Our Way of Life, by Ofelia Rivas
The O’odham way of life is based on the land that holds the remains of our ancestors since the creation of this world. The O’odham did not migrate from anywhere, according to our oral history; our creation tellings record our history and teach the O’odham the principles of life. The survival of O’odham today is our him’dag.
The Tohono O’odham Nation’s collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security’s inhumane border policies is in outright violation of the O’odham him’dag, the O’odham way of life. Although the Tohono O’odham Nation is a sovereign nation, it has no control of it’s lands and administration of it’s own tribal form of government. Without true sovereignty, the tribal government lacks the authority and ability to denounce the abuses of human life and the irreparable destruction of the natural habitat of our relatives, the plant life and animal life which is in direct violation of the O’odham principles of life.
These violations also impact hundreds of tribal nations from impoverished countries south of the United States/Mexico International Boundary that cross this border and end in fatality due to unfamiliarity with our homelands. The recently completed construction of a joint use detention center is an example of the on-going collaboration and human rights violations and O’odham him’dag
violations.
This detention center houses the Border Patrol agents and all other agencies in comfort - air-conditioned and heated building while men, women and children are held in a caged area outside the building. This region has temperatures that range from 120 degrees F., during the summer, to 20 degrees F. during the winter.
The continued systematic genocide of indigenous peoples, is “law”, such as the very paper that the United States Constitution is written on, a piece of paper that is written by the corporate leaders for the corporation. The O’odham are not guaranteed their right to control their own lives; an example is the controversial casino revenue per capita payments to individual O’odham. The Tohono O’odham Nation cannot outright assist their people by writing them a per capita check. The whole entire mess must first be approved by the Department of the Interior, “caretaker” of the O’odham. The federal government, through the mandate to federal reservations, controls the lands, all resources and all the people.
The O’odham historic survival through outright wars on the O’odham to exterminate the people (called the Pima Wars), to forced assimilation, by the boarding school system and the relocation project to remove O’odham from their sacred lands and way of life. This on-going systematic governmental genocide of the O’odham is now the complete apathy propagandized, insincere pseudo-O’odham lifestyles that have no compassion for their fellow O’odham and fellow Indigenous nations.
The impacts of the violations of the O’odham him’dag is evident in the disharmony of the people; rampant drug and human trafficking; hundreds of young O’odham serving severe sentences, imprisoned for these actions, violence and gangs in O’odham communities; misuse of sacred songs, sacred sites and sacred ceremonial instruments by the people, such as O’odham women carrying eagle feathers and O’odham using eagle feathers as vehicle ornaments.
Other outright violations are construction buildings on ceremonial grounds and burial sites.
Also, the recent action, by the Tohono O’odham Nation Legislative Council, that publicly, by O’odham radio, condemned the existence of our language and our elders. It is a shameful public display of a people without integrity and without human compassion. These types of thoughtless actions brought the disparity and death to two of our elders that were at this council meeting and may be responsible for many others.
These on-going violations are part of the prophecies foretold by the elders; the greed of the people will bring an ending.
We are living in this era as we see our elders and Mother Earth being neglected and abused by the Department of Homeland Security forces, by our own O’odham and by Mexico’s government-planned chemical waste dump site on O’odham lands.
The severity of conditions at this moment I fear will fall on deaf ears. Our ground water will be more contaminated; more O’odham will die from cancer and respiratory illnesses.
The corrupt local Mexican government official will not enforce environmental laws to protect the O’odham and poor people that live in the proposed area. They will accept the monies paid to them to sign a permit and allow this project to go forth.
The traditional elders and traditional council leaders and the ceremony leaders all strongly oppose this development. An example of this corruption is the previous approval of Hecla Mining Company, from Idaho, to mine gold and silver near our sacred ceremonial site. Hecla Mining Company obtained illegal permits and paid off individuals in the Quitovac community to operate the mine. Hecla Mining Company’s cyanide leaching ponds were poorly planned; the ponds overflowed into arroyos killing wildlife. The site was unmonitored by the Mexican environmental protection agency. The site was covered; it was “clean-up” and is still closed off to the public. The great risk to human life is at stake; the storage of severely hazardous chemicals will likely be handled in the same manner. Not only the impact of storage, but also the transport of hazardous chemicals through many communities, impacting an unknown number of human lives.
This is an outright attack on the O’odham Human Rights and the cry of the poor people goes unheard in Mexico.
The line that divides the O’odham, the US/MX International Border, is the foundation of that O’odham discrimination against it’s own people, just one of the imbalances and disruption in our Him’dag, the O’odham way of life.
