Meet the Native American Mother Being Sued by a Multinational Corporation
“I'm just a Native mom who disagrees with open pit mining on my ancestral homeland.”
This is the second in a series of articles introducing the Thacker Pass Six, a group of traditional indigenous people and grassroots activists — including myself — who are being sued by a Canadian mining company called Lithium Nevada Corporation.
If you’re new here, this is Biocentric, a newsletter about sustainability, overshoot, greenwashing, and resistance. It’s written by me, Max Wilbert, the co-author of Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It and co-founder of Protect Thacker Pass.
If you want to follow, you can subscribe for free. In return for supporting my activism, paid subscribers receive access to occasional private posts containing behind-the-scenes reports and unreleased drafts. Revenue from this post will go to the Thacker Pass Six legal defense fund.
This is Bhie-Cie Zahn-Nahtzu, a member of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Te-Moak Shoshone and Washoe by blood. She is a mother of 4, artist, and small-business owner. She is multi-talented as a seamstress who also does design and graphic arts.
Much of her art reflects her love for her cultures and Native plants. She has a one-acre allotment on the Hungry Valley Indian Reservation and has turned it into a micro-certified wildlife habitat. She tends her flock of chickens and composts family food scraps to support her organic gardening efforts. She loves to spend her time with her hands in the earth, gathering and sharing seeds in an effort to give the precious pollinators a safe and beautiful place to exist.
Bhie-Cie first came to Peehee Mu’huh in 2021, visiting the land defense camp with her children and walking all across the land to visit with plant relatives and taking in the night sky without other light pollution. When asked why she joined the action to defend Peehee Mu’huh, Bhie-Cie says, “I'm just a Native mother who disagrees with the open pit mining. It's not that I really wanted to go out there and be uncomfortable and worry about losing my freedom every day. But I was in a unique position, being self-employed, that I was able to go. I understand most people have to keep their job, they don't have the freedom to pursue something that they believe in.”
Now, Bhie-Cie is being sued by Lithium Nevada Corporation, a fully-owned subsidiary of Lithium Americas. The suit is a civil case, which means that the company is seeking to get money from Bhie-Cie and her co-defendants.
Here's Bhie-Cie’s full statement, in her own words:
I grew up with my traditional grandparents who were boarding school survivors. They gave me a strong background in being Native and loving the land and the concept that we are all related. I love being here on the Earth with the plants, animals, art, beauty, colors, and sunshine.
When I was out there [at Peehee Mu’huh / Thacker Pass] I was uplifted by a lot of people. I had neighbors and friends sending me five or ten dollars, saying ‘Hey, I support you,’ or showing up in my driveway and dropping off wood, water and supplies to take out to the other land defenders. We were there in a representative role. There were a lot of people who were out there in spirit but only a few of us were lucky enough to be able to coordinate our lives to physically be out there.
I'm not a materialistic person so the lithium mine can't take a lot of things away from me. And as I understand a SLAPP lawsuit is trying to bring me embarrassment. But I have a pretty good sense of humor and I embarrass myself on purpose all the time; so I guess they can't even shame me.
I’m not capable of engaging the legal fight, wading through stacks of paperwork full of legal jargon. I consider it a blessing that I'm slapped with a major multi-million dollar lawsuit and able to just toss it in a drawer and decide I'm not going to let that touch my everyday life. Supporters can help by contributing to our legal fund, sign the petition, learning how mining harms communities, and becoming more aware of environmental injustices everywhere. I appreciate all of our supporters so I can do my art, take care of my home and children, be in my garden, and connect back to the things that I love.
For more information visit ProtectThackerPass.org.
In my free 2018 e-book, "Stress R Us", I suggest that indigenous people can lead the way back to a right relationship to the natural world, and these brave Native Americans are demonstrating that relationship with considerable sacrifice for themselves. I pray for them and ask others to do the same. I'm a frail 79yo LONG COVID and prostate cancer survivor, but in my younger days I travelled our beautiful country, including the Far West. The most powerful spiritual experience of my life was at a Odawa powwow in Michigan that I can still remember like it was yesterday. We "modern" urban/suburban Americans are so very alienated from Nature and Her wonders that chronic stress is all most of us have known, and it's killing us. Have a blessed day! Gregg Miklashek, MD
Shared! I was born in Nevada and have always felt a special connection to the Winnemucca area. Wish I could help more. For now at least I can do the paid subscription and get the word out. Love what you’re all doing out there in that magical place.