On Friday, March 19, members of the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone tribe and other indigenous folks finished a 273 mile prayer walk at Thacker Pass. The prayer walk concluded with ceremony and prayers for Thacker Pass and all exploited lands around the world. Many members of the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone tribe oppose the proposed Thacker Pass open pit lithium mine and feel like they were never offered adequate consultation about the mine. Local folks are also concerned about man camps and the inevitable violence against women that follows mining projects such as these.
Paiute Medicine Song
Now all my singing Dreams are gone,
But none knows where they have fled
Nor by what trails they have left me.
Return, O Dreams of my heart,
And sing in the Summer twilight,
By the creek and the almond thicket
And the field that is bordered with lupins!
Now is my refuge to seek
In the hollow of friendly shoulders,
Since the singing is stopped in my pulse
And the earth and the sky refuse me;
Now must I hold by the eyes of a friend
When the high white stars are unfriendly.
Over-sweet is the refuge for trusting;
Return and sing, O my Dreams,
In the dewy and palpitant pastures,
Till the love of living awakes
And the strength of the hills to uphold me.