via @bsnorrell.blogspot.com

#NavajoNation Targeted Again for Sacrifice Zone: '#Energy Companies Preying on the People'

#Diné ask: Why is the Navajo Nation allowing energy companies to prey on communities and individuals?

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, May 23, 2024

"Dine' on the Navajo Nation are now targeted with a push to revitalize dirty coal energy, and a hydropower project that would pump precious water from their aquifer. Dine' question why the Navajo Nation government is allowing energy companies to prey on the communities and individuals.

"#LouiseBenally of #BigMountain [#KleeBenally's aunt] said the bottom line is greed. 'They want to eat up everything but, don't know that even their lives depend on it too. Poisoning the natural cycle will come back and destroy them too.'

"The new stampede of parasitic energy companies to the Navajo Nation comes at the same time that #radioactive #uranium trucks, covered only with tarps, are traveling across the Navajo Nation, from the #GrandCanyon uranium mine to the mill in the #WhiteMesaUte community in Utah.

"At the same time, more than 500 #UraniumMines, and scattered radioactive debris, remain on the Navajo Nation, and was never cleaned up by the U.S. government. Dirty coal mines and power plants left the legacy of death and #ForcedRelocation.

Navajo Council Plans Meeting on Revitalizing Coal Industry

"Citing #Trump's push for new #CoalMining, the #NavajoNationCouncil plans to hold a public hearing on
revitalizing the coal industry.

"The Navajo Nation Council announced the public hearing, stating that on April 8 President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order entitled, 'Reinvigorating America’s #BeautifulCleanCoal Industry
and Amending Executive Order 14241' aimed at reversing past federal policies, to boost the coal industry and to strengthen the country’s national energy security, according to the White House.

"The public hearing is scheduled in Forest Lake Chapter on Friday, May 30. Louise Benally and her family spent their lives battling #PeabodyCoal and resisting forced relocation at Big Mountain on #BlackMesa. She said what Trump is doing is another chapter in the assault on the land and people.

" 'Pl 93-531 is a law created by #BarryGoldwater to target our rights to water and land base to be taken away. He developed that law so, with what Trump is trying to do is no different.'

" 'They want to eat up everything but, don't know that even their lives depend on it too. Poisoning the natural cycle will come back and destroy them too.'

" 'The American political system is not our government as traditional people which is where all our modern day problems come from in the form of an endless greed to keep eating up the earth and the natural resources.'

"Louise questioned Navajo Nation President #BuuNygren's support of Trump and coal mining in Washington, and Nygren's agreement for uranium trucks to cross the Navajo Nation. 'The Navajo Nation government is at a crossroads. Buu has been taken by Trump, and the people he is supposed to be responsible for are in question.'

" 'He has been taken into the bag of greed -- uranium and coal yet, there is no water. We want accountability.' "

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/05/navajo-nation-targeted-again-for.html

#BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople
#WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #EnergyFuels
#Dineteh #NukingTheNavajo
#Havasupai #UraniumMines
#EnvironmentalRacism #WhiteMesaMill #NukingTheNavajo #NukingTheUte #Ute #Paiute #Hopi #BidiiRoots #DineCARE #Havasupai #PinyonPlainUraniumMine #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #UraniumTransport #RadioactiveDust #RememberKleeBenally #BigCoal #DishonoringTheMemoryOfKleeBenally
#HaulNo #NoMiningWithoutConsent

From 2021: #LouiseBenally [#KleeBenally's aunt]

"Peabody Western Coal Company was issued a mining lease for 64,848 acres on the Navajo Nation and the #Navajo-#Hopi Joint Use Area in #BigMountain, AZ.

"Over TEN THOUSAND Navajo and THREE HUNDRED Hopi were relocated from their homes for the mining operation. Fifty years later Peabody has closed the mine leaving behind destruction to the people, land, and water."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WNHeLmBSMY

#BlackMesa #PeabodyCoal #McCainShame #WaterIsLife #USGovernment #HopiNavajoDivision #Relocation #CulturalGenocide #BigMountainResistance

I knew Klee's grandmother, #RobertaBlackgoat -- and supported her with #MutualAid and telling her side of the story in the early days of the web. Rest in Power, Klee!
💔  

#KleeBenally 'Carry On'

By #BrendaNorrell, #CensoredNews, April 9, 2024

"Klee, discussing resource extraction, and how the #NavajoTribalCouncil was created to sign #oil and #gas leases, quotes our friend, the gentle, soft-spoken farmer from Shiprock, who received his doctorate degree before passing, Larry Emerson.

"'There is no point in trying to #decolonize the Navajo government -- it was not right for us from the start. Its structure and process is a replica of the American system, and the American system appears to be edging toward the possibility of failure like the great #RomanEmpire.'

"Writing on these monsters, oil and gas extraction, and coal mining, Klee quotes #LouiseBenally of #BigMountain, his aunt, whose family spent their lives resisting coal mining, #ForcedRelocation, and the machinery of the tribal government.

"Louise said, 'The natural laws and the Indigenous Peoples were already here in a good relationship before the coming of the #colonial society who draws laws and boundaries. However, we #IndigenousPeoples will always have ties with these lands, we will continue to live that way with #nature and we will carry on.'

"Klee shares the words of his grandmother, Roberta Blackgoat, who never gave up the fight. 'The Coal they strip mine is the Earth's liver."
Although many have passed, and too many have died from broken hearts, there are those who live on, carry on.

"Klee writes, 'The remaining resisters to forced relocation have outlived the monster that was consuming our lands, stealing our water, and polluting our lungs.'

