The Tohona O’odham native American tribe skirts the border of southwest Arizona and Mexico. The New York Times covering a drug running story failed to tell the real story of the Tohono O’odham human rights issues and the complicity between elected Tohono O’doham officials, tribal police and US Border Patrol agents. News reporter Erik Echholm offered a superficial view of the situation, focusing on cross-border drug trafficking, rather than revealing the real story of on-going human rights abuses.
The US government has spy towers on the Tohono O’odham Nation and continues to arrest Indigenous Peoples. The Tohono O’odham Nation made it a crime for O’odham to offer water or aid to migrants, including Indigenous Peoples, even if they are dying.
Since 9/11, a climate of fear has led the US Border Patrol and tribal police to ignore laws and basic human rights. O’odham are beaten and killed by the US Border Patrol.
Bennett Patricio, Jr., 18, Tohono O’odham, was walking home when he was run over and killed by a US Border Patrol agent. His family believes that he walked upon Border Patrol agents involved in a drug transfer in the predawn hours in the desert and was murdered. Patricio’s family has taken the case all the way to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
In federal court, in Bennett Patricio, Jr.’s case, as in the majority of cases filed against US Border Agents who have murdered people of color, injustice prevailed. The Border Agent was not held responsible. (The case files are in Arizona federal courts.)
The Tohono O’odham government is dependent on the US government for funding dollars and does not support the Tohono O’odham people who are abused by the US Border Patrol.
“The US Border Patrol is an occupying army,” says Mike Wilson, Tohono O’odham, who puts out water for migrants at water stations. Wilson points out that non-O’odham have failed to hold the Tohono O’odham Nation, the elected politicians, responsible for crimes against humanity.
The New York Times article fails to describe the abuse by the US Border Patrol when O’odham living along the border cross for family and ceremonial reasons.
New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/us/25border.html
Title: Shame on the New York Times for Fueling Border Misery
Source: Brenda Norrell Blog Spot: 1/25/10
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/01/shame-on-new-york-times-for-fueling.html
Author: Brenda Norrell
Faculty Evaluator: Peter Phillips
Sonoma State University
GENOCIDE continues against North American indigenous people, in the south as well as north. http://www.mohawknationnews.com is a good website, among others, for learning about continued genocidal conduct of the Canadian govt, but also provides reporting for imperialist, colonlialist crimes against Mohawks in NY state.
It’s not about present deadly genocide, but the history is nevertheless recent and I am referring to the documentary film by Rev. Kevin Annett, whch is entitled “UNREPENTANT: Kevin Annett and Canada’s Genocide” (January 2007). His website is http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org, where there’s a link for a full version of the documentary and for other documentary media files, as well as news articles. The full documentary is also at Google videos and it’s definitely a film to be viewed. Because of his activism, he’s unable to get a job anywhere, unless this has recently changed. The film is about extreme crimes of a few Canadian churches, the federal govt, and its thugs called the RCMP.
MNN presently has an international petition linked in the homepage, and I definitely recommend these two websites. I know there are other highly recommendable ones, but I’ve come to know these two much more than the others and am not recalling the Web domains. MNN does not only provide reporting for or about Mohawks.
The treatment of the indigenous populations is very disheartening and disturbing, but the leaders of their oppressors were responsible, SCAD-like, for the 9/11 attacks, murdering nearly 3,000 people, immediately, and thousands more over a longer term; speaking of the first responders and everyone else who worked for weeks at “Ground Zero”. They’re not racist. They’ll murder anyone in order to get richer and … so on.
Since they’re ready to mass-murder white Americans, I don’t know what we can really do to stop the state crimes against indigenous peoples. A strong citizens’ movement is required to overhaul the Congress and replace it with only candidates who can be really vetted for honesty, etcetera.
Defense Contractors like Wackenhut Security joint venture(s) w/ border tribes for trafficking in weapons as well as drugs w/ CIA DEA Support. Jimmy Hughes, Former Wackenhut Security Chief was arrested last September for the1981 triple murders of Alfred Alvarez, Patti Castro and Ralph Boger, these were hits intended to cover-up drugs for arms dealing.
Deeper examination and coverage is needed on how national security secrecy is used in exploiting Tribal Sovereign Immunity of border tribes that is truly damaging the tribes as well as all humanity.
The Apartheid Economic Warfare impoverishment is the root of this tragedy.