"Nilak Bulter standing with the IEN National Council, staff
and Honor the Earth staff and family"

In Rememberance : Women's Cancers : Nilak Butler - a photo gallery

IEN STATEMENT IN MEMORY OF NILAK BUTLER

Nilak Butler, started her journey to the spirit world on December 26, 2002, at the age of 49. She died after two and half years of battling advanced ovarian cancer.

December 30, 2002

To the Family, Relatives and Friends of Nilak Butler,

Our prayers go out to the family and relatives of our friend, sister and aunt- Nilak Butler. Our hearts are touched with sadness as we bid farewell to her and reflect on all the cherished moments we had with her.

Nilak, one of the founders of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), dedicated the past twelve years to doing environmental justice work with Indigenous communities. For near thirty years, Nilak dedicated her life to defending the rights of Indigenous peoples from the Oglala Lakota community in South Dakota to the communities of Big Mountain/Black Mesa in the territories of the Navajo and Hopi Nations to Inupiat communities in Alaska.

Nilak provided extensive organizing and training expertise to our network and the communities served. When she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she was coordinating the IEN Labor Occupational Health Program, a partnership between IEN and the University of California Berkeley program. She helped create a worker health and safety educational training program for tribal employees and tribal grassroots environmental justice organizations.

During the 1990s, Nilak was a campaigner with the Greenpeace Nuclear Free Native Lands Campaign. She worked with both Native and Pacific Island communities impacted by radioactive exposure and tribal communities threatened with becoming sites for the dumping of nuclear waste. She helped organize the Indigenous Anti-Nuclear Summit held in 1996 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, sponsored by the Seventh Generation Fund. This Summit brought together a network of Native and Pacific Islanders negatively impacted by the nuclear chain. Nilak played a pivotal role in drafting the Declaration that emerged from this Summit.

Her work as a campaign organizer on nuclear issues took her from nuclear weapons testing issues in the Pacific Islands to the Native Village of Point Hope, Alaska, where the U.S. military disposed radioactive waste in the homelands of the Inupiat peoples. She worked with the Western Shoshone and Goshute Shoshone of the Great Basin, where years of U.S. nuclear weapons testing took place, exposing Shoshone and Paiute peoples to radioactive contamination. She collaborated with these communities to address current health and ecological issues and worked along side them to oppose nuclear waste dumps slated for their territories. Nilak continued her anti-nuclear work in the southwest where Navajo and Pueblo uranium miners, millers and surviving family members are seeking compensation from radioactive exposures from working in uranium mines. In recent years, up until her illness with cancer, she was developing the IEN nuclear and energy campaign. She brought deep insights and clear thinking to all aspects of her work and our campaigns.

As a member of the Indigenous Women's Network, Nilak provided leadership and provided us strength to stand strong in protecting the sacredness of our Earth Mother. Her memory will continue to fuel the sacred fire that burns in our hearts to defend our families, our lands and fight for the rights of all Indigenous peoples.

Written by Tom B.K. Goldtooth, on behalf of the Indigenous Environmental Network, staff, volunteers, advisory members and affiliates.

INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK
- PO BOX 485 - BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA 56619 USA
- (218) 751-4967 - ien@igc.org

Statement by Jack Schaefer,
Former President of the Native Village of Point Hope, Alaska

In memory of Nilak Butler (Avikchiq after my grandfather's uncle's wife)

This is very difficult for me to accept and believe -- I was so used to talking to Nilak. I will miss her plenty. I have a hard time starting and ending these words.

I first became involved in environmental justice when I was working on Red Dog Mine, a lead-zinc mine with the Centre on Transnational Corporations of the United Nations. This was in reference to a resolution on discrimination against Indigenous peoples by transnational corporations. I was sent to Fairbanks, Alaska to observe a two-day conference on the changes of the role of the United States on Arctic policy. The second day a man from Cook Inlet Vigil came up to me and showed me some documents on Project Chariot, since there was and still is a very large amount of cancer in our village. Later he sent information on Iodine131 experiments on Arctic people along with Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power (SNAP) information. Those documents referred to a tracer experiment. I did not know anything about nuclear and radiation exposure. As this issue became public knowledge, the elders looked at me and wanted something done. Growing up with my grandparents, we did what we were told without hesitation. I went to Chickaloon Village seeking help. I was told Nilak had some sampling done for them and asked to contact her and so we did, being aware that the government needed oversight on their cleanup process.

