Telling our story

Artists share anti-mining message ‘through song and music’

FLAGSTAFF

Around 38 billion gallons of water from the deep Black Mesa aquifers had been taken by the time Mohave Power Station in Laughlin, Nev. was shut down in December 2005.

“Billions of gallons of fossil water was taken out,” said Vernon Masayesva, the former Hopi Chairman who’s the executive director at Black Mesa Trust. “This was enough to sustain the entire Hopi population of 10,000 for over 300 years. And it was gone in just 35 years.”

Even after decades of mining, it is still going on.

“What we need to do is go up front in telling our side of the story, which we haven’t done.” Masayesva said. “One of the most effective ways to convey a message is through song and music.”

And that’s how he and many other individuals from other organizations made known their message on Saturday night during Cloud Mountain Arts’ Rumble on the Mountain II event at the Orpheum Theater, a gathering to celebrate water.

As he stood on stage, Masayesva recounted his journey for the struggle of water on the Colorado Plateau, a land he imparts that sears into his soul and that has taught him and changed him.

“We all know that laws passed by Congress favors corporations, not us brown-skin people,” Masayesva said. “But we should not give up saying it is useless to fight back.”

Event coordinator Ed Kabotie (Hopi and Tewa) of Cloud Mountain Arts said the struggle for water, how critical it is for the Natives, is what Rumble on the Mountain II is about.

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