Letter: New world image of Hopi is a sad one

To the editor:

It is a sad day for Hopi/Tewa people. I am disappointed in the ... Hopi Council's action telling the environmental groups to stay [away]. The Hopi/Tewa people have always considered themselves to be the best environmentalists in the world. Our Hopi religion teaches that we made a sacred covenant with Maasaw, our Supreme Being, to be good stewards of the Fourth World we live in today.

We, as people, all have the responsibility of being caretakers of Mother Earth. You care for it and take from it only what you need, and it will provide for you.

I never thought I would see the day when being "Hopi" meant being anti-environment, pro-big corporate energy, and actually promoting pollution and global warming in favor of dollars/money.

This is the new world image of Hopi, thanks to ... the illegally constituted Hopi Tribal Council - in essence, a coup.

We, the Hopi/Tewa people, have worked closely for many years with our allies from the environmental community to protect sacred lands from development and to stop uranium mining from poisoning our water. Water is life. Therefore, it is sacred.

We will continue to work together - tribal communities and other clean energy advocates - to bring green economic development to our lands that respect our air and water.

Together with our partners in the environmental community, we are working to secure long-term solutions to energy, health and water issues in northern Arizona by cleaning up dirty coal plants and promoting solar and wind projects on the reservations. The time to transition ... to clean energy from the wind and the sun is now.

We see a positive future ahead with results like the Navajo Nation's recent unanimous green jobs resolution. [We] will continue to support clean energy projects with Navajo and Hopi communities.

We all know that climate change is predicted to bring hotter and drier conditions to the Colorado Plateau, ... [which] threatens our water supplies and livelihoods.

Working together to stop global warming pollution from coal-fired power plants is vital to future generations. Now is the time to look forward and plan to transition existing coal plants to cleaner power.

We have appealed to [Mr. Wendell Honanie], Superintendent, Hopi Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), numerous times to intervene on behalf of the grassroots people. Mr. Honanie declined ... by citing a BIA policy not to intervene in internal tribal affairs. We believe the Bureau officials are hiding behind the veil of "sovereignty" and "self-determination." Yet the BIA is deeply involved in the current controversy by ignoring the illegal actions of the council and has taken a position on the side of council who are orchestrating the illegal activities.

By siding with the [illegal] Hopi government, the BIA has become complicit in the overthrow of our government. By recognizing the "interim government" and the illegally appointed heads of state, the BIA, in essence, intervened in an internal tribal dispute and has, therefore, become part of the problem instead of part of the solution. This defies the federal government's trust responsibility to the Tribe.

The rhetoric of the Resolution H-007-09 was carefully crafted to create the illusion of a legitimate justification for illegal acts. The resolution also identified the tribal secretary (an appointed position held by Mary A. Felter) and tribal treasurer (an appointed position held by Russell Mockta) to jointly hold the authorities of ... Chief Executive Officer of the Tribe.

The illegal council used the resolution as a deliberate and illegal way of reviving outdated practices which has been formally amended or eliminated. The official organization chart of the Hopi Tribe identifies the Chairman as the Chief Executive Officer.

Not only has our government been taken away from the Hopi/Tewa people, but our court system has been corrupted, paving the way for the overthrow of our government and occupation of the Tribal Council by those who do not respect our Constitution and laws. Our own Hopi Appellate Court was systematically dismembered by the same conspirators responsible for the current broken condition of our tribal government.

These are extreme circumstances that [can only] be mended and fixed by the Hopi/Tewa people themselves. Let us hope and pray that the upcoming election will have positive results.

Alph H. Secakuku

Council Representative

Village of Sipaulovi

Second Mesa, Ariz.

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