“They (outsiders) just want to exploit for money. It’s hard for some people to understand the concept of ‘Not everything has to be about money,”‘ said Rita Bilagody, Save the Confluence spokeswoman. “This bill will send a loud message to outsiders that, we will fight for our sacred sites and will fight any attempts of desecration and destroying these sites.”
If there is one good thing about the coronavirus, it grounded all the air-tour operators over the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers for the first time in about 30 years.
“The Confluence” by Courtney Blackmer-Raynolds explores how the physical landscapes of the Grand Canyon shape the cultural, emotional and spirual landscapes of the Navajo people who inhabit it.
“We are being given a message from our Mother, the earth. Is it really wise to be building structures at the bottom of the Grand Canyon where it will be vulnerable to earthquakes, flash floods, rockslides and landslides?
In response to misleading and false information put out by the Confluence Partners LLC on the Grand Canyon Escalade website (www.grandcanyonescalade.com) about the sacredness of the Confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers, we would like to set the record straight about the about the sacredness of the Confluence.
The proposal to build a resort with an elaborate cable-gondola system has to be seen in the larger context. It is about much, much more than economic development on the Navajo Reservation.