"Before passing, Klee described the monsters, the rage against the machine, and the ways of restoring balance and harmony. Klee Benally's book, 'No Spiritual Surrender: Indigenous Anarchy in the Defense of the Sacred,' can be ordered at: https://detritusbooks.com/products/no-spiritual-surrender-indigenous-anarchy-in-defense-of-the-sacred
at April 09, 2024

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/04/klee-benally-carry-on.html

#PeabodyCoal #BigMountainResistance #LandBack #LandBackNow #IndigenousPeoples #Dineh #NoUraniumMining #DefendTheSacred #EnvironmentalRacism #CulturalGenocide #Colonialism #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #RageAgainstTheMachine #IndigenousAnarchy #EarthDefenders #WaterIsLife

This hits home for me. I worked with Klee's family and provided #MutualAid when I was reporting on #BigMountainResistance years ago. My heart goes out to the Benally family and all those whose lives he touched. #RestInPower Klee. Link to fundraisers via #IndigenousAction at the end of the post.

Warrior #KleeBenally Never Surrendered: A Life of #RevolutionaryLove, Resounding '#RegainYourPower

by Brenda Norrell, #CensoredNews, January 2, 2024

"Our hearts are broken by the sudden passing of our friend Klee Benally. Reflecting on Klee's life, we remember the words of #CheGuevara that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.

"Klee never surrendered, he never surrendered to #capitalism, the media, or the forces of conformity that sought to change who he was.

"Ultimately, Klee taught us to regain our power, regardless of the road that led us to the present.

"#LouiseBenally, #Dine' of Big Mountain, said, 'Klee was our spokesman and leader. His departure only means we have to rise and carry on the work for justice for #nature and humanity. I will miss him Greatly and Honor him highly.'

"His roots come from Big Mountain, grandson of the late #RobertaBlackgoat.

"'He was an honorable young leader, well respected and moved with a lot of compassion. My nephew brother and my leader. A truly beautiful and amazing person who really lived up to his beliefs, and was not driven by money but by needs and concern, a real warrior.

"'He was our shining Star, he will continue to shine on us from the other side.

"'He always honored me, I will miss that,' Louise said.

"#MichelleCook, Dine', said, "We are deeply saddened and shocked by the news of the passing of our beloved warrior Klee Benally. We ask for prayers for his family during this time. For decades Klee led an uncompromising position, for the liberation of our peoples and lands developing and synthesizing an embodied praxis of #Indigenous-based political, economic, and social resistance against all forms of #SettlerColonialism that degrades people and the planet.

"Klee was our North Star guiding with his heart and mind. While some may not have shared his positions, no one can question his dedication, determination, and sheer drive to protect his people despite the risks and danger.

"He risked his life through forms of #CivilDisobedience and #DirectAction to protect our Dook’o’oosłiid, #HolyMountain, from development to maintain our ceremonial practices and way of life.

"Klee taught us all to be brave to fight against #genocide, the co-optation of our movements by the non-profit #IndustrialComplex. To be steadfast in what is right and wrong. To honor our ancient law and the sacred teachings of our ancestors and Grandmothers. His departure leaves a void in #DinehNation and #IndianCountry," Michelle said.

"Now with his absence from this material plane, we have no choice but to pick up his work, pick up the slack, carry on, and continue our journey as Dineh in a beautiful way.

"Klee's development and articulations of Indigenous peoples and archaism remain relevant for social movements within and outside of #TurtleIsland.

"He will forever remain in our hearts and minds as a guiding light and a growling voice, screaming freedom, for our earth and peoples. We love you Klee.

"Rest now our sacred warrior. Your work is done. We are so proud of the legacy you cultivated and left for this world. Journey well our sweet warrior until we meet again in the great Star Camp beyond," Michelle said.

"Klee passed to the Spirit World on Sunday, after being hospitalized.

"We send our sincere condolences to his family, his wife Princess, family Jones, Berta, Jeneda and Clayson, and all those who knew and loved him.

"From locking down in U.S. #BorderPatrol headquarters in Tucson, to chaining himself to equipment in defense of Sacred San Francisco Peaks, to battling the auctioneers of the sacred ceremonial items in Paris, and leading the #HaulNo movement to protect the #GrandCanyon region from #UraniumMining, to feeding the #unsheltered in Flagstaff, and standing strong for #Palestine, Klee's powerful actions remain a moving force to resound, and rivet us all, to struggle for a world without compromise.

"Klee recognized that the non-profit industry was designed to water down the resistance and turn the sacred movements into an ATM machine for a select few.

"Fly high, my sweet friend."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/01/warrior-klee-benally-never-surrendered.html

https://www.indigenousaction.org/donations-accepted-for-the-family-of-klee-benally/

#Dineh #IndigenousActivist #NativeAmericanActivist #FirstNations #IndigenousAnarchist #Resistance #ClimateJustice #ClimateWarrior

This event was last Friday. I first starting covering #BigMountainResistance back in the 1990s, and I'm glad to see movement to end #NuclearColonialism is still going strong (and yet wish it wasn't necessary).

"#DirectAction training, workshop, & panel discussion with #HaulNo! #ProtectThePeaks, #IndigenousAction, & #LouiseBenally.

Friday, Oct 13th, 4p-8p

Free (bring a warm clothing/sleeping bag/tent donation for unsheltered relatives).

Celebrate and support ongoing #frontline Indigenous resistance struggles!"

https://www.indigenousaction.org/indigenous-resistance-teach-in-oct-13-2023/

#BigMountain #IndigenousResistance #HaulNo