I look out upon the fresh new snow, grateful for what moisture in any form tungashila blesses us with. I am contemplating what I heard or read about today. A morning prayer ceremony for our youth who are troubled and/or have taken their lives at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge... and then the Sec. of Interior Ken Salazar, Congressman Ben Lujan, et. all presentation, which included hearing from Taos Pueblo Governor Laureano Romero and Lt. Governor Gilbert Suazo Sr. and all our villages about the proposal to make the Rio Grande del Norte a historical preservation site....Secretary Salazar began the presentation with a comment about how proud he is about gas and oil development in New Mexico. He ended the presentation with a statement "Let me make this understood, this designation will in no way infringe upon or take away grazing rights, right to fire wood, plants or fish and game. It will not take away your right to live as you have been." Hmmm, I should be happy right? I should put my skepticism away right? Was everyone in favor of the designation? Yes. Have I read the designation? No. Do I trust Roberta Salazar of Rivers and Birds when she says this is a good thing? Yes.
Yet I still muse....
I asked Ben Ray Lujan how this would help protect our Rights, when Harper is in the process of breaking Indigenous Treaty Rights, and the US Government has no better record...he said he did not know what was happening in Canada, but would certainly look into it, and was in support of Indigenous Rights.
The questions that went un-answered that many of us had:
"Will this designation help us heal our youth, preserve our language, Life Ways, and Cultures...our Right to Live with our Mother as we have for thousands of years? Our Right to clean Water, Earth and Air?...Our Right to have the heavy metal contaminated Red River (that flows into the Rio Grande) super fund site in Questa cleaned up? Our Right NOT to have our skies taken over by the military for tactical war training & re-fueling by air contamination? Our Right to have the nuclear waste at area G at LANL cleaned up, that for decades has been contaminating the Rio Grande and the Pueblo waters south of us? Our Right to have all Uranium mines closed? Will it protect us from the Oil boys fracking on the other side of the mountain, or stop the XL-Pipeline crossing the Oglala aquifer which are waters of life that interconnect the Comanche, Cheyenne, Lakota, Indio-Hispanic and all Peoples of this region?....Will this designation insure that the Cycle of Water is protected in the way it feeds our aquifers, and springs?"
No, this is just a proposed "designation"...it is, and will continue to be, UP TO US, to protect our Waters of Life. Regardless if we get the designation of the Rio Grande del Norte as a historical preservation site...we la gente, have been and will continue to protect her. History and current events tell us, that despite treaties, "designations", laws, etc...our politicians have NOT protected our Life Ways, our Earth, Water and Air...and in fact abused the element of Fire.
So, I am thinking about the call to the One Humanity that has agreed to this 2012 galactic party, even though my Elders told me 15-18 years ago that the date was irrelevant..."you are aware and conscious or you are not"...
So if you have agreed to show up for this global-galactic prayer...remember there are many that have been doing their best each day to maintain their Life Ways, the Ceremonies and Prayers for generations...and that we will retreat no more...the Prayer IS IN MOTION....we are Idle No More.....and it will take all of us, everyday, in whatever Ways we are called, to do something for the greater good of All Life, for the generations to come.
I think that the most concerning thing I see is that our People's are not able to produce enough food, gather enough herbs, berries and nuts, ask for fish, deer, or elk, to sustain all the people who now live here locally. This is a fact, not fiction. Ultimately this 2012 "shift" is not only about "Being Love and Living Love and Light" it is about lifestyle changes. Food, Way of Life (language and culture) and mental health are also at the foundation of a healthy culture... Is it time for you to become dedicated to learning how to live with Mother Earth and Father Sky? Grandmother is building a Seed-Sanctuary for the preservation of our seed, organizations are implementing urban gardens, a local school built a green house, local and regional Curanderas are teaching as many as possible about good diet and healing herbs....yet there is much, much, more to be done. Please do not ever leave the preservation of the Water of Life to politics. And, if we do get this designation, let us use it to strengthen and unify about the aforementioned concerns in our region. ~ April Mondragon
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