Nilak was with U.S. Greenpeace (at that time she got them to respect tribal governments and sovereignty) and set up an on-the-ground inspection. She came to our village with an Anchorage U.S. Greenpeace representative by the name of Dorothy and another woman name Linda of SEARCH from Spokane who was going to analyze some samples with a gamma-ray spectrometer. There were eight samples taken at the same time. We asked the North Slope Borough Public Safety to borrow their metal detector and swept the Atomic Energy Commission campsite. We were halfway done when they took it away stating they needed it for another village. By that time we discovered that half of the campsite was all metal underground. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was pretty upset and refused us to complete the sweep with the metal detector at the same time the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was trying to arrest us for trespassing on Alaska Maritime Wildlife Refuge lands without a permit. I refused to fill out the permit stating we have the right to come and go as we pleased. It was part of our tribal lands up for title recovery. Instead, we invited them to join us in sampling. They responded by saying we got no money to do it. When they realized that I was the president of The Native Village of Point Hope and was performing a governmental function they backed off while doing several flyovers.

The area we covered was about six square miles on foot. One ridge was full of five-inch square rocks. I forgot my hiking shoes, was using tennis shoes, and had plenty of sore feet. It took thirty days for the cleanup and we stayed and watched the whole time getting firewood for the stove. We stayed in one of the three Naval Arctic Research Lab shacks outside of the electric fence that surrounded the U.S. Department of Energy camp. The U.S. Greenpeace Anchorage representative and Linda of SEARCH returned to Anchorage and Spokane after the three-day on-the-ground inspection (they each have their own set of photos of the inspection). We went back to Point Hope, which was 23 miles away. We came and left by boat to wait for the camp to be completely constructed. We stayed with Lydia Nashookpuk, my brother's (Frage) traditional mother (she took him for hers after our grandfather passed on). While in Point Hope there was a lot of discussion of survival during hard times, like making a kerosene lamp out of a can and the old ways. In the daily reports, there was equipment that was damaged while being unloaded from the barge, which was repaired (3 gamma ray spectrometers). There was also a helicopter owned by EG&G (an Atomic Energy Commission and DOE contractor for 30 years) who did a grid of about fifteen square miles. Their equipment was damaged also which they repaired.

There was very little information given despite the eighteen Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests submitted and only relied on one hand sketched map. The government cleaned up one mound and a plot 12-foot square that contained about 250 barrels of contaminated soil. The plot was discovered one evening. It was 1-foot square of energy coming out and grew to about 9-foot square overnight. They also sampled an area of about 12 square miles. The cleanup took 30 days. The government camp consisted of about 50 people and had 24 ATVs they used. They took early evening beach combing runs once awhile (24 ATV cat trains). One evening I decided I needed to check the .223 rifle. We had to make sure it worked, so I took a shot at a log I threw in the ocean to see if it was sited just then the cat train was just going down to the beach. "Bang" my rifle jammed. They turned around and returned to the camp scared. They didn't go out that evening. Later, Rex Tuzroyluk Jr. (Lydia's son) was checking on us and fixed the rifle.

Around the 20th day of our stay it was starting to get cold and it would get foggy around midnight and the Department of Energy guys would go out inland with ATVs. We could not follow with our own ATV because visibility was only 15ft. so we never knew where we were going. When the government was done, they had a public meeting providing the sample results (about 50 compared to our 8 we had done). By that time, we had our results in. What we did not tell them was we had them analyze the same spots of the eight samples we took. As a result, there was a difference. Our results were 10 times higher than theirs for some samples. They hollered quality assurance problem, but we followed the protocol of sampling. They did not explain the discrepancy. We sampled the shafts where the nuclear devices were placed and an area halfway up and on top of Saligvik ridge (elevation 850ft.) above the camp. On top was two times higher than the mound of contaminated soil. Later we found out the cleanup was a "streamlined cleanup".

After the cleanup I spent a month with Nilak in San Francisco healing from burnout from extensive research of U.S. Congressional reports such as the 1959 Industrial Radioactive Waste Disposal Senate Public Works Committee (a one week hearing). This report covered the whole country including the Animus River in the Southwest and agricultural concerns by one health representative for the Indian Health Service. There was humor within the seriousness of this on joking of the probability of catching a double catch of fish due to two headed fish.

