The violence of ICE in our communities is nothing new from the view of the Apache who invite us to go back to the First Chapter

One of the first teachings I heard from Dr. Wendlser Nosie, Sr. was that we cannot understand what’s happening in this country until we go back to the first chapter.  Last September (2025), I traveled with Wendsler to Newark, NJ to attend an ongoing vigil at the Delaney Hall ICE Detention Facility run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  We heard stories of the detentions and deportations destroying the lives of families and communities.  Wendsler was deeply saddened seeing this in person, but this was nothing new to see as he was quick to add, that from the view of the Apache and other Indigenous people on this land, this was exactly what continues to be done to their people.  This perspective of the “First Chapter” reveals a society created for the rich and powerful that will always produce this systemic evil until we finally are able to resist and change it.  Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz describes it this way:

 “To say that the United States is a colonialist settler-state is not to make an accusation but rather to face historical reality, without which consideration not much in US history makes sense . . . and Indigenous nations, through resistance, have survived and bear witness to this history. . . . . Settler colonialism, as an institution or system, requires violence or the threat of violence to attain its goals.  People do not hand over their land, resources, children, and futures without a fight, and that fight is met with violence.  In employing the force necessary to accomplish its expansionist goals, a colonizing regime institutionalizes violence." (Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous People’s History of the United States)

A memorial at the site of the first U.S. prison camp for Apache on what would later be called a reservation (but remains a prison camp) was created in 2009 to remember not only this first chapters violence, but also the story of resistance and resilience remembered through protecting what is sacred - our families and our land.

 A plaque at this memorial reads:

“In order to heal, we must not forget the past.  For the past holds the identity and the blessed gift that God gave the People to ensure that all his creation has no end.  Because of this religious belief, we were punished.  Old San Carlos will always hold that tragic memory.  We must today, understand our purpose not neglect what our forefathers before us held true to their hearts.  So the story must be told and the teachings continue so that our children today and the unborn yet to come will understand their purpose and not ever be derailed from the intent of our spirit." – Wendsler Nosier, Sr.   (from the plaque at the The Old San Carlos Monument, dedicated on Feb. 17, 2009)

At the Delaney Hall ICE Detention Facility, Dr. Wendsler Nosie, Sr. shared these words below:

"First, I think like all of you being grandparents, parents, your children, it's not a good feeling to see this is happening. It doesn't matter who we are, it's not a good feeling to see people suffering. I tell people across the country that in America itself, we're the last people . . . meaning that we're new to this new way, but we're still old to our old. My grandfather, he was marched in with my great grandfather as prisoners of war brought into the reservation. My Mom and Dad were born in 1921 and 1922. My mother was raised by her grandmother, which takes her back into the 1800s. San Carlos didn't become a reservation until the 1930s. So anybody born after that, your first reservation child. So being born in the 1950s, I'm a first reservation child. So for us it's just like it was yesterday. And as I cross the country and I'm hearing the stories and the actions, the things that are happening, it takes me back to when our people were exiled out of our homelands and forced to all these different places . . .

. . . So I visited an ICE facility like this in Los Angeles and I was able to see and I went back home with ugly feelings because we understand that we just went through it and we see it happening again."

[And the next day in D.C., Dr. Wendsler Nosie, Sr. spoke a gathering of faith leaders sharing this:]

. . . Before I close, in the town of the Globe, Arizona, I went out to a restaurant and again because I'm fighting the mine, there's a lot of angry people and I've been shot at. So I'm very careful, but I just had to have the chili sauce. I had to stop.

I stopped and as I was sitting there trying to not be recognized and Resolution Copper came in and the restaurant was full. So they recognized me and one of the guys came up to me and he made it a point for everybody in the restaurant to hear. He says, and he turns into the crowd, he goes, this person right here is the one that's stopping billions of dollars that will go to the state, state revenue where we were bringing 3000 jobs, where computers, ai, all these things, sorry guys, electric cars, all these things he brought up. He said, so he is the one that is stopping this.

When he got done I got up and I said, to myself in my mind, before me stands, I know that this is your son, but through your son evil came here. So little did I know I was going to do what I did. I turned and I stood beside him and I looked at the people and I said, he's talking about you guys. I said he's talking about you. He's saying that you want and want and want, want that. They're not going to stop until you say enough. And I then the other thing, if you never heard evil speak before, you just heard it out of his mouth.

Scary! Then I went and sat back down. He walked back to his table, they talked, they got up and they left. Nobody said anything in the restaurant. I said, oh no. So I finished quickly. I went to go pay and three people wanted to pay my bill already. And I felt really good because this is the mining town and I knew I was on to something . . . the First chapter is the ugliest chapter of this country. They don't want to go back and talk about the first chapter. Why? Because it starts with us, with 90% of our people being killed and being displaced like every one of you and what is happening right now.