Stolen Land and Broken Promises

The history of U.S. relations with Native Americans is one of broken promises. From the earliest treaties signed after American independence to our current time, the federal government has abandoned many of its commitments to respect and defend native peoples. That record of abuse has certainly been true for my people, the Western Apaches. Despite the government’s repeated promises to defend our sacred land, it continues to attack our way of life. The fight continued in federal court last week.

Since time immemorial, my people have gathered at Oak Flat—known in Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel—to connect with our Creator. Located in what is now Arizona, Oak Flat is our holiest place, with special medicine plants not found anywhere else, and where the Creator has touched the Earth. It is where we perform our most essential ceremonies, like our sweat lodge ceremonies, Holy Ground ceremonies, and Sunrise Ceremonies. Oak Flat is our spiritual home, the symbol of our religious identity.

In 1852, the federal government signed a treaty with my people promising to protect our land—which includes Oak Flat—and our Apache way of life. The 150 years that followed, however, proved that this was just another empty promise.

When miners and settlers discovered precious metals near Oak Flat in the late 1800s, the federal government forcibly removed our people from the land, pushing us onto the San Carlos Reservation as prisoners of war and permitting mining to begin polluting our home. The government forced Apache children into boarding schools and coerced them to convert to Christianity with the goal of rooting out our “savage” natures.

After decades of attempts to get the land back, the Chiricahua Apaches, from whom I am descended, agreed in 1886 to voluntary detainment for two years in exchange for the return of Oak Flat. That promise was broken, too. In fact, the government imprisoned some of those tribe members for 23 years before forcing them back on to the reservation.

In the 20th century, it appeared that the government might finally fulfill its promises to our people. President Dwight Eisenhower protected Oak Flat in 1955 from further devastation by declaring the land culturally and naturally significant, banning mining on the land into the future. In 1971, President Richard Nixon’s administration renewed that protection and obligated the government to safeguard Oak Flat.

But then, once again, those assurances fell by the wayside. Nine years ago, several members of Congress inserted a midnight provision into a must-pass defense spending bill, ordering Oak Flat to be given to Resolution Copper, a joint venture of massive foreign-owned mining companies. That transfer was the result of years of lobbying by big mining interests, who had coveted the land ever since learning of a large copper deposit that lies beneath it. One member of Congress had even been convicted for soliciting a bribe to support a version of the transfer.

Despite the past treaties, presidential promises, and designation on the National Register of Historic Places, the government decided to hand Oak Flat over to Resolution Copper. That company now plans to turn our sacred land into a two-mile-wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater, contaminating the Earth and our sacred land with toxic chemicals and ending our religious ceremonies forever.

My Apache people refused to sit idly by. With the help of our attorneys at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, we filed a lawsuit against the government in federal court, arguing that completely destroying our sacred land violates our religious liberty. Unfortunately, the trial court ruled against us and approved Oak Flat’s destruction. We appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where two judges reached the same conclusion.

However, just a few months ago, the Ninth Circuit pumped the brakes. It decided to rehear our case in front of a full panel of 11 judges, giving Oak Flat—and the longstanding religious traditions of my people—another chance. That rehearing took place last week in Pasadena, California. I, my Apache people, and many of our supporters journeyed there to show the court how important Oak Flat is to us.

In our case, Apache Stronghold v. United States, the Ninth Circuit can save Oak Flat, our religious traditions and the very soul of the Apache people. It can also emphatically reject the government’s never-ending cycle of promises made, promises broken. I pray that day arrives for my people before it’s too late.

Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. is the founder of the nonprofit Apache Stronghold and former chairman and councilman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.