A fight in Arizona over sacred land and a mine raises big issues
A tricky religious-liberty dispute is coming to a head
ABOUT 50 MILES (80km) east of Phoenix, Arizona, the desert turns to mountains. Some 3,000 feet above the plain lies Oak Flat, an 800-acre expanse known in Western Apache as Chi’chil Bildagoteel. The land is sacred to several native American tribes. “For us it’s a female place,” says Wendsler Nosie, a former chairman of the San Carlos Apache, evoking its life-giving quality. “You can be born there and die there and it has everything for you.”
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “An Apache battle in Arizona”
United States March 25th 2023
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- A fight in Arizona over sacred land and a mine raises big issues
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- Anti-Semitism in America is becoming flashier and louder
- Younger Americans are friendlier to China
- How the Iraq war became a threat to American democracy
From the March 25th 2023 edition
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