The Public Statement of the Keeper of the Hopi
Fire Clan Tablets, during his Prophetic
Mission to the New Mexico State Capital at
Santa Fe, December 1990

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I am the keeper of the sacred Fire Clan
tablets of the Hopi at the village of
Hotevilla. These tablets represent our ancient
title to this land, which existed long before
the arrival of Columbus, and has never been
relinquished. They have been entrusted to me
under the highest authority, to be held until
the last stage of our prophecies has been
completed. The signs that we have entered that
final stage are now clear.

In fulfillment of my spiritual instructions I
have come to Santa Fe, the oldest European
capital on our land, to offer the people of
the United States of America, and all
humanity, a final opportunity to collaborate
with the forces of creation to purify our
lives, and restore peace to the world.

The root cause of the problems that threaten
life on earth is the concept of land title
acquired and maintained by force. Since modern
civilization is based on this concept, it does
not hold the key to peace.

Our original Hopi land title is based on
permission. We recieved that permission from
Maasaw, the guardian of all land and life, who
holds it in trust for the creator. Thus it is
implemented by the forces that create this
universe.

Regardless of differences in culture and
tradition, true aboriginal title throughout
the world is based on a similar relationship.
To usurp aboriginal title by deception and
force, then build an empire upon that basis,
is to oppose the forces of life, and ensure
the eventual destruction of that empire. The
United States of America has become such an
empire.

Before the White Man arrived from Europe,
everything was in order. Our life was
beautiful and clean. The land was green and
there were plenty of flowers, animals, birds
and trees, rain and clouds. We lived in great
happiness because we followed the simple life
taught to us by Maasaw.

Maasaw is both a real person and a
manifestation of the Creator. We met him in
person near the place where we built our
mother village of Oraibi, after a long
migration to claim the land in his name. At
that point he gave us permission to live here
as caretakers, as well as the spiritual
knowledge by which to keep the forces of life
in balance.  This knowledge is implanted in
our sacred stone tablets.

But when the Europeans came they forced their
religion, culture and language upon our
children, which brought great division amoung
our people. As a result, today our young
people are turning away from this basic law.
They no longer understand it. They only
understand the White Man's law.

Because they were forced into this situation,
there is now hardly anyone fulfilling the
sacred instructions and correctly performing
the ceremonies essential to the Hopi way of
life. There are still leaders from various
clans who know of these instructions, which
reveal their true purpose in life, but more
and more they are turning away. This intrusion
by outside forces, and the harmful effect on
our function as caretakers of life, is the
reason life on Earth is now so disturbed.

Like the Hopi, original native peoples were
placed across this continent, and given
special instructions by a higher being. Each
had special functions by which to hold life in
balance, which they were still carrying out
when the Europeans arrived. We know these
foreigners once had similar spiritual means
for promoting life, with which they were
supposed to bless the native peoples. But they
had apparently misused their power. Most of
the native peoples were forcibly stripped of
their culture, language and religious
ceremonies, depriving them of their function
as caretakers. Those that remain face imminent
cultural extinction. Clearly these foreigners
are not here to help, but to destroy
everything the original people have left, and
in doing so, destroy this world. The only hope
for humanity lies in restoring true land
title, which is inseparable from our function
as caretakers of life.

For this reason we bring our sacred stone
tablets to the New Mexico State Capital in
Santa Fe. Because it is the first foreign
capital on this land, there must be documents
here that confirm the rights of the original
native peoples, and possibly information
reguarding stone tablets such as those we
brought with us. We want to see whether
someone will search for such documents,
proving whether the original title of the
native peoples, including the Hopi, is still
binding according to existing modern laws.

The Spanish people must have documented
something concerning the Hopi title. When the
Mexican government took over, it must have
left similar documents, and the same holds
true for the United States.  There must be a
whole stack of such documents. If the entire
stack were turned over the search should not
take long. The first few should prove that the
native peoples hold the true title to this
land, and the knowledge by which it should be
protected.

The role the foreigners were to play in
protecting this land should also be revealed.
Documents must exist that show where the
United States turned against this original
law. What document does the United States have
that says it is supposed to protect this area?

The Spanish, the Mexican, and the United
States governments have all fought over
someone else's land without consulting the
original native peoples living on it, then
created some kind of document. But what of the
rights of the original native peoples? Who has
the ability to look into this, and see that
the basic rights of the Hopi and other native
peoples are restored?

This is the key to the problem that threatens
all life on earth. If someone can uncover this
information and bring it before the world, it
might be possible to reverse the destruction
of the native cultures that lies at the root
of the devastation that now threatens our
entire world.

The great powers of the modern world need to
realize that if they are to escape the
punishment that lies ahead, what they are
doing to native peoples around the world must
be corrected. Those who accumulate power at
the expense of the native peoples think they
have a God-given right, but in doing so they
are increasing the threat to all life. And
although they now recognize that threat, they
are powerless to reverse it by any means
unless they stop preying upon the native
peoples.