Ofelia Rivas
Please also see:
International Indian Treaty Council http://www.treatycouncil.org
American Indian Movement http://www.aimovement.org
Ableza http://www.ableza.org
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization http://www.unpo.org
UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii
The O’odham way of life is based on the land that holds the remains of our ancestors since the creation of this world. The O’odham did not migrate from anywhere, according to our oral history; our creation tellings record our history and teach the O’odham the principles of life. The survival of O’odham today is our him’dag.
The Tohono O’odham Nation’s collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security’s inhumane border policies is in outright violation of the O’odham him’dag, the O’odham way of life. Although the Tohono O’odham Nation is a sovereign nation, it has no control of it’s lands and administration of it’s own tribal form of government. Without true sovereignty, the tribal government lacks the authority and ability to denounce the abuses of human life and the irreparable destruction of the natural habitat of our relatives, the plant life and animal life which is in direct violation of the O’odham principles of life.
These violations also impact hundreds of tribal nations from impoverished countries south of the United States/Mexico International Boundary that cross this border and end in fatality due to unfamiliarity with our homelands. The recently completed construction of a joint use detention center is an example of the on-going collaboration and human rights violations and O’odham him’dag
violations.
This detention center houses the Border Patrol agents and all other agencies in comfort - air-conditioned and heated building while men, women and children are held in a caged area outside the building. This region has temperatures that range from 120 degrees F., during the summer, to 20 degrees F. during the winter.
The continued systematic genocide of indigenous peoples, is “law”, such as the very paper that the United States Constitution is written on, a piece of paper that is written by the corporate leaders for the corporation. The O’odham are not guaranteed their right to control their own lives; an example is the controversial casino revenue per capita payments to individual O’odham. The Tohono O’odham Nation cannot outright assist their people by writing them a per capita check. The whole entire mess must first be approved by the Department of the Interior, “caretaker” of the O’odham. The federal government, through the mandate to federal reservations, controls the lands, all resources and all the people.
The O’odham historic survival through outright wars on the O’odham to exterminate the people (called the Pima Wars), to forced assimilation, by the boarding school system and the relocation project to remove O’odham from their sacred lands and way of life. This on-going systematic governmental genocide of the O’odham is now the complete apathy propagandized, insincere pseudo-O’odham lifestyles that have no compassion for their fellow O’odham and fellow Indigenous nations.
The impacts of the violations of the O’odham him’dag is evident in the disharmony of the people; rampant drug and human trafficking; hundreds of young O’odham serving severe sentences, imprisoned for these actions, violence and gangs in O’odham communities; misuse of sacred songs, sacred sites and sacred ceremonial instruments by the people, such as O’odham women carrying eagle feathers and O’odham using eagle feathers as vehicle ornaments.
Other outright violations are construction buildings on ceremonial grounds and burial sites.
Also, the recent action, by the Tohono O’odham Nation Legislative Council, that publicly, by O’odham radio, condemned the existence of our language and our elders. It is a shameful public display of a people without integrity and without human compassion. These types of thoughtless actions brought the disparity and death to two of our elders that were at this council meeting and may be responsible for many others.
These on-going violations are part of the prophecies foretold by the elders; the greed of the people will bring an ending.
We are living in this era as we see our elders and Mother Earth being neglected and abused by the Department of Homeland Security forces, by our own O’odham and by Mexico’s government-planned chemical waste dump site on O’odham lands.
The severity of conditions at this moment I fear will fall on deaf ears. Our ground water will be more contaminated; more O’odham will die from cancer and respiratory illnesses.
The corrupt local Mexican government official will not enforce environmental laws to protect the O’odham and poor people that live in the proposed area. They will accept the monies paid to them to sign a permit and allow this project to go forth.
The traditional elders and traditional council leaders and the ceremony leaders all strongly oppose this development. An example of this corruption is the previous approval of Hecla Mining Company, from Idaho, to mine gold and silver near our sacred ceremonial site. Hecla Mining Company obtained illegal permits and paid off individuals in the Quitovac community to operate the mine. Hecla Mining Company’s cyanide leaching ponds were poorly planned; the ponds overflowed into arroyos killing wildlife. The site was unmonitored by the Mexican environmental protection agency. The site was covered; it was “clean-up” and is still closed off to the public. The great risk to human life is at stake; the storage of severely hazardous chemicals will likely be handled in the same manner. Not only the impact of storage, but also the transport of hazardous chemicals through many communities, impacting an unknown number of human lives.
This is an outright attack on the O’odham Human Rights and the cry of the poor people goes unheard in Mexico.
The line that divides the O’odham, the US/MX International Border, is the foundation of that O’odham discrimination against it’s own people, just one of the imbalances and disruption in our Him’dag, the O’odham way of life.
Ofelia Rivas
Please also see:
International Indian Treaty Council http://www.treatycouncil.org
American Indian Movement http://www.aimovement.org
Ableza http://www.ableza.org
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization http://www.unpo.org
UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii