Page 60 - GIC Manifesto.m

“The federal government has a trust responsibility to Tribal Nations
to protect their lands and natural resources, which includes the
duty to engage in meaningful, government-to-government
consultation on matters important to tribes. The government failed
to honor that mandate before it delisted the grizzly bear from the
Endangered Species Act. This is a persistent failure and violation of
the federal-Indian trust responsibility. We see it at Bears Ears. We
see it with the gold and uranium mines in the Black Hills. We see it
everywhere where the common denominator is resource extraction
on our ancestral, treaty, and homelands. This was the true
motivation for delisting the grizzly. Removing protections from
the grizzly opens the grizzly’s habitat to exploitation by extractive
industry and livestock conglomerates, damaging not only the bear’s
critical habitat, but also causing irreparable damage to entire
ecosystems.
The grizzly bear is sacred not only in our Hopi culture, but for
other native peoples. The grizzly is a medicine man, a healer.
As Hopi, the grizzly bear is our uncle, the most powerful of bears,
the one that guided our ancestors to Tuwanasavi, or the Center of
the Universe, as we call the place where we live today. At Hopi,
our ancestors are the Bear Clan. They were traditional leaders of
the Hopi Senom (People). The grizzly bear from which our
ancestors took their name gave rise to other important clans. We
are their descendants. We continue to carry out the cultural and
religious practices of our clan and our people. Today, the Bear
Clan continues in traditional leadership. During the pre-contact
period, much of Hopitutsqua (Hopi lands) was inhabited by grizzly
bears. From a Hopi perspective, Hopi land and religion are
inseparable, and it is that which defines Hopitutsqua. Our voices
collectively carry the wisdom of our ancestors; and for the sake of
our future generations, our voices must be heard. Kwak’wha.
Pai’lolmani.”
Deputy-Chief Councilor Benjamin H. Nuvamsa,
Hopi Bear Clan – Village of Shungopavi