Oak Flat: San Carlos Fight for a Sacred Place

San Carlos Apache Tribe is leading the charge to protect Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, commonly known as Oak Flat, from defilement from a mining company determined to strip the land of its precious resources. Oak Flat is sacred ground to the San Carlos Apache and the surrounding tribal communities that share historical ties to the area. Resolution Copper Mine, a joint venture of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton mining giants, aims to privatize and industrialize Oak Flat’s public lands and copper minerals directly under the Oak Flat area. San Carlos Apache archaeological sites, ancient burial grounds, origin stories, place names, and religious practices affirm Apache preoccupation and ongoing connection to Oak Flat. This study attempts to illustrate the historical injustices of how the US government and legislators, combined with mining proponents, displace the San Carlos Apache’s religious practices on their sacred sites, inside and outside reservation borders. That trend continues with the controversial Resolution Copper mining project. An unrelated provision or land exchange rider was surreptitiously attached to the National Defense Authorization Act (FY 2015), a must-pass legislation specifying the annual budget and expenditures of the US Department of Defense that would give away the San Carlos Apache religious sacred site of Oak Flat to a foreign mining company. I expose the forces of colonialism to understand how mainstream society and its legal systems have imprinted colonial ideals and have been applied to attack American Indian religious freedoms. Importantly, I show the reconciliation strategies of Apache Stronghold, representing the San Carlos Apache tribe, that could enable restorative justice for the San Carlos Apache and potentially other affected American tribes in the future.