I then went with Nilak to a village outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico where the Indigenous Environmental Network council were putting together the mission statement and principles. That took three days and then returned. On the way back we visited one of her mothers at Chinle, Arizona on the Navajo reservation. We checked out the Hopi Cultural Center. We learned a lot together over the years. We later met with a national group in Washington D.C. asking to represent us on nuclear compensation after Clinton's apology for experimenting on people, later realizing there were some people assigned to stall all this. There were many ups and downs in our paths. I will miss her, and I our laughter of complimenting Pagan's (one of her many cats) cute bunny-boot bread-dough-kneading white paws. I know she is catching up with times with Lydia Nashookpuk in the spirit world.

Respectfully,

Jack Schaefer
Former President of the Native Village of Point Hope
January 8, 2003

IEN note: For more information on Project Chariot, go to: http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/VirtualClassroom/Chariot/chariot.html

From: GAR CREEK COMMUNITY CENTER
Gar Creek Community Center is one of the traditional Seminole communities of the Seminole Nation, Oklahoma.

To all who loved Nilak,

Everyone from the Gar Creek Community Center sends their prayers and support for all of Nilak's family and friends. In memory of Nilak keep strong and carry on her good work.

Curt Yazza: Remembering Nilak

Greetings Curt:

Thanks little brother for sharing your story with us about Nilak, we are one of the lucky ones who were able to know such a wonderful sister, your story and NOrman's are of many who have been touched by her caring and healing hands.

With lots of hope and love for our people:

--Hazel

*************************

Hazel, Norman, and all of our brothers and sisters:

I want to thank you both for notifying my of our sister's passing. I would like to share some rememrances of her with all of you.

On January 1, 1975, Larry Anderson came to my home and let me know that we were on "Red Alert" and that there would be a caravan coming from Los Angeles, CA enroute to Menomonee Country in Wisconsin where the Menomonee Warrior Society had occupied the Alexian Brothers Novitiate on New Year's Eve. The caravan arrived at 7th Street in Fort Defiance early on the morning of January 2nd. I had already had my backpack and bedroll ready for our journey to help our people in their struggle for justice. Nilak was among those already in the caravan. We all packed into one of the trucks making it 13 people in all - three in front and 7 in the back. We drove for 3 days and 3 nights to arrive at Keshina, WI at the Legion Hall where everyone was organized to support the occupation.

While enroute to WI, I began to know everyone in the truck that we were traveling in. Nilak and several of the other women made sandwiches for all of us on our journey. I was only 14 years old at that time and as an older sister would, she took me "under her wing", as many of my other elders had, to see that I was okay. Once we arrived at Menomonee and hiked the 13 miles into the "Abbey", we were met with 3 feet of snow, a low temperature of -13 degrees and a windchll of -70 below zero. At one point I had spent 36 hours on the roof of the West Tower and both of my feet were frost bitten to the point that I had no feeling in either of them. I barely walked down to the clinic and it was there that she recognized my frost bite. Being from the northern country, she immediately took charge of my health by removing the layers of socks, cardboard, and plastic bags that I wore to protect me from the subzero temperatures. Well, needless to say that even with all of that insulation, my feet still froze. They were practically frozen solid!

Nilak placed a wooden crate on front of the couch that I was sitting on, took several blankets around herself, removed her shirt, and placed my bare frozen feet under her arms. This was the way her people dealth with frost bite. During the long and painful 10-12 hours of her care, I was in great pain as my feet began to respond to her care. When done, my feet were saved! She endured all of that time with two frozen feet under her arms and it worked! Without her knowledge and strength, I would have lost both of my feet that year.

We were to find each others at arms many time afterwards, including the action at Shiprock and the American Indian MOvement's National Convention in Farmington, NM both in 1975. Those of us that saw action at the Abbey and in Shiprock in 1975 are all lifetime members of the Menomonee Warrior Society, the Navajo Warrior Society, and the American Indian Movement - LIFETIME MEMBERS! Nilak among us! Without our Women Warriors to lead us, we would not be complete.

Many of our brothers and sisters have passed on leaving strong legacies with those of us that must remain. Legacies of strength, endurance, perseverance, and spirituality in our fights against oppression, genocide, and institutionalized racism in this country.

This is what we continue to fight for in our areas of specialty today. Many of us laid our lives on the line, willing to die for our people's human rights during that time. Those of us that are stil alive and free live with the remembrance of our ancestors that have given their lives in war and in peace for our children and our children's children.

May Nilak family be blessed by all of our prayers.

AHO!!

Curt Yazza, Sr.
American Indian Movement
Fort Defiance, Arizona

By Winona LaDuke

Nilak Butler, renowned human rights and environmental activist, actress, singer, sister and auntie to many passed onto the spirit world on December 26, 2002 at the age of 49. Nilak died after a two and a half year battle with ovarian cancer.

