Apache Stronghold Spiritual Convoy to 9th Circuit Court
Apache Stronghold (a coalition of Western Apache and other Native tribes) are fighting in court to protect one of their most sacred sites from complete destruction by a foreign-owned mining company.
Apache Stronghold will be gathering as their Convoy journeys to the 9th Circuit Court hearing at the Pasadena Court of Appeals.
Oak Flat, known in Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, is where Western Apache have come to worship since time immemorial, performing their most central religious ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else. Even though Oak Flat is on the National Register of Historic Places and had previously been protected from mining and other destructive practices for decades, the government gave Oak Flat away to a foreign-owned mining company in a rider to a defense bill in 2014.
That company plans to turn the sacred site into a two-mile-wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater, destroying Oak Flat, forever impacting Apache religious practices. In response, Apache Stronghold filed a lawsuit in federal court to protect the sacred land and religious liberty.
Although a federal appeals court ruled against them, it has recently agreed to rehear the case, giving Oak Flat another chance. On March 21, 2023, eleven judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals will rehear Apache Stronghold’s case at the Ninth Circuit courthouse in Pasadena, CA.
A ruling in favor of Apache Stronghold would be a huge victory for all Native tribes who want to protect their sacred sites from cultural and environmental destruction.