We came here to plant the seed of this
realization, which could turn the course of
all humanity away from disaster. An
investigation within the the area of the
present Hopi villages would benefit all
indigenous peoples. Moreover, those who now
live at the expense of the native land title
would thus be given the chance to correct
their mistake, and avert the terrible
consequences foreseen long ago by the Hopi,
which are already in evidence today. Either
way, this would benefit all humanity.

Because our true original land title is
essential to our role in holding this land and
life in balance, we have never compromised
that title by signing a treaty with the United
States Government. We have never given it
authority to destroy our culture and take our
land, nor have the other original native
peoples. Yet this is being done here and
throughout the world.

Today the Hopi are forced to live under laws
that come from Washington DC, such as those
that created the Bureau of Indian Affairs and
the so-called 'Hopi Tribal Council' without
consent from the real traditional people. In
violation of our spiritual teachings, these
agencies have been promoting paved roads,
water lines, sewers and government-financed
housing. They have even forced such things
into Hotevilla, the village we founded in 1906
in order to protect the Hopi Way from such
intrusions.

They are cutting our land into small
allotments, confiscating our livestock, and
allowing the land to be stripped of its
mineral resources. Underground water is being
depleted and the land is drying up. Open pit
uranium mines are polluting the area with
radioactivity, causing the birth of many
deformed babies. This shows what is happening
to indigenous people around the world.

Those who perpetrate such abuse, and the
countless modern people who thrive from it,
truly have no land title. They build their
power through resources taken by force, then
use those resources to gain power to take even
more. Since they consider the true aboriginal
title of indigenous peoples to be worthless,
they treat us like animals to be kicked
around.

But as the Purification foretold in our
tradition materializes, they too will get
kicked around. They will find themselves
disrespected everywhere, just as they have
disrespected others, and their power will
collapse. Soon they will see how little power
and authority they really have.

We hope they will heed our warning for their
own sake, and for the sake of the native
peoples who want nothing more than to rule
themselves peacefully without being dictated
to by anyone else. Part of the commission we
recieved from the Creator through Maasaw is to
sound this warning to the world.

We Hopi know our true white brother is to come
and help us. He has a stone tablet
representing his own title and power within
the Creator's plan. By placing it together
with our Fire Clan tablet, he may call upon
the natural forces to purify the world. If the
task of purification is left to these natural
forces, we may all be wiped out.  So it is up
to all people to purify themselves
voluntarily.

We have also known that if the wrong white
brother should arrive, one who has lost his
spiritual path and thus has no title, he would
bring misery and destruction. But when the
world problem becomes great enough this false
white brother will find his survival
threatened.  Where will he turn?

He proposes to save the world by converting
everyone to what he calls 'democracy,' but can
he even use it to save himself? We hear that
democracy means rule by the people. Yet he has
reached the point where only three people, the
President, the Secretary of State, and the
Secretary of Defense, can start a war against
any nation that doesn't submit to their
wishes, reguardless of the will of the people,
Congress, or existing laws.

We Hopi don't know what the word 'democracy'
means. The 'Hopi Tribal Council' established
by the United States is supposed to be a
democracy, but in fact it is only an
instrument through which our people are forced
to submit to programs conceived in Washington.
Offers of money, jobs, a better life, and so
forth, really mean signing away control over
their land and their life.

Such false democracy is being extended
throughout the world. In the name of democracy
the US Government is taking control of native
lands, exploiting the mineral resources to
produce great wealth, then using that wealth
to bribe native peoples elsewhere into
accepting contracts to deforest their land.

The deployment of armies to protect the
freedom of native peoples abroad is causing
the loss of that very freedom. It is the task
of the Hopi to warn everyone concerned that
even in the name of freedom, this will
unquestionably lead to a third world war much
worse than the first two, which may leave
hardly any life on earth. This is why our
religion forbids us to join the army, even if
we are drafted.

Today the American people are being taught how
it feels to be held hostage. That is how we
have felt, having been held hostage up to the
present day. In truth, everyone in that army
is held hostage by the Government. Young
people who want to live a long life are forced
to suffer in the Arabian desert. We know that
they are about to be burnt up in a war if they
don't stop. It's up to the President to recall
the troops he has sent to the Middle East.
They must all be allowed to refuse this fate
and return home. It is especially urgent that
all native people who have become involved
come home right away.

Current education of the Hopi into modern ways
is a continuation of the policy of forced
acculturation that began when our children
were first kidnapped and forced into schools.
The attempt to convert the schools so as to
promote Hopi culture damages Hopi culture even
further. Instead of dancing at the right time
of year in the plaza, the Hopi children are
taught to do their dances in school, outside
the natural cycle, ignorant of their
significance, and without the traditional
preparation by the whole family.

This disturbs the very harmony these dances
meant to maintain. Prior to such interference,
our community life was held together by the
relationship between the religious societies,
each composed of a careful balance of the
special qualities of each clan, dancing
together with the cycles of nature. The
disruption of this pattern accounts for the
epidemic of delinquency and crime we witness
today.