She was an amazing presence to all that knew her, whether it was her strong and clear voice singing in the sweat lodge or the political clarity and determination she voiced in her organizing. Nilak will be remembered for so much. Born in Alaska into an Inuit family, she was adopted out as an infant. She traveled the road of many of her generation, from foster home to adoptive home to foster home, eventually ending up finding her way back to Indian Country. On that path, she starred in the movie "White Dawn", a period movie where she played a young Inuit woman who had befriended explorers in the region. It was in making "White Dawn" that Nilak discovered her own Inuit ancestry. In 1974, she returned to Los Angeles and while performing in the play Savages, she met members of AIM and joined the movement.

Nilak (until that time known as Kelly Jean McCormick) met Dino Butler, a Rogue River Tututni and AIM activist at the take over of the Abby on the Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin. They married and together, continued their work in defending Native rights. The two ended up that fateful day of June 26, 1975 in Oglala on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where FBI agents came upon the Jumping Bull Tiosapaye land, and a shoot out ensued. When the firefight ended two FBI agents and AIM member Joe Stuntz were dead. Nilak's life, like many others, was marked by that event, with much of her subsequent life spent defending political prisoners and working on court cases for human rights and the rights of Native people.

She was a founding mother of many organizations including the Indigenous Women's Network and the Indigenous Environmental Network. In the l990s, she turned towards more land and environmental work, working for some years in the community of Point Hope in Alaska, which had been ravaged by nuclear materials placed there by the Department of Defense as an experiment to test radioactive accumulation in lichen, caribou and humans. Returning to her Inuit territory seemed to steel her determination to work on environmental justice issues. Her work as the Nuclear Free Native Lands Campaigner for Greenpeace and her many years of work for the Indigenous Environmental Network on community organizing initiatives allowed her to do what she did best- bring people together and strengthen communities.

Nilak had a wide spectrum of skills, from coordinating event logistics to developing innovative local, national and international strategies. She stood for an inclusive process that insured groups and/or communities organically made and owned their own decisions. Nilak could cut to the chase, clearly state what she saw happening and put the options for solving problems out on the table. That was her special gift. As a result, the language she used, from press releases to resolutions, was always proactive. She brought these gifts with her in her work across the continent and world, from Geneva to Nevada to Ecuador, Minnesota and the Philippines.

Despite the very serious responsibility she felt toward her work, Nilak knew how to have fun. She loved to cook and eat good food, wear beautiful clothes she got at a bargain, watch good movies and dance to soul and R&B music. She paid incredulous attention to detail in her crafts she loved to create. Her beadwork, needlepoint and sewing are all works of art. She had a fire for life and a passion for living. She did all she could to beat the odds of having cancer because she embraced and enjoyed this life, and because she wanted to continue giving of herself.

Her illness was largely a consequence of her circumstances. Nilak fell through the cracks of American society. Nilak did not have access to Indian Health Service facilities as she was not an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe-- a circumstance of adoption. Nilak viewed her illness much as a mirror of the illness of Mother Earth: toxified, ill cared for, and challenged with constant crises. She challenged all to work harder to defend Mother Earth, and to care for each other in difficult times, now and in the future.

She will be remembered as a talented artist and actress, caring auntie and sister, committed, determined and honest activist and a woman who not only survived but overcame many daunting challenges in her life. Nilak surpassed all medical predictions and expectations, just as she surmounted all the barriers in her life. She truly lived her life in a good way. She is missed in her passing. Her body rests now, but her strong spirit and the teachings she left remain with us.

Nilak is survived by her daughter, little Nilak Elliot and her grandson Levi Elliot, her aunt Janet McCloud, her brothers John Trudell, Dino Butler, Robert Butler, Bruce Ellison, Tom Goldtooth and Tyler Barlow, her sisters Johnella Sanchez, Tawna Sanchez, Bernadette Zambrano, Pam Tau Lee, Gina Picaldo, Ursula Chance, Mililani Trask, Jill Nunokawa, Trisha Jordan, Madeline Sahme, Laura Booth, Winona LaDuke, Lori Pourier, Faye Brown, Jan Stevens, Leanne LaBar, Shelly Vendiola, Adelle Ratt, Priscilla Setee, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, her nieces Sage Trudell, Song Trudell, Star Trudell, Waseyabin Kapashesit, Sasha Brown and Ana Goldtooth, her nephews Coup Trudell, Tikaan Trudell, Maeh-kiw El-Issa and Ajuak Kapashesit, her grandniece Tinan Trudell, her grandnephew Eli Cruz Trudell, many close friends and relatives and her four beloved cats, Boy, Heathen, Pagan and Moosie.

