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Dear Friends and Supporters,
The United States is preparing to confiscate Western Shoshone livestock grazing upon ancestral lands as recognized in the Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed in Ruby Valley, 1863. On Wednesday August 1st, 2001, Bureau of Land Management officials at both the Nevada State office and the Elko Field office confirmed their intentions to conduct roundups of Shoshone livestock in the Crescent Valley and South Fork areas. Both the Dann family of Crescent Valley and the Traditional Cattlemen of the South Fork Reservation and Odgers Ranch have refused to pay the U.S. government for the use of ancestral lands which have never been ceded or sold to the U.S. This planned theft of Shoshone livestock comes just as a Western Shoshone delegation sits in Geneva, Switzerland asserting their rights before the United Nations.
Western Shoshone Document US Human Rights Violations to International Bodies
The United States is currently under the scrutiny of several international human rights bodies for its treatment of the Western Shoshone Nation. Mary and Carrie Dann (the “Danns”) have filed a human rights complaint before the Inter-American Commission (the “Commission”) on Human Rights of the Organization of American States. The Danns’ complaint is based on the United States’ failure to meet its obligations in respect to Western Shoshone rights. The complaint challenges the United States to reform discriminatory legal doctrines that have denied basic constitutional and human rights to indigenous peoples for generations.
In spite of the United States’ requests that the Commission declare the
complaint case inadmissible, the Commission ruled in September of 1999 that
the petition was admissible. In this ruling, the Commission went on to state
that the Danns’ claims raised a prima facie case of human rights violations
by the United States’ government. The Commission issued precautionary measures
against the United States on two separate occasions, each time requesting that
the government halt further action against the Danns pending the Commission’s
investigation of their claims. The United States has never formally responded
to the precautionary measures. The Ely Shoshone Tribe, the Yomba Shoshone Tribe,
the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, and the Western Shoshone National Council have
intervened in these proceedings in support of the Danns complaint.
In 1999 both the Yomba Shoshone Tribe and the Ely Shoshone Tribe submitted a
request for urgent action to the United Nations Committee for the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination (“CERD”) asserting that the rights of the
Western Shoshone people have been and are at this moment being violated by the
United States in a discriminatory fashion, on the basis of their status as indigenous
people. The request asks the Committee to direct the United States to halt actions
that threaten irreparable harm to the Western Shoshone people and to enter into
negotiations with Western Shoshone leaders to resolve Western Shoshone land
claims. The Duckwater Shoshone Tribe and the Western Shoshone National Council
have joined in this request as part of the Western Shoshone Nation.
Current Legislation Attempts to Ratify Theft of Shoshone Lands and Rights
The U.S. insists that all Shoshone rights to their homelands have been extinguished as a result of proceedings before the Indian Claims Commission. These proceedings resulted in the 1979 award of $26 million for over 24 million acres of ancestral land. The claims commission proceedings denied the Western Shoshone people due process of law and refused to acknowledge Western Shoshone property rights in a clearly discriminatory process. The award, accepted on behalf of the Western Shoshone by the Secretary of Interior, has never been accepted by the Western Shoshone people who still use and occupy their ancestral lands.
Like the Sioux Nation (Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Peoples) of South Dakota, the
Western Shoshone are one of the few indigenous nations within the United States
that have resisted the theft of their lands through the Indian Claims Commission
process. The claims money sits in a trust account where it has grown to over
$110 million. Several attempts to distribute the money have been defeated in
Congress, yet Nevada Senators Harry Reid (Democrat) and John Ensign (Republican)
have currently introduced a bill(S. 958) that would result in the liquidation
of the trust account by a one time individual cash payment to living Western
Shoshone. Individual payment would result in a check of perhaps $20,000. As
a result of the payment, Western Shoshone citizens are legally precluded from
exercising any rights connected to the lands which they have been compensated
for. Both Ensign and Reid have strong support from the mining industry which
has a vested interest in exploiting Western Shoshone land. The majority of gold
produced in the U.S. is removed from Western Shoshone land. The nuclear industry
also hopes to create a national high level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain
within Western Shoshone territory. Other vested interests in Shoshone homelands
include the U.S. military which uses large portions of Treaty territory for
bombing ranges, weapons development and training.
