Media Watch: Arizona Snowbowl and Racism in the Media
By Brenda Norrell
Photos Kyle Boggs The Noise and Beth Lavely
Today's media coverage of the Native American and other young people arrested on San Francisco Peaks, after they locked themselves to heavy equipment, reveals the racism and bias in Arizona's news media.
Although the protesters statement was available on the Internet all day at Google News, the media chose to criminalize the protesters without explaining the sacred nature of the mountain for Native Americans.
The majority of the media in Arizona and nationwide simply posted AP's article, without questioning it or researching the facts. The majority of reporters failed to even mention the most basic reason for the protest.
It is here on San Francisco Peaks that Native Americans offer ceremonies for healing and for protection. Native American medicine men use the plants on the mountain for healing herbs, the same plants that would be doused with sewage water for snowmaking if the Snowbowl continues with its plan to use recycled wastewater for snowmaking. The mountain is sacred to 13 American Indian Nations.
AP's article simply criminalizes the young people and fails to point out that these young people made the decision to be arrested in order to bring attention to the desecration of sacred San Francisco Peaks. AP failed to even provide one quote from the protesters lengthy statement. The statement was available, and easy to find, all day. It was posted Thursday morning in the Narcosphere, which appears on Google News, and was posted at Censored News all day.
According to the articles posted on Google News Thursday evening, the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff published only one quote from the protesters. Azfamily.com published only one sentence concerning the reason for the protest. AZCentral.com only provided two sentences as to the reason for the protest, while proclaiming recycled water as safe. ABC15.com gave no background for the reason for the protest.
Was this laziness on the part of the reporters, censorship by editors and publishers, or has this become the media standard: Do as little as possible, rewrite as much as possible from the web, take no risks and leave no moral footprints.
The racist attitudes in the Arizona business community were punctuated today when KAFF am radio in Flagstaff conducted an interview with Troy Bix of Flagstaff Business News. Bix first supported the Snowbowl, then launched into an xenophobic talk about migrants along the border in southern Arizona.
Today's media coverage is reminiscent of the news coverage before the Civil Rights era, before Rosa Parks sat down on that bus, and before the march to Selma, Alabama.
Joyce Smith McDade, Western Shoshone, responded to today's news coverage and arrests, pointing out that tax dollars go to sheriff's departments for the arrest of Native Americans on their homelands.
"Our peoples' tax money at work, a compulsory payment of a percentage of income and property value, for support of a government to pay the County Sheriff to arrest the rightful owners of this sacred land."
Also see at Narcosphere:
Locked Down: Native Americans arrested defending sacred San Francisco Peaks:
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Big problems in the Sticker Patch
Submitted on June 19th, 2011 by cordleycoitAs an observer of Arizona better known in truckers circles as the Sticker Patch, I have followed the states plunge into blatant racism since the Days of Billy Jack. In 1970 I went to Prescott and found more stupid bigots per square foot than one could dig up in Selma, Alabama, in 62.
The years have passed and the concentration of stupids and a vast heard of retiring white sheep from the rust belt have only added to the problem. Native American Rights mean nothing to the huge White influx of retired people that is gulled into settling their last years in Phoenix-Scottsdale
There has been a big move from the South with the economic refuges from Mexico and South brought in by Republicans to work cheaper than the young people fired and deported from the Northern cites in the great economic take over; by the Koch Bros, their army of dupes once semi prosperous small business folk now impoverished.
The grift was 'retire to the sun' which brought an army of lawyers, real estate jerks, and some of the most cruel medicine and snake oil shows to part the elderly from their money. Retire to the sun you don't need water, you old bones will stop hurting in the warmth and slip into the pool. Arizona is desert.
Of course the immigrants who serve and look after the retirees are living behind walls they are a big part of the economic equation. They are in danger of attack on two fronts wages and the law. These are people run out of the country they love they are poor and they are in the way of the Mexican narco state. Does the narco state end at the boarder?
It continues on
Submitted on June 27th, 2011 by Beth Lavely (not verified)Thank you for fair coverage Brenda. I will look forward to reading what you write about the most recent assault on the San Francisco Peaks. Snow Bowl has now clear cut more than 30,000 trees as part of the expansion that so many in the community are actively fighting against. The fight continues.