My name is Chief Vincent Mann.... Tonight I write this as the Chief of the Turtle Clan, as a father, a brother, a son, a cousin, a nephew, a grandfather, and as a human..... I shall speak here not just for my tribe and clan, but for those who have been silenced by death..... I am also representing the 3.5 million souls who cannot be here because of their lack of knowledge of these decisions that have been laid before us, that could potentially affect their lives as they know it forever.... The history of this place in short is that the very people affected are responsible for being the backbone for this country as it started and have been left behind, we have been documented as being here for upwards of 12,000 years.....we are unmistakably the oldest, largest surviving indigenous families in southern New York , and northern New Jersey to exist here continually from your recorded history here..... When the people of upper Ringwood, which is comprised of almost all Turtle Clan members of the Ramapough Lenape Nation filed suit it was for healthcare and the complete cleaning of our ancestral lands.. What we received was a disastrous assessment that all had been cleaned, and we were given the all clear to go on with our lives, just as our civil rights have suggested , but when our friends went to make sure that what we were being told was true, we found that it was not, and with that a history making decision was made, and that was to re-list our lands as a Superfund site..... As you very well know we gave been told its cleaned 5 times!!!!! In the years from 1970-2013 the recorded deaths of my people, my family has shown a clear decline in our life expectancy by 20 years.... And through the lawsuit our lives valued at a dollar a day....... When the New Jersey health agency, and the ATSDR released its cancer statistics, Ford, the town of Ringwood, and the world decided we had not been affected....... This is a falsity....they knew, and do know that it is impossible to determine health affects of toxins in our environment with exactitude, as it relates to health issues, because these chemicals cause the same health issues as ones not connected to toxic dumping. If all the factors were added up and a true assessment was put forth there would have been a state of emergency called.. When the EPA did their assessment it was determined that there was a health risk to our people, yet stifled by the lawyers they say they could not do their jobs.... And yet when the lawsuit was completed and they could do their jobs they failed.. Your decision to mostly cap these areas is based upon a lack of complete data, and just with that should be changed to full removal..... The cancer rates was based upon 800 people, and 200 homes....... This effectively reduced the statistics by 600 percent.... The reality of what they show is that in the contaminated site there is something like 47 homes not 800, and the 140 or so native Americans that live in the center of the Superfund site, so what should have been shown was that 1/3 of our people had cancer, never mind how many that have been affected by other ailments, or birth defects, or still births.... When did the decision to not care about our people take place? When it was delisted? Maybe when it was relisted? Better yet maybe it was at first contact..... No matter when that was it clearly was a decision that was filled with environmental racism.... Which you potentially will allow to continue..... What should I say to the 14 year old boy who has lung cancer, or the mother and family of a 10 year old boy, whos is no longer with us, or my aunts, or uncles, or family who look to me for help or clear direction....... What do we tell our children? Our government can fly our warriors around the globe to defend less fortunate people just as us from governments that allow the killing of their peoples either by direct action or complete inactions.... Well Ill say it here for all of you on the record.... What our government does is stand up to fight genocide.......around the world, yet by their lack of action to save a first nations people from absolute death, they themselves gave created a quiet genocide of my clan, and family.... Should some other country fly its warriors here to defend our civil, or human rights? Our right to life has been violated, and yet where is our help? Let it also be known that the town of Ringwood is NOT a victim here.... They are a responsible party... They should hold no weight to what any decision is made either upon our ancestral lands or our lives.... Are they concerned that they would face bankruptcy? Because that is also a falsity... late senator Lautenberg made sure to include protections for municipalitys from this very thought ... Why would the town increase the taxes on houses that have no value? We cant sell them, we cant remortgage them to send our kids to college or to fix a roof or septic...... Allowing the town of Ringwood to be a part of any decision, or in any plans on this Superfund site must be criminal... This would be like giving a murderer a loaded gun.... clearly everyone has removed the human element out of their decisions...... Anything short of a full remediation without any influence by the two responsible parties who are Ford and the town of Ringwood, would yet be another travesty, another failure of our federal government upon us.......... All of us... In the time of the Seventh Fire a People will emerge. They will retrace their steps to find what was left by the trail. Their steps will take them to the Elders who they will ask to guide them on their journey, but many of the Elders will have fallen asleep. They will awaken to this new time with nothing to offer, and some of the Elders will be silent because no one will ask anything of them. These People will have to be careful in how they approach the Elders. The task of these People will not be easy and If these People will remain strong in their quest for justice the Water Drum of the Midewiwin Lodge and the Ramapough Nation will again sound its voice. There will be a rebirth of this Nation and a rekindling of old flames by that Sacred ember, and The Sacred Fire will once again be lit. It is this time that the light skinned race will be given a choice between two roads. If they choose the right road, then the Seventh Fire will light the Eighth and final Fire, once again creating an eternal fire of peace, and environmental justice. If the light skinned race makes the wrong choice of these two roads, then the destruction which they brought with them in coming to this country will come back at them ten fold and will cause much suffering and death to all the Earths people. Turtle Clan Chief Mann Ramapough Lenape Nation New Jersey / New York
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 21:29:46 +0000
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