34: Students Support Apache Stronghold
USA & Canada
A Climate Pollinator story by Sierra Ross Richer
On Tuesday last week, representatives from the Apache Stronghold advocated for the protection of Oak Flat, a sacred indigenous site in Arizona, USA, in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California.
Students at four Mennonite universities in the United States and Canada showed their support by heading outdoors to walk and run in solidarity with the Apache people.
Oak Flat, located within Tonto National Forest, is regarded as a sacred site of prayer for the Apache people, as well as other indigenous nations. The Apache stronghold argued in court on Tuesday (March 21) that by following through with a deal to trade the area to an international mining company, the United States government would violate the religious freedom of the Apache people.
Turning the area into a copper mine would also destroy the natural landscape and pollute the land and water.
“There is often the argument that we need copper for clean energy technology,” said Micah Buckwalter, president of the Earthkeepers club at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), “but we can’t continue to burden indigenous communities with the clean energy transition. If those minerals are needed, and they are, they need to be sourced in a sustainable and equitable way that’s not destroying a sacred area or indigenous communities that have already been burdened with other things.”
At EMU, in Virginia, USA, over twenty students and faculty gathered to walk and run at sunset on Monday, March 20, and again at sunrise on Tuesday.
At Goshen College in Indiana, USA, students and community members met on Sunday and Tuesday to learn about the court case and walk a half mile to the Goshen Dam Pond where they offered prayers and reflections.
At Fresno Pacific University in California, USA, a group of seven walked together and talked about Oak Flat.
And at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), in Manitoba, Canada, a group of five gathered on Tuesday morning to run and walk their prayers in the Assiniboine Forest near the campus.
“It only made sense to pray about the protection of a natural and sacred landscape in a natural landscape,” said Tai Linklater, co-director of CMU’s Peace and Sustainability Committee, who organized the event.
Photos from the events were shared on social media and sent to members of the Apache Stronghold during the court case.
“This is a substantial case,” said Sarah Augustine, executive director of the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition who spoke to the Goshen College group on Sunday. Once a final decision is made, possibly by the US Supreme Court, the case will likely set the precedent for the treatment of indigenous religious lands in the future.
Sarah thanked those gathered in Goshen for being part of a network of supporters from Mennonite, Methodist, Episcopalian and other faith traditions joining in prayer across North America, and the world.
For generations, Sarah said, the Apache have gone to Oak Flat to pray for the world. “They are praying for all of us in that sacred place among those sacred beings,” she said.
By running and walking in solidarity with the Apache Stronghold, the university students learned something too. “We (got) to practice a different form of prayer and worship that I think is oftentimes forgotten,” said Tai, from CMU, “that is, collective movement… Moving together with others while gathering our thoughts on the same issue is both spiritually and physically moving.”
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