Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Recently I was contacted about the Dineh, commonly know as the Navajo, with a plea for help.

I had hoped that this century would be the last century in our history that we would have the black spot of racial cleansing. However our President and Congress have passed a law to make sure it carries into the next century. At a time when we decry the evil of ethnic cleansing around the world, our government tries to keep quiet the ethnic cleansing still going on in our civilized country. Public Law 104-301 requires over 3,000 Dineh people living in Black Mesa, Arizona to be forcibly relocated by February 1st, 2000, solely because of their ethnic origin. Dr. Thayer Scudder, a Caltech anthropology professor and expert on forced removal programs has said "This is the largest forced relocation since the forced relocation of Japanese Americans in World War II. We realized that internment was unjust, and we tried to make amends. Navajo relocation is equally unjust, and all three branches of government are responsible." Scudder, goes on to say the Dineh removal program is "a magnificent 20th-century example of one of the worst relocation programs that I have seen anywhere in the world" and "a real human tragedy."

What is behind this removal of the Dineh? Greed! The Peabody Western Coal Company strip mines coal on the reservation with revenues in the billions. They want more coal rich land and the only thing between them and the coal is the people that live on top of it.

The Dineh religion forbids strip mining, which they believe is a violation to mother earth. The mine leaves the people living in the area with clouds of black dust and frequent blasting. It also poisons their surface water and has destroyed sole sources of sacred and medicinal plants. The Peabody Western Coal Company has destroyed thousands of ancient Anasazi cliff houses, burial and sacred sites, Dineh cemeteries. The residents are jailed if they try to stop any of this. The coal mining has caused many health problems and so has the relocation onto radioactive sites.

In moving the coal to its final destination, the company uses a pipeline, where it mixes crushed coal with water to move it along. The company is using underground water at the rate of 3 million gallons a day. This threatens the sole source of drinking water for communities in the area.

This misuse of power must be stopped. Lets not carry it into the next century, with another black spot for our future generations to look back on. Let's start the next century with something our future generations can look back on with pride. Let's end the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans forever. We can say we had no part in the past treatment of our ethnic Americans. If so, you had better stand up now or forever hold your piece. If we cannot stand behind the Native American people and fight to stop our government from continuing their practice of ethnic cleansing then we stand with the others who have done this in the past. If we allow this to happen we can admit Anglo America has not learned from their mistakes but that, just as in the past, ethnic cleansing is alright as long as its based on the timeless principle of GREED.

On November 8th at 7:00 pm at the Brigham City Library we will bring more information on the Dineh relocation. If you cannot come send us a self addressed stamped envelope to Friends of the N. A. of N. U., P.O. Box 225, Garland, UT, 84312 and we will send you info and postcards you can send to the powers that be. If you enclose a dollar donation, we can send you a longer article about the Dineh situation.