Peabody Coal's Greed: Theft of Navajo and Hopi sacred items
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
BLACK MESA, Ariz. -- While Peabody Coal was raping Black Mesa's coal, and forcing more than 14,000 Navajos into relocation and sorrow, Peabody seized 1 million Navajo and Hopi artifacts from Black Mesa. Those artifacts are are now at the University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale.
Louise Benally, Dine' of Big Mountain, said, "They steal the souls of the ancestors that lie in the land, to violate our human rights currently. The taking out of the bones and remains of our ancestors simply points to one thing, the injustice of imperialism that has encroached on our homelands now.
"The only thing we can say is have them rebury the bones from where they took them. To steal the bones of the ancestors just point to one thing, the violation of our human rights.
"They killed the land when they mined it. It is the mind set of the colonials that does not respect the laws of nature.
"Bones need to be left alone. Everything needs to be left alone and to be replanted there. Peabody Coal Company doesn't have any respect for anything or anybody, only their greed matters," Benally told Censored News.
Peabody Coal, with the aid of attorneys and politicians, fabricated the so-called 'Navajo Hopi land dispute' in order to remove Navajos from Black Mesa and mine the coal.
Now, at the University of Southern Illinois, the Center for Archaeological Investigations says the seizure of Navajo and Hopi artifacts was funded by Peabody Coal. The university even brags about the seizure:
We are currently working on a 5.5-year project to inventory and rehouse the Black Mesa Archaeological Project (BMAP) collections. BMAP is one of the largest, longest running projects in the history of North American archaeology. Fieldwork spanned seventeen years, from 1967 to 1983, and at its peak employed more than 200 persons in a single summer. Nearly 2,500 archaeological sites were identified, and more than 200 sites excavated, on the 256-square km of Black Mesa leased from the Hopi and Navajo by Peabody Energy. Fieldwork produced more than one million artifacts, which the CAI curates along with the field notes, maps, photographs, and other associated documents. Carried out in collaboration with the Hopi and Navajo and generously funded by Peabody Energy, this project will ensure that the BMAP collections are properly curated now and far into the future.
http://cai.siu.edu/staffpages/lapham.html
By Brenda Norrell
Censored Newswww.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
BLACK MESA, Ariz. -- While Peabody Coal was raping Black Mesa's coal, and forcing more than 14,000 Navajos into relocation and sorrow, Peabody seized 1 million Navajo and Hopi artifacts from Black Mesa. Those artifacts are are now at the University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale.
Louise Benally, Dine' of Big Mountain, said, "They steal the souls of the ancestors that lie in the land, to violate our human rights currently. The taking out of the bones and remains of our ancestors simply points to one thing, the injustice of imperialism that has encroached on our homelands now.
"The only thing we can say is have them rebury the bones from where they took them. To steal the bones of the ancestors just point to one thing, the violation of our human rights.
"They killed the land when they mined it. It is the mind set of the colonials that does not respect the laws of nature.
"Bones need to be left alone. Everything needs to be left alone and to be replanted there. Peabody Coal Company doesn't have any respect for anything or anybody, only their greed matters," Benally told Censored News.
Peabody Coal, with the aid of attorneys and politicians, fabricated the so-called 'Navajo Hopi land dispute' in order to remove Navajos from Black Mesa and mine the coal.
Now, at the University of Southern Illinois, the Center for Archaeological Investigations says the seizure of Navajo and Hopi artifacts was funded by Peabody Coal. The university even brags about the seizure:
http://cai.siu.edu/staffpages/lapham.html