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Faculty, Students Return from Grand Canyon with Message from the Havasupai

Brophy’s Havasupai immersion trip returned this week after five days of service and reflection in the Grand Canyon village of Supai. Trip participants had an opportunity to meet with tribal council member Diana Sue. Faculty member Mr. Cooper Davis, who traveled with the students, brought back this message:

The Havasupai face a variety of social and economic challenges as a community, but the cause to which Diana Sue placed a particular emphasis, and more universal in perspective, is uranium mining in the Colorado Plateau. Historically, Native American communities have been ravaged by the effects of uranium mining in their homelands, both spiritually and medically.

Though no mines are planned within Havasu canyon itself, Diana Sue and other tribal members, along with many scientists, make the case that radioactive tailings in the Grand Canyon region will infiltrate into the regional aquifer affecting those locally like the Havasupai, and all those who rely on the Colorado River for their water (Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tucson, LA, Flagstaff, Sonora, etc.). In order to combat this environmental degradation of our shared home and protect those most vulnerable, particularly the Havasupai, Diana Sue has asked the Brophy community to support a nationwide effort to create the "Greater Grand Canyon National Heritage Monument" that will suspend further mining activities in the area and protect the lands for perpetuity.

Under the Antiquities Act of 1906, the President has the ability to designate federal lands as National Monuments in order to safeguard and preserve them. This act has been employed for the creation of monuments by Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush, and now President Obama has the opportunity to do the same for the Grand Canyon. By signing the petition (link below) or writing your representative, our voice as a community standing behind the Havasupai People and acting in our own interests as inhabitants of this watershed, can be heard.

Important links:
Sign the Petition> 
Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument>
Antiquities Act>
Words from Diana Sue>

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