We know the Government would like to wash its
hands of the schools, but instead of closing
them it tries to put them into the hands of
'progressive' Hopis who have already lost
their tradition. They should simply close the
schools and let us return to our original
methods of educating the young, which were
already very advanced - the real education
from which we were torn away. We have no need
to learn from books. We have better methods by
which children can learn how to live in peace,
identify plants and animal tracks, and
ultimately learn to keep the world in balance.

If the schools are closed, then those families
who want their children to learn the English
language would have to move out, earn money,
and pay for that education themselves. This is
what Yukiuma was standing for when he brought
the sacred stone tablets of the Fire Clan with
him in 1906, and led the founding of our
village at Hotevilla.

There is a document by the Mennonite
missionary, H.R. Voth, which testifies to the
superior quality of education he witnessed
among the Hotevilla children after the new
village became established. They learn not
only how to read the animal tracks, but many
songs, dances, ceremonies and painting, all of
which contribute to a very good memory, as
well a solid understanding of the Way of
Peace.

The proof that this education really works is
in the fact that we never needed jails,
courts, police, hospitals, or complicated
systems of administration to keep things in
check. There was hardly any sickness because
we lived only from the food we grew
organically, without chemicals. Any sickness
that did occur could be healed with ceremonies
and herbs. Even today there are old people so
strong that when you try to follow them up a
hill you can't catch up with them.

Now, as our land is being gradually cut up by
the government, this beautiful life is
disappearing. The recent division of our land
with the Navajos, which the United States
enforces through its courts and police, is
clearly a means to seize total control, even
of that land supposedly granted to the Hopi.
Those Hopis who are relocated onto new areas
are only allowed to lease that land from the
'Hopi Tribal Council.'

Only a few centuries ago there were no Navajos
here. We were protected by the Paiute people
to the north, who learned many words from our
language. Later the Navajos arrived. Since
they often survived by raiding, they became a
problem to the Spanish and later to the
American settlers. The Americans responded by
rounding up all the Navajos under Kit Carson
and putting them in prision. Later they gave
them a portion of the Hopi homeland through
the 1868 treaty. After it was learned that the
land given to the Navajos contained valuable
resources, instead of enforcing the treaty
restriction that they remain there, the United
States just let them wander off, then created
another reservation for them on land belonging
to the Paiutes, and moved the Paiutes out.
When the Navajos expanded onto the Hopi area,
rather than force them back onto the Paiute
land the Government made still another
reservation for them on the Hopi land.

With the discovery of mineral resources in
that area came the passage of Public Law
93-531, which was not requested by the true
Hopi leaders, but promoted by lawyers through
the 'Hopi Tribal Council,' creating the
illusion before the world that the Hopi have
traded certain areas of their land over to the
Government, or approved mineral leases.

Public law 93-351 divides our land still
further, by requiring both Hopi and Navajo
families to be forcibly relocated, and the
artificial Hopi-Navajo border fenced with
barbed wire. Our elders have long warned of
the time when a line might be drawn around our
feet, granting us no more land than that,
which really means we would have no land at
all. This time is not far off.

We want everyone to know that the Navajos are
not the ones taking our land, but the United
States. The Hopi and the Navajo made peace
long ago, and sealed their agreement
spiritually with a medicine bundle. It is
through the puppet governments, the 'Tribal
Councils' forced upon both nations by the
United States, that the illusion of a conflict
has been created on the basis of the false
modern concept of land title.

This short history shows how our land has been
taken away. Why is this happening? It is done
through younger Hopis, robbed of their
tradition through compulsory foreign
education, and arbitrarily empowered to speak
for their whole nation through the 'Hopi
Tribal Council,' yet never consult with their
original leaders. Would you allow your
children to sign away your family possessions
without even letting you know? That's exactly
what the 'Hopi Tribal Coucil' is doing.

Land title based on such deceit and coercion
is theft from the very forces that gave us
life. Since most of modern civilization is
based on such false entitlement, it can only
destroy itself. The severe problems that face
not only humanity, but every form of life on
Earth, serve to warn that the time of
destruction is at hand.

We can no longer escape. We must trace this
situation to its root cause. This is why I act
now to call world attention to the true nature
of aboriginal land title, which alone holds
the key to world peace. Hopi land title is
based on our agreement with the Creator, the
true owner of the land, through our meeting
with Maasaw, to serve as its caretakers. This
requires genuine knowledge of the pattern
through which people can live together in
peace without relying on the use of force.
This way of life can continue forever.

So for the sake of the indigenous nations that
remain with us today, and all people who are
moved to correct their ways and restore that
harmony which can enable life in this world to
continue, I have come to Santa Fe, the first
European capital established on our land, to
urge that those documents that might reveal
the true nature of our title to this land be
investigated and revealed, and to place our
knowledge of the Way of Peace at your service.

We hope that what we are asking will be
brought about soon, and that those who
sincerely wish to resolve this great crisis
will make use of our knowledge.