Over the past couple years, you’ve heard several times from us about the Indigenous resistance to construction of what’s slated to become the world’s largest lithium mine near Peehee Mu’huh (Thacker Pass), on the ancestral lands of our Paiute and Shoshone relatives in so-called Nevada. We remain ever grateful to Lakota Law supporters like you who have taken action to try to stop the mine and helped us raise funds to help support the legal defense of water and land protectors targeted by law enforcement there.
Those issues aren’t going away. But today, I want to share with you something I hope will lift your spirits. Each year, on Sept. 12, the descendants of Ox Sam (according to the lore of the people, one of just three Paiutes who survived the 1885 Mountain Meadow Massacre) host a run to honor his memory — and all who were lost. This year, I traveled out to participate with my daughter, Tokata, and Antoine Running Bear of the Native American Youth Organization (NAYO).
I invite you to watch our new video, narrated by Tokata, which highlights her participation in the run and offers our appreciation to the grandmothers and all those who organized this important recognition of history and resilience.
Watch: Tokata put in some miles to honor our Paiute relatives and their ancestors!
It should go without saying, but these lands — and many sites contained within them — are sacred. While we may not, in the end, be able to halt the mine’s construction, I’m grateful that you have helped us make an impact by publicizing its threat to Native homelands, sacred burial grounds, and a delicate ecosystem with several threatened species. Your support has empowered what must be an ongoing conversation about the continued necessity to gain consent from frontline communities as we transition from fossil fuels to “clean” energy like lithium, cobalt, and other critical minerals.
20% of these sought-after commodities lie under land currently controlled by tribal governments. Even more minerals and other resources are contained within land Native nations possess and over which we hold legal claims — titles which have never been extinguished. We have a right to be in our lands and withhold our consent on infrastructure which puts us in the sacrifice zone.
Thank you for helping us make new friends in this struggle. Part of what Lakota Law always aims to accomplish — with a renewed emphasis as we complete our transition to full Indigenous leadership under the Sacred Defense Fund — is the forging of rock-solid relationships and partnerships with our fellow Indigenous People, across Turtle Island and the world. On this trip, we met Ivan Bender, from the Hualapai Tribe in Arizona, whose lands are also currently threatened by an exploratory drilling project for lithium. Mining for lithium, gold, and other resources also remains a major issue closer to home in the Black Hills.
Please stay with us as we move forward. We’ll have much more to say — and there will be more you can help us do — to protect sacred lands, elevate Indigenous voices, and safeguard the Native communities who seem always to be disproportionately affected by incursions from extractive industries. Your friendship means the world to us.
Wopila tanka — thank you for standing up for the sacred!
Chase Iron Eyes
Director and Lead Counsel
Lakota People’s Law Project
Sacred Defense Fund