A Celebration of Nilak Butler's Life is planned for Saturday, February 15 in Laytonville, California at Harwood Hall beginning at 1:00 PM. For more information, please visit www.johntrudell.com .

A statement regarding the passing of Nilak Butler:

I am deeply saddened by the news I received regarding the passing of my good friend and sister in the struggle, Nilak Butler...Nilak was a strong and courageous woman who was admired by all those who knew her.

I remember those early days when she took the responsibility of placing herself out in front on many issues seeking to correct the wrongs and gain justice for our people. She fought so hard all her life against these injustices perpetuated against us. Nil knew the meaning of sacrifice as she always put the needs of the people ahead of her personal needs. Her humor and her dedication will always stand out. She is one of the finest examples of the strength and courage of Native women that I know.

We will all certainly miss her presence in the struggle and miss her as a friend. We must honor her life by picking up where she left off. We must continue this struggle to ensure the future of the coming generations.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier

In memory of Nilak Butler
I very was saddened to hear of my dear sister's passing.

In memory of my dear friend and big sister Nilak Butler, who passed into the spirit world on December 26, 2002. She was a very strong woman who stood for her people and was courageous and not afraid to face the system that for so many centuries oppressed our people's human right to live as nations.

On June 26, 1975 on a fateful day in Oglala S.D. on the Pine Ridge Reservation, I along with my four older brothers Dino, Leonard, Bob and Joe Stuntz, who gave his life that day, so that we may have lived, my three other teenage brothers Norman C., my Navajo cousins Wishy-Wilford Draper and Baby AIM-Micheal Anderson withstood for hours.... massive barrages/exchanges of automatic fire from FBI, Federal Forces, BIA, S.D./Nebraska State Troopers and various Indian and White vigilanties. We exchanged fire with whatever little fire power we had left.

We survived the morning and afternoon, the evening laid ahead. As we were planning our escape three sisters of our camp, came back, they had tried to escape earlier, only to find that there was no way out of Jumping Bull's compound of which the shoot out had occurred. We were surrounded by Federal law enforcement. We met the sisters as we were beginning to leave the Jumping Bull land.

Nilak Butler was one on the three strong-hearted women who came to our aid in escaping that horrific day.

As we were struggling with what to do next, we were all out of ammunition and had no other alternative but to live. We believed that that our time was ending....then out nowhere Nilak, Jeannie and Lena came upon us as our small warrior group was preparing for the end.

As a fifteen year old and the youngest of the men I embraced her with happiness and much love knowing that they were alive. The sisters are alive!!! We all offered our greetings to each other. There was no tears, no indication of sorrow, nor fear as we now knew that with our sisters among us now, we knew that they would give each of our brothers much hope and needed strength to fight on. It was a long draining and drawnout day without food or water, filled with intense emotions of life and death.

It is a day that forever effects my life and others of our Oglala family. As I look back at those difficult times I'm reminded daily that in order to fight one must remain strong and committed to one's belief in the peoples right to live honorably as human beings. This I learned from Nilak and others that day.

We have lost a friend, a sister, an auntie, and most importantly...a voice for/of Mother Earth.

I had the great blessing to know her as a friend and sister, a person who I admired and respected. She was a pillar of strength and hope for many of us. She still is today.

I remember that day in Oglala when all hope seemed to fade away and coming out of the bush stands Jeanie, Lena and Nilak, the latter without shoes nor socks....standing there like a beacon of hope, a beacon of light that many generations of our strong Indian women possessed. I saw hope and felt hope. She embraced each and every one of us.

As she came to me she said "Norman how are you today?"...as she hugged me and rubbed my shoulders...I smiled and hugged her back...I saw in her eyes, that I will never forget...the similar loving eyes of my mother and three older sisters that I left weeks earlier in Chinle. I was not alone anymore. My mother and older sisters were with me.

I almost cried as I touched her hand and told her "We were worried that they got you all", she said "we are all going to be ok now"

She brought much strength to us at that time of the day, I believe that without her and the other two, we all would have perished that day. She instanly got everybody laughing and feeling right. "I took off so fast that I forgot my shoes in the teepee"..."alright everybody take off your socks and give them to Nilak" someone said, now that I look back at the prospect of someone wearing the brothers mean sweaty, dirty and I know very stinky socks....I admired her for the strength to wear them, and I saw a face from her that I still to this day will never forget...a funny and smiling face that so few have ever seen. If you knew her you would know what I'm talking about..."oohhhjeeze" was her response as she put the smelly, dirty, and stinky socks on. We all laughed quietly. At the time I thought that woman is tough....to wear those.

