Hopi to Phoenix Run For Water To Carry Important Message<br>

Water is a sacred gift from the Creator, not a commodity to be bought, sold, or traded. This is the message of the Declaration on Water crafted in Vancouver by indigenous Canadian peoples and representatives of Black Mesa Trust during the Water for People and Nature Conference earlier this month.

It is also the message that will be taken to the American public August 10 to 14 by participants in an endurance race from Hopi to Phoenix.

Bucky Preston (who participated in the run from Hopi to Flagstaff to protest White Vulcan Mine a few years ago) is organizing the run and is now in training for the grueling 200-plus mile event. Marathon runners from Acoma, Zuni, and Navajo will join Preston in this run through a desert where temperatures can reach as high as 116 degrees Fahrenheit.

When the runners reached Phoenix at 10 a.m. on August 14, Black Mesa Trust will hold a press conference at the Intertribal Council of Arizona Offices. The Declaration will be handed to representatives of various indigenous groups from the United States, Mexico, and Central and South America. Then the group will march to the Phoenix area office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to present a Save Black Mesa Water petition, signed by over 4,000 people, opposing the use of N-aquifer water by Peabody Coal for its mining operations on Black Mesa.

“There is now a global movement of multi-national corporations to buy and sell water,” said Vernon Masayesva, director of Black Mesa Trust. “Water will dominate this century as oil has dominated the twentieth century. In direct opposition to the effort to privatize water, indigenous people believe that water is there for all living things—and it must be kept that way.”

Said Black Mesa Trust President, Leonard Selestewa, “I learned from my Canadian brothers and sisters that over one billion poor people all over the world don’t have access to water. By the year 2020, there will be 8 billion people on Earth, and the number that are denied access to water will have doubled. This is wrong, and we need to bring a strong message to the world that water belongs to all, not just to a few rich corporations.”

“Each living thing has a right to water, a right to life. To deny water is to deny life. It is Black Mesa Trust’s intention to help carry this message to the world, and this is the message runners will by carrying with them to Phoenix. Here on Hopi, Peabody has taken over 40 billion gallons of water from our children. And the pumps continue to drain the aquifer at the rate of 3.3 million gallons each day. This must stop.”

At 6 p.m. on August 14, Black Mesa Trust will host a reception with speakers and entertainment at the Intertribal Council of Arizona offices in Phoenix. A large-screen showing of Toby McLeod’s film, “In the Reverence of Light,” will follow at 9 p.m. The documentary film, narrated by Tantoo Cardinal and Peter Coyote, explores sacred Native American sites, including the Hopi mesas, which are being threatened by development, mining and logging. s.

For more information on the run, call Bucky Preston at (928) 737-2705; for more information on Black Mesa Trust, call Vernon Masayesva at (480) 675-0870.