Apaches still fighting

Editor:

On Feb. 23, 1945, when U.S. Marine Ira Hayes, a Native American Indian from Arizona helped raise our flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, he did not have the right to vote. It was not until 1948 that Indians in Arizona won in court that right.

That sad, shocking and shameful attitude goes on today in Arizona in the Mount Graham controversy with San Carlos Apache Indians still in their fight for religious rights. There is no good reason for the University of Arizona and its supporters to maintain their insistence for Mount Graham, sacred ground to the Apaches, as the site for their telescope project. The fact remains, there are suitable alternative sites which do not destroy a way of life. National Science Foundation studies showed 38 continental U.S. sites superior to Mount Graham! Fifty years ago and today: Arizona Indians are denied their rights. Remember that when you remember Iwo Jima.

Carolina Butler

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