A peaceful, Indigenous demonstration against the border wall in Organ
Pipe Cactus National Monument ended with demonstrators in a stand off
and physical altercation with U.S. Border Patrol agents and National
Park Service officers Monday [21 September 2020] afternoon.
Construction was brought to a halt for most of the day. […] The action was put by together the O'odham Anti Border Collective and
Defend O'odham Jewed, a network of Akimel O'odham, Tohono O'odham and
Hia-Ced O'odham organizers — not all of which are federally recognized
tribes.
Ancestral O'odham land spans the Phoenix area and Tucson and continues across the border into neighboring Sonora. Speaking in front of a
huge canvas panel reading “Borders = Genocide, no wall on O'odham
land,” one Akimel O'odham demonstrator said they’ll keep returning to
protect it.
Before it became a part of Organ Pipe in the 1950s, Quitobaquito and the
man-made pond it drains into was home to generations of Hia-Ced O'odham
communities.
Trenching for the border wall could be seen in the area in front on the
thicket of trees surrounding Quitobaquito. Bollard panels lay flat
nearby.
[…]
Demonstrators spent more than five hours at the site praying, singing
and chanting over the hum of stalled machinery. Private security
personnel and National Park Service were on scene.
Two National Park Service officers approached the group twice
throughout the morning and asked them to move to the side, citing safety
concerns.
The demonstration continued without incident until around 1pm, when
more than a dozen U.S. Border Patrol agents, some armed with paint ball
guns and rifles, arrived on ATVs and in SUVs. Two National Park Service
officers charged the line of demonstrators, breaking into a brief
scuffle trying to forcibly break through the human chain before pulling
back. […]
The protesters faced off against a line of Border Patrol agents and
Park Service officers for almost an hour as O'odham organizers continued
to speak and sing. One Tohono O'odham speaker described how living
along the border has shaped her community.
“We cannot move without you all over us, we cannot walk through our
desert without these cameras filming everything we do, you don’t have
that in your community,” a Tonono O'odham speaker said. “But then you
come here, thinking you can take whatever you want.” […]
Another scuffle broke out when park service officers backed by Border
Patrol agents moved in on the line again. For several minutes, officers
and agents shoved protesters and attempted to pull them away from each
other as they crumpled to the ground.
—
Headline, photo, captions, and text from: Alisa Reznick. “Stand off …” Arizona Public Media. 22 September 2020.
The protestors are on instagram at @ defendoodhamjewed . There are videos and images of this incident. They’ve also been asking for financial aid!
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.