For the whole story about my experiences in the Hopi land in 1976-77, why I went there and how those experiences set the course of my life since then, see:
http://global-emergency-alert-response.net/history.html
Here is the retyped text of the letterhead and letter from
Hopi interpreter Thomas Banyacya to the US President. Each
page of the three page letter, ie, the letterhead, had this line
at the bottom of the page:
Gather with Us in Spiritual Unity to Insure the Survival of Land and Life
The printed letterhead has on the left top corner a special
Hopi symbol consisting of the quadrisected circle with a dot
in the center of each quadrant with light rays coming from
the center radiating outwards in all directions to the corner
of the square logo in the center of which is a person's right
hand raised as in the Hopi peaceful greeting salute, hand held
close to the body at heart height, and under the logo the words
We.-mi Jo-vow-ma (Hopi, but third character/letter is blurred)
and underneath that, Spiritual Unity. At the top center of the
letterhead are the words in Hopi JO-VOW-TECHGUA IKACHI.
The rest of the below as it appears is typed on the letterhead
all of which is below as text:
JO-VOW-TECHGUA IKACHI
Thomas Banyacya
Interpreter for traditional leaders
HOPI INDEPENDENT NATION
PO Box 112, Oraibi, Arizona 86039, U.S.A.
[logo described above in top left corner]
We.-mi Jo-vow-ma
Spiritual Unity
President Jimmy Carter
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20050
31 January, 1977
Dear Mister President:
I have the honor to address you on behalf of the
Hopi Independent Nation and present compliments
to your new Administration.
We commend particularly your Inaugural Address of
January 20 in which you called for a "new national
spirit of unity and trust". As a people with serious
unresolved grievances over our treatment by the
United States Government, the Hopi sincerely welcome
your call for "a new beginning". You stated eloquently
and correctly that trust was morally and spiritually
"essential to our nation's strength".
As the leader of a new Administration, you have stated
your determination not to disappoint those whose trust
you ask. You have the opportunity to start anew in
dealings with the Hopi Independent Nation and
other native peoples.
Respecting the depth of your personal religious convictions,
the Hopi know you will honor our faith. The Hopi have
known since the dawn of time only one Great Father.
He is MAASAUU, the Great Spirit. We persist in our
religious conviction and way of life in the face of
legislation enacted by the Ford Administration and
previous administrations. Our culture is being
exterminated, our lands despoiled by strip mining,
bringing power to others and pollution to us; our villages
in poverty, and a puppet Tribal Council imposed upon us.
These impositions are taking place with no more
concurrence of the Hopi independence-minded
people than the Black people of Southern Africa
concur with the administrations imposed upon
them by the authorities of Rhodesia and the
Union of South Africa.
We urgently and respectfully request your new
administration to review the entire scope of
relations with the Hopi.
The Hopi never fought against the United States
Government, were never conquered, and never
signed a treaty or surrendered autonomy. The
peaceful Hopi Independent Nation does not consider
itself lawfully subject to the United States Government.
We respect the laws of the Supreme Creator.
Mr. President, our Black Mesa is being strip-mined,
the original Hopiland devastated by Federal imposition,
and our people -- strong spiritually but weak economically
-- are at the desperate point of a last stand. Court
decisions are being made without reference to the
concurrence of the majority of those governed by the
court. The most urgent and immediate concern is a
pending decision for February by the Tucson Federal Court
to disrupt the entire Hopi land and life, uproot us, and
promoting violent resistance as a last recourse. Also the
Land Claims Commission is forcing a settlement under
the guise of the Tribal Council which will destroy the
spiritual land base of the Hopi people. The spiritual
leaders would no more think of selling their mother
earth than the United States would give up its
national historic shrines.
Only you, Mr. President, can begin an investigation
to ascertain for yourself the facts of our plight.
That is how you can give your Inaugural words real
content as well as eloquent appearance. Only you,
Mr. President, as one who loves justice and walks
humbly with his God, can do mercy to the Hopi people.
We need to meet with you.
We ask you to communicate your response to our
appeal and establish a channel of communication
from the White House to discuss and resolve our
complaint. We have no other believable recourse.
With personal blessings in the spirit of MAASAUU,
[signed]
Thomas Banyacya
Interpreting spokesman for Traditional Leaders of the
Hopi Independent Nation