Letter of Support From Diné Bikeyah to Wet’suwet’en Relatives

Authored by Diné elder, Chili Yazzie.

The Great Creator gave homelands to the four colors of humankind, lands we would belong to, lands that would belong to us, as a mother and child belong to each other. Our natural laws are rooted in an understanding of honor and reciprocity that is in direct contrast with the white man’s supercilious idea of land ownership. The Wetʼsuwetʼen people were blessed with the lands they have existed upon for millennia upon which they were to prosper in perpetuity. It is imperative the Wetʼsuwetʼen continue to live on these lands in harmony, in a relationship of caring for each other with our Earth Mother.

The white people newcomers came upon our lands with supremacy arrogance and destructive ways that have harmed Indigenous peoples and our lands immeasurably. The traumas persist after 530 years of genocide, brutal land grabs, ecocide, forced displacement, and stolen children. The newcomers have little or no regard for the Creator (God) given inherent rights and natural laws of Indigenous people. The attempted genocide of our peoples and our spirit has been and is being perpetrated by white man’s pursuit of wealth and power.

The illegal and reprehensible encroachment on Indigenous lands continues today by destructive extractive industries in partnership with complicit governments. The encroachment continues in violation of our human rights and our right to free, prior and informed consent. The destruction continues with full knowledge or ignorance of the irreversible harm being executed on the planet and the poisoning of the future of the world’s grandchildren for the sake of profit and greed.

In acknowledgement of these realities, we the Diné of Diné bi Kéyah, declare that we stand unequivocally, with our northern Athabaskan relatives, the Wetʼsuwetʼen, in their defense of their homelands, their ancestral territories. We rise with absolute repudiation of the illegal TC Energy Coastal Gaslink Pipeline that is being forced through their unceded territories. We join in opposing this destruction and demand the termination of this illegal pipeline project.  

• Chili Yazzie      Toohnii Binaneestˀąˀ Ałtaasˀéí Alliance chili_yazzie@hotmail.com
• Nicole Horseherder      Toh Nizhoni Ani nhorseherder@gmail.com
• Louise Benally     Big Mountain Dineh Nation     louisebenally6@gmail.com
• Melanie Yazzie    The Red Nation     melanie.yazzie@gmail.com
• Anna Rondon     NM Social Justice & Equity Institute     anna@nmsocialjustice.org     
• Leona Morgan     Diné No Nukes leona.morgan.nm@gmail.com
• Klee Benally     Protect the Peaks indigenousaction@gmail.com
• Percy Deal     (Indigenous Community Leader) percy.deal@gmail.com
• Ed Becenti     (People’s Ombudsman at Navajo Council) rezztone@yahoo.com
• Donna House      Diné Centered Research & Evaluation nmnn@gmail.com
• Laurie Weahkee     Diné, Cochiti & Zuni Earth Protector  laurie.weahkee@gmail.com
• Hazel James-Tohe     Diné Centered Research & Evaluation hazbah4nm@gmail.com
• Radmilla Cody     (Diné Recording Artist & Storyteller) mscody@radmillacody.net
• Robyn Jackson     Diné Citizens Against Ruining Environment chooshgai.bitsi@gmail.com
• Janene Yazzie     Sixth World Solutions janne.y@sixth-world.com
• Len Foster     International Indian Treaty Council- Diné lenfoster71@gmail.com

Listen to our latest episode regarding Wet’suwet’en here (also on all other podcast platforms): https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/21332375/tdest_id/1617341