One Drum, One Prayer, One Circle

It’s Friday, Feb. 21, and I find myself in the Arizona desert standing in a circle of about 100 people listening to Apache leader Wendsler Nosie Sr. “We’re doing this for those who hate us…. We’re doing it for those who are indifferent, who have no idea what will be lost.… We’re doing it for you and for your children ….”

What’s being done on behalf of all of us? And what’s in danger of being lost?

Nosie, along with a coalition of Apache, other Native peoples and non-Native allies, are fighting to protect Oak Flat, an Apache sacred mountain, from being destroyed by a copper mining company.

In September, the coalition, Apache Stronghold, presented its religious freedom case to the U.S. Supreme Court for deliberation. The Court has yet to decide whether to accept the case.

I expected to learn about the mine and its threat to the environment. For example, it would collapse the sacred Oak Flat Mountain into a two-mile wide and 1000-foot deep crater, require 250 billion gallons of water from the desert and would produce approximately 1.6 billion tons of toxic waste. What I didn’t expect was to find myself in a crash course on U.S. policy toward Native Americans or to be so immersed in the richness of Native American culture.

Non-Native people like myself were invited to participate in the ceremonies which included circling around drummers and dancing with our feet as a form of prayer. We frequently heard the phrase,

“One drum, one prayer, one circle.” In other words, everything is connected.

One drum, one prayer, one circle. What happens to the sacred mountain of Oak Flat impacts everyone and everything whether we’re conscious of it or not.

One drum, one prayer, one circle. Everything is connected. Loretto was present because I was present.

One drum, one prayer, one circle. Loretto members are passionate about different issues as we “work for justice and act for peace.” If we follow the threads of issues dear to our hearts, we will find that they, too, are connected in wholeness.

One drum, one prayer, one circle. A sacred mountain is best protected through sacred means — prayer, and prayer takes many forms. Right now Apache Stronghold is asking us to pray for the Supreme Court as it continues to deliberate whether or not to accept the case.

May we join in one circle of solidarity as we pray for the protection of Oak Flat.