Honor
The most honorable heart in all the land. Honoring family, sacred space, and culture. Honor for the living world and our connections to it. Honoring what is and what is possible.
Naelyn Pike is a Chiracahua Apache, living on the San Carlos Apache Nation in southern Arizona, near an Apache ceremonial site called Oak Flat. Oak Flat is an area that the Apache people have held sacred for longer than recorded history, and in recent years, it has come under threat by the multinational mining company Resolution Copper, as they look to exploit a massive copper deposit beneath its surface. The copper deposit there is the third largest in the world.
Since 2005, Naelyn’s tribe— namely her grandfather, Wendsler Nosie Sr, who founded the group Apache Stronghold— has been battling the Resolution Copper mining company and the federal government to keep the copper untouched. Not only would building the mine entail the collapse, or subsidence, of the tribe’s ceremonial land, but since the group’s spiritual identity is tied to that land, its members viewed the prospective demise of Oak Flat as a larger act of erasure and a violation of their religious freedoms. The mine would also disturb wildlife, threaten the region’s water supply (and use over 50 billion gallons of water over 50 years), and dump millions of tons of mine waste on nearby lands. The most obvious consequence will be a crater in place of the current Oak Flat wilderness, that could be two miles long and 1,000 feet deep.
The project has been subject to repeated legal challenges, and March of 2023 was the second time the 9th Circuit has considered the religious rights claim over the project. A divided panel of the court ruled last June that while the mine might “make it more difficult” for the Apache to worship at Oak Flat, it would not deny them that right – reasoning the dissenting judge called “illogical” and “flawed.” The full circuit court announced in November that it would review that ruling. The panel is still out.
Naelyn devoted herself to her family’s cause when she was just 13 years old, and became one of the youngest people to testify before Congress. Now, at 23, Naelyn Pike is a seasoned warrior in the battle to protect her cultural history. She has led protests, spoken at meetings and town halls, held prayer vigils, been involved in several lawsuits to save her tribe’s sacred lands, and participates annually in a running relay from Oak Flat to the federal courthouse in Phoenix.
Instagram: @naelynpike
The most honorable heart in all the land. Honoring family, sacred space, and culture. Honor for the living world and our connections to it. Honoring what is and what is possible.
Naelyn Pike is a Chiracahua Apache, living on the San Carlos Apache Nation in southern Arizona, near an Apache ceremonial site called Oak Flat. Oak Flat is an area that the Apache people have held sacred for longer than recorded history, and in recent years, it has come under threat by the multinational mining company Resolution Copper, as they look to exploit a massive copper deposit beneath its surface. The copper deposit there is the third largest in the world.
Since 2005, Naelyn’s tribe— namely her grandfather, Wendsler Nosie Sr, who founded the group Apache Stronghold— has been battling the Resolution Copper mining company and the federal government to keep the copper untouched. Not only would building the mine entail the collapse, or subsidence, of the tribe’s ceremonial land, but since the group’s spiritual identity is tied to that land, its members viewed the prospective demise of Oak Flat as a larger act of erasure and a violation of their religious freedoms. The mine would also disturb wildlife, threaten the region’s water supply (and use over 50 billion gallons of water over 50 years), and dump millions of tons of mine waste on nearby lands. The most obvious consequence will be a crater in place of the current Oak Flat wilderness, that could be two miles long and 1,000 feet deep.
The project has been subject to repeated legal challenges, and March of 2023 was the second time the 9th Circuit has considered the religious rights claim over the project. A divided panel of the court ruled last June that while the mine might “make it more difficult” for the Apache to worship at Oak Flat, it would not deny them that right – reasoning the dissenting judge called “illogical” and “flawed.” The full circuit court announced in November that it would review that ruling. The panel is still out.
Naelyn devoted herself to her family’s cause when she was just 13 years old, and became one of the youngest people to testify before Congress. Now, at 23, Naelyn Pike is a seasoned warrior in the battle to protect her cultural history. She has led protests, spoken at meetings and town halls, held prayer vigils, been involved in several lawsuits to save her tribe’s sacred lands, and participates annually in a running relay from Oak Flat to the federal courthouse in Phoenix.
Instagram: @naelynpike
The most honorable heart in all the land. Honoring family, sacred space, and culture. Honor for the living world and our connections to it. Honoring what is and what is possible.
Naelyn Pike is a Chiracahua Apache, living on the San Carlos Apache Nation in southern Arizona, near an Apache ceremonial site called Oak Flat. Oak Flat is an area that the Apache people have held sacred for longer than recorded history, and in recent years, it has come under threat by the multinational mining company Resolution Copper, as they look to exploit a massive copper deposit beneath its surface. The copper deposit there is the third largest in the world.
Since 2005, Naelyn’s tribe— namely her grandfather, Wendsler Nosie Sr, who founded the group Apache Stronghold— has been battling the Resolution Copper mining company and the federal government to keep the copper untouched. Not only would building the mine entail the collapse, or subsidence, of the tribe’s ceremonial land, but since the group’s spiritual identity is tied to that land, its members viewed the prospective demise of Oak Flat as a larger act of erasure and a violation of their religious freedoms. The mine would also disturb wildlife, threaten the region’s water supply (and use over 50 billion gallons of water over 50 years), and dump millions of tons of mine waste on nearby lands. The most obvious consequence will be a crater in place of the current Oak Flat wilderness, that could be two miles long and 1,000 feet deep.
The project has been subject to repeated legal challenges, and March of 2023 was the second time the 9th Circuit has considered the religious rights claim over the project. A divided panel of the court ruled last June that while the mine might “make it more difficult” for the Apache to worship at Oak Flat, it would not deny them that right – reasoning the dissenting judge called “illogical” and “flawed.” The full circuit court announced in November that it would review that ruling. The panel is still out.
Naelyn devoted herself to her family’s cause when she was just 13 years old, and became one of the youngest people to testify before Congress. Now, at 23, Naelyn Pike is a seasoned warrior in the battle to protect her cultural history. She has led protests, spoken at meetings and town halls, held prayer vigils, been involved in several lawsuits to save her tribe’s sacred lands, and participates annually in a running relay from Oak Flat to the federal courthouse in Phoenix.
Instagram: @naelynpike