Oak Flat. The stakes could not be any higher. If the Ninth Circuit’s ruling is allowed to stand, the United States will be allowed to destroy Oak
Flat and any other sacred site with impunity. If the Supreme Court rules in our favor, it will ensure that #NativeAmericans receive the same protection for our religious freedom that all other religious groups across the country already enjoy. A decision in the case is expected in 2025.

"Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. explained, 'what saddens me, what I have witnessed going through #reservations, towns, sitting with and discussing with many people across this country, is seeing that when it comes to the #environment, it’s not being protected. When we talked about water or land, it not only affects Oak Flats but many places have been affected by Acts of Congress, the cities are no different. The United States does not protect the environment by bypassing the laws that they enacted, I have seen devastation across this country, the government pursuing unproven endeavors overlooking it’s peoples essential liberties. We need to come together on this court case, our spirituality and the survival of the earth are at stake, the suffering of the people is what we are bringing to the Supreme court.
This is an invitation to participate in the Apache Stronghold’s #DayOfPrayer on September 11, 2024, at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C."

Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/08/apache-stronghold-prayer-journey-to.html

FMI:
http://www.apache-stronghold.com/

#PrayerHorseRide's Third Annual March Ride Begins March 17, in Schurz, Nevada

Reconnecting and Revitalizing #Traditional Ways of Life Threatened by Destructive #Mining Resource Extractions Supporting "#GreenEnergy"

By Prayer Horse Ride, via #CensoredNews

SCHURZ, Nevada -- "Prayer Horse Ride "#NanesootuhinaPookooGoobakatudu," is getting ready to begin our annual ride March 17th-26th, from Schurz, #Nevada through Yerington, Fallon, Wadsworth and Nixon, through Lovelock, then Orovada, and ending in #PeeheeMuhuh (#ThackerPass in the McDermitt Caldera), in the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the #Paiute, #Shoshone, and #Bannock.
The Riders, walkers, and runners carry the prayer with each community. They'll move forward to raise awareness regarding lithium mining in Peehee Mu'huh and the McDermitt Caldera; AND also raise awareness to #CopperMining in the #PineNutHills, a holy place known to the #Nuwu; in honor and remembrance of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women / People (#MMIW/P) in Nevada; and to revitalize and restore cultural identity, languages, creativity, and supportive lifeways in our indigenous communities.

"Northern Nevada is the home of the #NorthernPaiute, #WesternShoshone, #Washoe, and #Bannock people. We, as descendants of them, will continue to give voices to the voiceless on #MotherEarth. To all of our relations.

"'We do this prayer ride to reconnect and revitalize our way of life,' says Josh Dini, Sr, a member of Walker River Paiute Tribe, #WaterProtector and #PrayerHorseRider, and a member of #AmericanIndianMovement Northern Nevada (#AIMNNV).

"Indigenous communities in the Great Basin and McDermitt Caldera are experiencing fast-tracked #mining and industrial development to support 'green energy,' and are threatened by #ecologically and #sociologically destructive resource extraction processes, most notably, #lithium and #copper mining, in areas in proximity to or within #communities, #reservations and #LandTrusts, and #SacredSites.

"#HeavyMetals extraction #poisons lands, air, and water. Sacred sites for ceremony, where ancestors are buried, where medicines grow, and where lifecycles are anchored, are destroyed.

"'Copper mining in our Pine Nut Hills takes away our knowledge and our identity of who we are,' says Dini, who explained the mining threatens an important Paiute medicine food, as well as numerous traditional campsites and sacred places that have been used for innumerable generations.

"'We ride in honor of the people on the land before extraction industries, past - present - and future. Here in Nevada we have places important to the indigenous culture that are considered America's sacrifice zones in search of 'green energy.'

"'We are Paiute and Shoshone allied with many of the federally recognized tribes in Nevada. We lead this prayer for Mother Earth,' says Gary McKinney, a Duck Valley Shoshone Paiute, water protector and Prayer Horse Rider, People of Red Mountain spokesperson, AIMNNV council member, and SIRGE Coalition Steering Committee member.

Prayer Horse Ride will visit #Indigenous northern Nevada communities affected by these issues including #WalkerRiver Paiute Tribe, #Yerington Paiute Tribe, #Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe, #Lovelock Paiute Tribe, and #PyramidLake Paiute Tribe. As Riders reach each community, they may share meals, engage in ceremony, share stories and songs, and teach and learn traditional arts, bringing the communities together to celebrate and remember the traditional ways.

"McKinney says, 'We ride to honor the land and the people - of the past, present, and the future. #LifeOverLithium."

"About Prayer Horse Ride: Established in 2022 to honor the late #MyronDewey, Water Protector, Paiute Shoshone journalist and drone pilot, and to continue prayers for cultural sites like Peehee Mu’huh (Thacker Pass), we are an indigenous led prayer group and community service organization that advocates for our indigenous communities, to protect what we have left and to raise your awareness to what our communities face, and most importantly, in gathering tribes back together to stand in unity, not by separation.

"'We'll continue this ride in the Vision of our Ancestors, for Healing, Strength and Awareness, in Prayer and Unity.'

"Prayer Horse Riders have a story to tell and you can reach out to PHR media liaison André Wesner for inquiries: PrayerHorseRide2023@gmail.com

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/02/prayer-horse-ride-2024-in-honor-of.html