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"Protect Oak Flat!" Prayer Gathering with Apache Stronghold

 


Protect Oak Flat Prayer Gathering with Apache Stronghold - August 27 - 6 PM - Tower Grove Park Stone Shelter

Join us in supporting Apache Stronghold as they fight to protect their sacred place at Oak Flat from being destroyed by mining. 

Because the shady backroom congressional deal giving the land to foreign mining corporations also exempted those corporations from environmental, cultural, and archeological legal protections, Apache Stronghold's case appeals to the First Amendment's protection of religious expression. If Oak Flat is destroyed by mining the Apache people's ability to practice their religion as they have for time immemorial will be permanently and irreparably harmed.

This gathering is part of Apache Stronghold's nationwide Prayer Journey traveling towards Washington DC where they will be filing their case at the US Supreme Court on September 11. People of good will from all faiths are welcome to come learn from Apache Stronghold and join their spiritual strength to the fight to protect Oak Flat.

You can read about the Oak Flat legal case here or check out this informational video put together by the law firm representing Apache Stronghold here.

 

From Apache Stronghold:

“This is no longer a game of bows and arrows and shooting us physically, but it’s killing our religion, our way of life, and everything from what we do and who we are as a people,” says Apache Stronghold's Naelyn Pike. “That in itself scares me because it tells me that what I identify with, what I physically feel connected to, my religion, way of life, doesn’t matter and that the federal government can still do this to our people today.”

Dr. Wendsler Nosie has stated the Apache Stronghold court case is about spiritual connection, “As Indigenous people, we know through our history and culture that there is a spiritual connection to the land but this is what the United States wants us to prove in court. However, this case scares the U.S. because they’ll have to answer the question about spirituality. This case makes the United States confront the wrongdoing of the Indigenous people and all people.”

 


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