Black Mesa belongs to the Navajo Nation in
Arizona. For thousands of years this is the land of their ancestors
where people still lead a traditional live as sheepherders. But when in
the 50s of the 20 century coal was found on their land the borders have
been shifted against the will of the inhabitants. Since then the
land where they live is officially no more their own.
From that time on the coal mining is increasing and destroy the
livelihood of humans and animals:
 The complete waterhousehold of the area is extremely disturbed
Owing to the air pollution there is a sharply rise in illnesses of the
respiratory tract.
Destruction of important deposits of sacred and medical herbal.
The price for the extention of coal mining is the forced relocation of
the people at Black Mesa partly to a nuclear contaminated area. The
contamination is a consequence of a bursting dam during uranium mining
which poisoned large parts of the land. It became harder for the Navajo
who have to spend their life on that place to trade their products.
As an alternative 13000
Navajos have been relocated to the outskirts of the small town Flagstaff
at the edge of the reservation. They don’t get some support by the
government to cope with the new situation. Since the people had to give up
their traditonal life as sheepherders because of the forced relocation
it came to a cultural uprooting with negative consequences like
unemployment, a high rate of child mortality, crime and also a high
suicide rate.
The measures taken to make life harder for the remaining people at Black
Mesa are:
Filling up wells
Expropriation and killing of sheepherds
Prohibition to build new houses or to renovate existing ones
Hindrance of religious ceremonies
 Protest against the withdrawal of water
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