On Monday 21 December, the International Day of Prayer and Action for Chi’chil Bildagoteel (Oak Flat), we joined our prayer with those of the earth convulsing in quakes and expressing in eruptions. On the shortest day of the year we joined with planets Saturn and Jupiter on the horizon to pray and act, speak and learn. And we received news that there is a hard-won delay of the land transfer. A miracle of time has been given! Now for the miracle of a stop to the threat of the mine!
Answer the call from Naelyn Pike, a young Apache woman, who shared during the event:
“My sisters and I all have this spiritual connection with Oak Flat. We all feel the land. We feel her breathing. She is a woman mountain. When Oak Flat is destroyed, it’s another congressional act of genocide that says that Apache people and Apache religion do not matter and that profit and greed is the only that the United States works. And we see that cycle over and over again.
It’s not just an Apache fight. It’s not just an Arizona fight. It’s not just a Native fight. It’s an all-people’s fight. We are not just fighting for Mother Earth, for Nagosan’s creation. We are fighting for our own lives. For humans to be able to survive and live on earth. Because what we are doing to the planet, one day we won’t be here because of that. We keep taking and taking and taking. We are beings that are greedy and it’s good that we see that and recognize it so that we can start to heal and make better sustainable decisions for all of us together.
We are at a critical moment. In the next couple months, Oak Flat will be under Resolution Copper. So we need to make a stand. I am asking you to make a stand. Do not be a bystander to the continued genocide of Native people. Call your Congress people. Pray. Go to Oak Flat. It’s for everyone. Don’t let this be another project that passes and destroys our way of life. We are asking you to stand with us.”
Excerpts from the Day of Prayer and Action
To take action, see CPT’s Community Action Toolkit
