Declaration of Pauline Whitesinger 2/10/2012

Declaration of Pauline Whitesinger

P.O. Box 973

Hotevilla, AZ  86030

Message phone c/o Bonnie Whitesinger: (928) 283-6765

 

To: BMIS, Support Groups, Friends,

2/10/2012

I, Pauline Whitesinger hereby declare the following by and through Bonnie Whitesinger, my daughter and interpreter: I was born and raised in Big Mountain.  I can trace my family back 8 generations before Fort Sumner.  The orange pottery shards, cave markings are an example of how long we dwelled in and caretake our ancestral land without destroying it.  We caretake our land with prayers and ceremonies. We can’t do that anymore because we need to get a Hopi permit to conduct a ceremony. And we are being told not to have any supporters so the US government funded Hopi area BIA rangers can spend federal money to conduct a siege against us and our survival.

I am a relocation resister and non-signer of the Accommodation Agreement, 75 year lease because I will not accept living under Hopi jurisdiction, a government I cannot vote in and have no representation.

I hereby declare the following: On January 26, 2012, a lady sheep herder from Mae Tso’s family drove to my residence in the morning to tell me that my cows were being confiscated at the Hopi rage Unit 259 windmill.  I just returned home from a relative’s funeral, my niece’s eldest son in Sanders, New Lands when I heard this. I went with my son Phillip Whitesinger and we met lady Hopi Ranger at the windmill.  When we saw her, I asked her why my cows are being taken without my knowledge. I told the Hopi lady that I did not get adequate notice and I was not properly notified.  The Hopi lady told me, we know where you live and we know that you are staying home but we do not have to tell you. We can just take your animals illegally in Range unit 259.  I told the Hopi lady they must have crossed this cattleguard that is filled in because they are not maintained and they are thirsty, looking for water.

I asked the Hopi lady how come you couldn’t just drive to my house and tell me if you know I am home. Instead, you are going behind my back to confiscate my animals.  I asked the Hopi lady for her papers and she told me since I am a non-signer she didn’t have to give me any paper and I have no rights. She said, there are Hopi laws and ordinances and regulations that we are working with and I don’t have to give you any papers.

To get my animals out of the impoundment yard, I raised money from supporters to pay for their release.  I went to get them back from Hopi area BIA on Friday, January 27, 2012 but they told me I needed statements from 3 non-family members to identify the markings of my 4 unbranded cows.  I returned with the statements in hand on Monday, January 30, 2012.  I was charged $418.00 to get back my 4 unbranded cows.  I did not pay for the branded cow because they did not give me any notice of intent to impound.

It is hard when my animals are confiscated.  I do not have much time to get them back or they sell them at public auction in 10 days and put the money into the Hopi Tribe’s general account.  I was afraid the BIA would sell my cows before I could get them out like the 30 horses they took from Mae Tso, identifying buyers before they went out to confiscate them.  By the time Mae Tso learned her horses were impounded they were already sold.

My cows were just looking for water at a windmill I was fenced off from under the 1974 relocation law. It is a few feet inside a fence line dividing HPL grazing units.  I am denied access to water at a windmill I helped build.  When I was 8 years old I was a petitioner for a windmill project and I put my thumb print on documents to allow a windmill to be set up. I have no other source of water.

I am thirsty and my animals are thirsty. Every little creature, birds, creatures that crawl, even the insects are thirsty that seek refuge in the Black Mesa area

I am being told I cannot have Anglo supporters. At the incident at the windmill, the lady Hopi Ranger told me and my son Phillip that we can’t have white people at my sheep camp and they will take me to court if they want for having Anglo helpers. The Hopi Tribe and the BIA don’t want their actions to be observe.   This is elder abuse, a barbaric ideology.

HPL non-signers need horse people with trucks that can ride horses, help round them up and brand them, put ear tags on the cows.  We need supporters at the sheep camp to protect the elders and help.  It is lambing season and the lambs are heavy for them.  We need assistance with hay runs, 4-way feed and the sheep dogs need dog food with the relief effort. We need food boxes for the elderly because they need special nourishment to sustain their traditional lifestyle.  We need relief for fresh drinking water for people and livestock.

Our human rights and the human rights are being violated and stepped on. We are elderly, traditional people that are victims of relocation and a lawless BIA tyranny.  Our sheep and our water is our life.  Please help us!

Further declarant sayeth not.

By: Pauline Whitesinger                         2/10/2012

Translated by: Bonnie Whitesinger 2/10/2012

Transcribed by:  Marsha Monestersky 2/10/2012