The legislation was developed without the consent or input of either the traditional
Western Shoshone government represented by the Western Shoshone National Council
or the Federally recognized Tribal Councils representing many of the Western
Shoshone communities. Instead, a faction of Western Shoshone known as the Western
Shoshone Claims Steering Committee developed the legislation in secret with
the assistance of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Senator Reid’s office.
While Reid claims that this legislation is necessary to lift Western Shoshone
people out of poverty, it does nothing to change the conditions which have led
to this supposed poverty, mainly a lack of sovereignty and denial of access
to traditional lands and resources. As such, the legislation perpetuates dependence
on Federal assistance through the BIA and other agencies and ensures that the
Western Shoshone will not attain any degree of self sufficiency or self government.
The timing of this increased pressure on Shoshone citizens combined with the
pending claims legislation indicates growing momentum on the part of the U.S.
to finalize the theft of Shoshone lands and extinguishment of Western Shoshone
rights. Now is the time for people of conscience to hold the U.S. accountable
for these actions and demand it deal with the Western Shoshone in a just and
honorable fashion!
Webfidder Note: This also will clear the way for Yucca Mountain, as there is no clear title to the land.
What You Can Do To Help:
Secretary of Interior Gale Norton (202)-208-3100
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
202-456-1414
president@whitehouse.gov
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
Department of State
2201 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20520
202-647-4000
www.state.gov
Secretary of Interior Gale A. Norton
Department of the Interior
1849 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20240
202-208-3100
www.doi.gov
gale_norton@ios.doi.gov
State Director Robert Abbey
Bureau of Land Management Nevada State Office
1340 Financial Blvd., Reno, NV 89502
(775) 861-6400
http://www.nv.blm.gov
Chairman Daniel K. Inouye
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
838 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-2251
Suggested Points to Make:
· The U.S. has a responsibility to respect the human rights of Native American peoples, which include the right of self-determination and the right to possess property, both communally and individually.
The U.S. has a responsibility to respect the findings of international human rights bodies. It cannot expect to be respected or taken seriously internationally if it is unwilling to respect these international institutions
U.S. has an obligation to honor Treaties made with Indian Nations under the U.S. Constitution(Article VI, Section 2)
U.S must stop all trespass and confiscation action against Western Shoshone in respect of the U.S. Constitution, the 1863 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Western Shoshone human rights and the findings of such bodies as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Please educate your Congressional Representatives and urge them to oppose Senate Bill S 958. This communication with your representatives is especially important if they sit on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
Office of Representative(Name)
United States House of Representatives
Washington D.C. 20515
http://www.house.gov/
Office of Senator (Name)
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
http://www.senate.gov/
Congressional phone numbers can be obtained from U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
838 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-2251
Chairman
Daniel K. Inouye
Hawaii
(202) 224-5852
Vice Chairman
Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Colorado
(202) 224-3934
Members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. If you live in one of these
Senator’s districts, please call or write them directly.
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Democrats
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Republicans
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Some suggested points to make include:
Host Video Showings to Educate Your Friends, Family, and Communities. The WSDP has available two award winning documentary films narrated by Robert Redford chronicling the efforts of the Western Shoshone people to protect their rights and lands. Cinnamon Productions has made both videos, Broken Treaty at Battle Mountain and To Protect Mother Earth, available to us at cost for $35.00 each. Other locally produced videos documenting the struggle are also available from the WSDP. Contact us to obtain copies for your next potluck or event.
Contact the WSDP to get on the Alert List in the Event that the BLM proceeds with the planned confiscation. People willing to participate in non-violent, direct action, as well as documentation (photo, audio, and video) are needed. We are not asking for you to come here now, but would like to know who could come out to Northeast Nevada in the unhappy event of a confrontation. Remember, the Western Shoshone remain committed to the Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Firearms, Drugs, and Alcohol are strictly forbidden!
Educate yourself about the history of Western Shoshone land rights. Information packets with background information, copies of the Treaty, and reading lists are available form the WSDP. The truth is our greatest weapon.
Consider making a monetary donation or organizing a fundraising event for the Western Shoshone Defense Project. As an affiliate of the non-profit Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development, your donations are tax deductible. Please make checks payable to the Western Shoshone Defense Project.
For additional information concerning Western Shoshone issues contact the Western
Shoshone Defense Project, P.O. Box 211308, Crescent Valley, Nevada 89821 ph:
775-468-0230, fax: 775-468-0237 email: wsdp@igc.org
and consult the following web pages: