We in the East don’t really think much about Native Americans, the people who inhabited this land thousands of years before our ancestor arrived on these shores. They had their sacred spaces, worshipping the Creator who formed the land, so much of it we’ve desecrated and destroyed.
Now the lands known as Oak Flat, Arizona, are under attack. Located in the Tonto National Forest and sacred to the San Carlos Apache and other indigenous tribes, countless generations have used this place for coming of age and other religious ceremonies. But what’s that worth, when there’s money to be made?
Calling the Apache resistance to the destruction of their sacred sites “un-American,” Trump wants to let Resolution Copper and its parent company Rio Tinto, which has a horrendous record of environmental degradation, to mine copper to sell to China. Now, does that make any sense at all? Now the case is in the courts with a temporary hold.
Prayer for the Day
Having no voice to cry out against destruction,
The cactus waits in anguished silence;
Baring only her teeth to protect her young,
The ocelot fears the machinery against her den.
Given this land for safekeeping, O God,
Energize us so it is not destroyed by greed.
In the name of the One who gives us strength,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Today, President Trump said he wants to destroy our holy ground of Oak Flat so a foreign-owned corporation can send copper to China. What God has given us as a people, man’s greed will bring to an end.
Dr. Wendsler Nosie, San Carlos Apache on Oak Flat
If we can hear the cry, then we still have an opportunity to heed the call to stand up to the greed, refuse the lies, and learn the wisdom of this land’s first chapter - a wisdom that resonates with the best of all of our religious traditions.
Rev. William Barber, Center for Public Theology, Yale Divinity School
The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine;
With me you are but aliens and tenants,
Throughout the land that you hold,
You shall provide for the redemption of the land.
Leviticus 25: 23-24