Great News! Federal Courts Halt Destruction of Oak Flat

"This is a win for us all. This is a win for Mother Earth. " – Vanessa Nosie, Apache Stronghold (May 9)

BREAKING: Federal court halts destruction of Oak Flat - Becket

A court just blocked the government’s attempt to destroy Oak Flat, a sacred site that Apache Stronghold is fighting to protect.

Becket

This is not just an Apache fight. This is all of ours fight. The Apache feel and know most acutely what we are all up against, so we have much to learn from their resistance and the strength of Mother Earth herself. I was moved to my core and grounded in my stand of resistance to the evil we face especially hearing the witness of the young Apache women who have a special connection to Chi'chil Bildagoteel (Oak Flat) through their Sunrise Ceremony. I'll share those below. And I don't know how to communicate what I know to be true through experience of the power of Mother Earth herself that I experience on these prayer runs or whenever I am able to slow down enough to breakthrough the fog of the capitalist/colonial system to see the Ga'an spirits and the spirit of the medicine of the land that feeds and nourishes us (the plants, the trees, the water, the soil and minerals, the animals, yes and more). This fog is the box of the capitalist/colonial system we live our lives in and we will need to break out of it to resist its evil hold on us that blinds us to seeing what is real and what is good in the world. I share below some of the testimonies that are guiding me to what is real.

May 7, 2025. — "My name is Nizhoni Pike and 11 years ago I had my sunrise ceremony, my coming of age ceremony at Oak Flat, where I became a woman. And these women and girls that are standing next to me, they had their sunrise dances at Oak Flat. They became a woman at Oak Flat there, each every one of them. They’re holding their posters.. . . And Lozen is suppose to have her dance at Oak Flat in October. She’s my sister, and the government is denying her to express her religion to have her coming of age ceremony there, to become a woman there. She does not want to do it on the reservation where they imprison us. We want to go back home. She wants to go back home. And it’s hard for me to talk. . . but I know I need to voice my concerns. I need a voice and stand up because this is my homeland. This is where I became a woman. This is where I was reborn to become a woman. I transitioned there. Each and every one of us did. And I don’t understand why they are gonna rip me from my mother. They’re gonna rip me from my connection, that I was reborn from where my umbilical cord is. I’m connected and rooted there. I’ve gone there since I was a little girl, since I was a baby. And they’re gonna rip me away from my mother. They are going to rip all of us away from our mother. Because the earth, it is not just Oak Flat, is our mother. It’s this whole planet that we need to protect. Because I know I want to be the one that says I fought for Mother Earth because I wanted her to live. I didn’t want her to die. I don’t want to be standing on the other side. I’m going to pray for her. I’m going to be there. I’m going to stand there. I’m going to dance and I’m going to sing. Do everything I can to protect her. I don’t want to lose her. None of us want to lose her. … we will continue to fight for all of Mother Earth."

May 7, 2025 – “My name is Naelyn Pike. The emotions that I felt today were overwhelming. Today. I heard Resolution Copper say that they spent 11 million a month to maintain the asset. My religion, my way of life, my culture is not an asset. It is our way of life that we’ve had since time immemorial, and it is priceless. You cannot pay our people off. You cannot pay us off because we will stand strong in our beliefs. Resolution Copper says that they want to destroy Oak Flat and that we won’t have immediate harm. They are using those assets every month to destroy and take away our water, to make the land dry. That is immediate harm, because we as human beings are the water. Oak Flat is the water. The springs that run underneath that land is us. It is immediate harm. The women that you saw earlier here today tell you that. They are testimonies and accounts, that they are affected by Resolution Copper and its mining projects. The US Attorney said that there’s two paths to the federal judge, but there’s not two paths. There’s one path that he forgot, and that is a path to the future generation. Indigenous people for 500 years, have had their path taken away from them. Have had their journey stripped away from them. But I am here to tell you that this path remains. I am a living, breathing being that embodies the ancestors before me that will fight for the future and yet to be born. Resolution Copper and the United States government, say that we are in the weeds. But guess what? Our ancestors seeded each and every one of you and we were sprouts like the blooming flowers of tomorrow. We are mighty, like the Saguaro. We are rooted like the Mesquite. We are grateful like the spring water, and we will remain. Our religion, our prayers, our way of life will continue, and I will fight for that. The heart of this religion is the heart of this movement. So we pray tonight, tomorrow and forever. Let the federal judge make this decision for the future and break the cycle of 500 years of genocide that continues today in our communities, in our neighborhoods, on our earth and in our families.So thank you because I stand here strong, ready to fight, ready to pray, ready to sing, ready to dance, just as those before me. So I'm ready. Let's be ready.”

May 7, 2025 – Wendsler Nosie, Sr. "This is really tough to see our young people, not just Native people, but all young people that have to endure what capitalism does to everybody. What Naelyn is expressing is what we all feel. I don't know when we are going to have a case like this again, that includes all of us. . . . you heard what the United States government just said. It doesn't matter to them, we're not a priority, and they made it clear before that we're still property of them for over 500 years. I don't know how this is going to go, but I'm definitely going to tell the United States that, based on all this, I want to be free now because you need to give me a parole board hearing, because you had my people in the concentration camp for 500 years. . . . This is what our children are facing. So people, not just Native people, religious people. You heard what was said. How are you going to preach now? Where do you stand? Because you have the vast numbers that you can educate. Listen to this case. . . . it's not just an Apache fight, it's all of our fight of being to exist and to live forward. So I will challenge all the religious groups. Where are you? What are you preaching? Because you have to remember, Mother Earth gives us life. That's the most important thing God created for all of us. Today, we were given a big lesson. Do we believe really? Do we believe in God and the creator and Mother Earth? That's what we're all being tested.
How are you going to preach? Stand up worldwide. Be truthful to your children. This is scary. I don't know how much more I can tell you.
. . . . It's time to really know why you're here, why we are here. We would never be here if we weren't blessed. These young girls are sunrise people. They bring the next generation. Girls are going to be denied in this place of a holy place. And of course, it's really tough for me to sit there and be in the tribal government for over 30 years and being raised for us to trust our government and to know that the United States has a trust responsibility to the Native Americans, and they forfeit all that right in front of us. Nowhere in there that the United States cared about our children nowhere. So they can treat us like that. Imagine how they're treating you. I always try to find why you can't help us. Now I understand. You have to step out of the box. You have to, if you stay in the box, and follow this system that needs a great overhaul, then you're doing it to your children, but most importantly, you're doing it to what God created for all of us, the very first gift of life Mother Earth. So I hope you took and will take what the United States did, break that down and Resolution Copper gave you the first eye view of how corporations think and what they do. All of this was conspired. They never asked for approval from anybody in Arizona. And if you're from Arizona, you got to talk to your congress people. They know this stuff. They're working away from it, because it's all about money. . . . . So in ending, I know what my work is going to be. I hope you know what your work is going to be. You heard it firsthand. . . . . Church people, what good is your religion when you're witnessing one that God created being destroyed? What kind of religion do you practice? You have a job, and everybody else within an organization, this is the battle of America right here for the future. Don't be the one sleeping. What are you going to teach your children? Your family? So my mother always told me, son, they just showed you their weakness. We just seen their weakness. They don't have a heart. This is our medicine. Thank you."