U.S. Forces tribe relocation - U.S. Gov't Wants Coal Deposits Beneath Land
For more than 20 years the Dineh and Hopi Indians tribes of Big Mountain/Black Mesa, Ariz., have been fighting to protect their homes simply by resfusing to leave. The indigenous tribes face a forced relocation by the U.S. government, which seeks the coal deposits that lay under the two tribes' homeland. Already many of the Dineh's sacred burial grounds have been desecrated by bulldozers and other earth-moving machines used for strip mining by corporations seeking the profits of the coal deposits, according to a member of the Arcata-based Sustainable Biodiesel Roadshow. About 10 HSU students, along with several community members, the Biodiesal Roadshow and the Calaveras County band, Clan Dyken, will be celebrating Thanksgiving this year by traveling to Arizona to deliver food and supplies to the Dineh and Hopi Indians. Many of the Dineh and Hopi who refused to be relocated are living in severely impoverished conditions. For the past seven years, members of Clan Dyken and the Biodiesel Roadshow have been bringing food and supplies to help. After seeing the conditions at Big Mountain/Black Mesa, Arcata-based massage therapist Ed Grant has spent the past two years touring the coast and going to festivals handing out information on the situation. Grant joined the group four years ago. [more]