Blog #5-- Class film

While watching the film on Wednesday in class, it was really interesting to me the whole dilemma the natives had with "their land" and people intruding and using it for various reasons. The natives' land was a popular place for people to rock climb, ski, snowboard and congregate with friends. The natives had used and lived on this land since as long as they can remember and can't understand why something can't be done to keep people off their land. The natives use and depend on their land for everything and worship whatever comes from it. They obtain their food, perform sacred rituals, create tools to help the tribe, ect. They waste nothing given to them from the earth and are thankful for everything they receive. They said since their land is a place of worship, that the people were basically desecrating it by their acts. Unfortunately, there is no way, at the moment, for the Natives to keep people off "their land" because it technically isn't their official land. The people who work on the land (workers for the park) try to work with the Natives and notify people who come to the park to hike, climb, ski, ect that it is sacred land and that during certain times of the year, the Natives consider it holy. This helps, but the workers can't force people to stay off the land, so some still proceed to "desecrate" it. Currently the debate is still going on and will continue until the Natives get their way. I don't blame them, I wouldn't want someone to come in my church and desecrate it either.