As a life-long member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, I am proud of our unique history and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. My late grandmother Mable Dosela-Kitcheyan has taught me to take pride as a San Carlos Apache because we are resilient people that do not need pity for the challenges that we face.

But lately, it pains me to see how much of my tribe has recently been misrepresented to the rest of the world. Our culture and customs are being abused by a member of our own tribe. I am talking about the ongoing issue of a piece of Federal land known as Oak Flat and Wendsler Nosie’s falsehoods about our ties to that land.

My grandmother taught me the importance of the lands around us and how they help us stay connected to the spirits of our ancestors and our creator God. However, in my 63-year-old life so far, I have come to realize that the single most important thing keeping our tribe together is not physical plots of land like Oak Flat, but our commitment to preserve the intangible, sacred core of our people: honesty, peace, unity, respect and faith in our God. The lands around us can change, but the focus on our key values must remain for our culture to flourish.

This is why I am choosing to stand up on behalf of my fellow tribal members – with their blessing – and speak out on this issue.

Let us not confuse the entire San Carlos Apache Tribe with Wendsler Nosie’s group known as the Apache Stronghold. Nosie’s statements paint a misleading picture about Oak Flat, as if this small piece of land outside of our reservation is vital to the survival of our traditions.

What upsets me even more about what the Apache Stronghold is doing is the fact that they are spreading information on the internet that falsely portrays our religion. One YouTube video with a group called the Becket Fund has a young fellow tribal member saying that “Oak Flat is the cornerstone of our religion…without the land, we have no spirit.”

It breaks my heart to hear this. Because just within San Carlos, there are 10 other ceremonial sites we hold sacred that allow us to connect with God and feel his Spirit. Everyone is being led to think that without Oak Flat, the San Carlos Apache will be threatened to exist as people, and that is not true. Oak Flat is not the only place that sunrise ceremonies can be held. In fact, the only time they started happening at Oak Flat was because of Nosie’s lies to the world that this was the only place the ceremony can happen.

Instead of Oak Flat, our people are more concerned about real problems within our reservation like safety, addictions and employment. The Resolution Copper mine will create thousands of jobs for the local communities, including our tribe. More than ever, our men need stable, well-paying jobs near our reservation so that they can provide for their families. In fact, mining has historically been one of the few ways the San Carlos Apache men have supported their families.

For the rest of us, there is nothing else about the mine that we want to argue about.

If we truly care about the well-being of our people, our people should not stand in the way of development guaranteed to bring about benefits.

I am an Apache elder and have lived on the San Carlos Apache Reservation for 60+ years. I have participated in numerous Apache cultural ceremonies throughout my life and was raised to respect my tribe and my culture. My late husband was a miner and I am very familiar with the hardships that miners and their families face. If the mine proposed by Resolution Copper becomes a reality, it will provide food, clothes, shelter and employment for the Apache people and those who live in the nearby communities of Globe, Miami, Superior and other Tribes within Arizona.