She taught me how to make tobacco ties. Nilak had this great way of making one feel important and always knowing that she was there to help, this, gave one good feelings, She gave our people hope at all levels to continue the fight. She had that ability to bring hope. That was her strength. She like to be teased and she was great at teasing others also.

After the shootout we kept in touch throughout the years, always asking about my mother who she never met and admired and my children.

In those awful times she stood beside me and encouraged me to continue to live a life for the people, when others didn't.

I will always remember the days of the summer of "75" those long ago days of happiness, sharing, praying, helping, and resisting with a dear committed sister who stood with the warriors. I will miss her as I have missed my other sister in struggle, Annie Mae Aquash who along with Nilak made me a ribbon shirt that I wore till it was ragged.

My brothers and sisters......always remember that the strength in our fight for justice is our honorable sisters and mothers, the ones who nurish our warriors with the will to fight for what is right. Among us are many, many sisters who are dedicated to leaving this land a better place for our children so that they may live a good life. We must stand with them and support them.

Honor and bless them with your respect for life.

Nilak Butler was such a woman, she was a pillar of hope, and a pillar of strength, she who stood with the warriors. I will miss her.

Thank you dear sister for all that you have done for our Indian people who suffer today of the policies of the system that is unfair and unjust. We thank you Nilak for your dedication and committment to Mother Earth and our coming generations.

I thank you dear sister for standing with me when others couldn't.

The last I saw of her was our commemoration of the 25 years of the Oglala shootout in the summer of 2000. She was sick. I had asked why she didn't tell me, she said she didn't want to worry me. It was like her to talk that way. As I look back, I've seen what a struggle can do to a person, it is up to us to learn and relearn what hope and strength is. We can do this by reminding ourselves of the beautiful grandmas, mothers and sisters who have given their lives for our people that we may live today and tommorrow.

Nilak Butler is our hope for what our women stand for in these trying and difficult times.

We must among our Dine Bidziil Coalition count our blessings as we also have such strong, dignified and humble sisters, aunties, nieces and grandmother who are also pillars of our strength for our great Navajo people.

Respectfully,
Norman Patrick Brown
President
DINE NATIONalists of DINE BIDZIIL COALITION (NAVAJO STRENGTH)

I've also included my remembrance of Nilak:

It is very sad to hear of our sister Nilak, in her passing to the spirit world, she will be missed by all, but she will always remain in our struggle in protecting the Mother Earth, the environment, indigenous knowledge, for a better future for the generations to come. She has left a great legacy in voicing the injustices of the indigenous Indian people of this continent. I too had the great honor of meeting Nilak. I met her back in 1975 in Shiprock at one of the Dineh protests, we got to know one another and spent almost a month together in the struggle, I also served as an interpreter for her and the Navajo elders. We both were young women at the time, and we became good sisters. We got to know one another's families and friends, I met Dino Butler, Leonard Pelter and John Trudell during that time.

I distinctly remember her walking down the hall at Fairchild, singing and dancing, skipping so happily, bare footed, with her long braids swaying around her, and her arms moving about in the air, shaking it to "Black Water" one of the Dobbie Brothers hits, as it played loudly over the intercom. She was so beautiful and so smart and I really admired her as my bigger sister. The last time we met again was in the late 1998, at the Hopi Cultural Center, I was sure happy to see her again, she was here in the area working on the Uranium issues. She was with a colleague from Point Hope, Alaska, I believe he was the Chairman of his tribe.

Also back in 1975, the movie Nilak starred in "The White Dawn" came out to the old Shiprock Drive-In and it was showing there for about a couple of weeks. All the local skins piled into the pick-up trucks to see the movie. I couldn't believe that she was a movie star. Oh! that movie was very racist, on how the trappers of Alaska treated the Indians, as it's no surprise to all, but, it left a strong message to everyone that they could do better by standing up for what they believe in. It was a good movie, I encourage all to see it.

I too will miss her, my prayers go out the friends and relatives of our sister.

We must continue to work and pray in her memory, to gain her courage, strength humbleness and indigenous knowledge in what she stood for, by learning from example in how to work with the people of all Nations.

In remembrance of our sister Nilak, with Love and Hope,

Hazel James
dineh coalition dineh_bidziil@yahoo.com