Hopi Message to the United Nations on December 10, 1992
In December 1992, at ceremonies marking the beginning of the “Year of Indigenous Peoples”,
representatives from several First Nations spoke to the United Nations General Assembly. Thomas
Banyacya and Caroline Tawangyouma represented the Hopi. (Grandfather Banyacya passed to Spirit on
February 6, 1999. He was much-loved and is missed by many.)
The program for the historic meeting at the UN was:
Speakers: Sister Blaise Lupo, co-director, Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC); Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan,
Head of the Sufi Order of Islamic Tradition; Reverend Ambrose I. Lane, Minister and founder, Martin
Luther King Jr. Community Church of the USA.
Prayer: Wallace Black Elk, Lakota Nation
Speakers: Native American Indigenous Medicine Council, Chief Leon Shenandoah, Haudenosaunee (Six
Nations Iroquois Confederacy); Caroline Tawangyouma, Sovereign Hopi Independent Nation, Hotevilla
Village; Thomas Banyacya, United Sovereign Hopi Independent Nation; Pandit Gopi Krishna, Yoga
Adept.
Closing comments: Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary General of the UN, represented by Robert Muller,
Assistant Secretary General of the UN.
Here is the text of the historic statement given by Grandfather Banyacya:
THE HOPI MESSAGE TO THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Thomas Banyacya, Kykotsmovi, Arizona
The presentation by Mr. Thomas Banyacya, the final speaker, was preceded by three shouts by
Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Six Nations, and first speaker of the day. The shouts were a
spiritual announcement to the Great Spirit of the people assembled and the intention to give a
message of spiritual importance. Thomas then sprinkled corn meal next to the podium of the
General Assembly and made a brief remark in Hopi that translates as follows:
Hopi Spiritual leaders had an ancient prophecy that some day world leaders would gather in a
Great House of Mica with rules and regulations to solve the world problems without war. I am
amazed to see the prophecy has come true and you are here today! But only a handful of United
Nations Delegates are present to hear the Motee Sinom (Hopi for First People) from around the
world who spoke here today.
My name is Banyacya of the Wolf, Fox and Coyote Clan and I am a member of the Hopi
sovereign nation. Hopi in our language means a peaceful, kind, gentle, truthful people. The
Traditional Hopi follows the spiritual path that was given to us by Massau'u the Great Spirit. We
made a sacred covenant to follow his life plan at all times, which includes the responsibility of
taking care of this land and life for his divine purpose. We have never made treaties with any
foreign nation, including the United States, but for many centuries we have honored this sacred
agreement. Our goals are not to gain political control, monetary wealth nor military power, but
rather to pray and to promote the welfare of all living beings and to preserve the world in a
natural way. We still have our ancient sacred stone tablets and spiritual religious societies which
are the foundations of the Hopi way of life. Our history says our white brother should have
retained those same sacred objects and spiritual foundations.
In 1948, all Traditional Hopi spiritual leaders met and spoke of things I felt strongly were of great
importance to all people. They selected four interpreters to carry their message of which I am the
only one still living today. At the time, I was given a sacred prayer feather by the spiritual
leaders. I made a commitment to carry the Hopi message of peace and deliver warnings from
prophecies known since the time the previous world was destroyed by flood and our ancestors
came to this land.
My mission was to open the doors of this Great House of Mica to native peoples. The Elders said
to knock four times and this commitment was fulfilled when I delivered a letter and the sacred
prayer feather I had been given to John Washburn in the Secretary General’s office in October,
1991. I am bringing part of the Hopi message to you here today. We have only ten minutes to
speak and time is late so I am making my statement short.
At the meeting in 1948, Hopi leaders 80, 90 and even 100 years old explained that the Creator
made the first world in perfect balance where humans spoke one language, but humans turned
away from moral and spiritual principles. They misused their spiritual powers for selfish
purposes. They did not follow nature’s rules. Eventually the world was destroyed by sinking of
land and separation of land by what you would call major earthquakes. Many died and only a
small handful survived.
Then this handful of peaceful people came into the second world. They repeated their mistakes
and the world was destroyed by freezing which you call the great Ice Age.
The few survivors entered the third world. That world lasted a long time and as in previous
worlds, the people spoke one language. The people invented many machines and conveniences
of high technology, some of which have not yet been seen in this age. They even had spiritual
powers that they used for good. They gradually turned away from natural laws and pursued
only material things and finally only gambled while they ridiculed spiritual principles. No one
stopped them from this course and the world was destroyed by the great flood that many nations
still recall in their ancient history or in their religions.
The Elders said again only a small groups escaped and came to this fourth world where we now
live. Our world is in terrible shape again even though the Great Spirit gave us different languages
and sent us to four corners of the world and told us to take care of the Earth and all that is in it.
This Hopi ceremonial rattle represents Mother Earth. The line running around it is a time line and
indicates that we are in the final days of the prophecy. What have you, as individuals, as nations
and as the world body been doing to take care of this Earth? In the Earth today, humans poison
their own food, water and air with pollution. Many of us, including children, are left to starve.
Many wars are still being fought. Greed and concern for material things is a common disease. In
this western hemisphere, our homeland, many original native people are landless, homeless,
starving and have no medical help.
The Hopi knew humans would develop many powerful technologies that would be abused. In
this century, we have seen the First World War and the Second World War in which the
predicted gourd of ashes, which you call the atomic bomb, fell from the sky with great
destruction. Many thousands of people were destroyed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
For many years there has been great fear and danger of World War Three. The Hopi believe the
Persian Gulf War was the beginning of World War Three but it was stopped and the worst
weapons of destruction were not used. This is now a time to weigh the choices for our future. We
do have a choice. If you, the nations of this Earth, create another great war, the Hopi believe we
humans will burn ourselves to death with ashes. That's why the spiritual Elders stress strongly
that the United Nations fully open the door for native spiritual leaders as soon as possible.
Nature itself does not speak with a voice that we can easily understand. Neither can the animals
and birds we are threatening with extinction talk to us. Who in this world can speak for nature
and the spiritual energy that creates and flows through all life? In every continent are human
beings who are like you but who have not separated themselves from the land and from nature.
It is through their voice that Nature can speak to us. You have heard those voices and many
messages from the four corners of the world today. I have studied comparative religion and I
think in your own nations and cultures you have knowledge of the consequences of living out of
balance with nature and spirit. The native peoples of the world have seen and spoken to you
about the destruction of their lives and homelands, the ruination of nature and the desecration of
their sacred sites. It is time the United Nations used its rules to investigate these occurrences and
stop them now.
The Four Corners area of the Hopi is bordered by four sacred mountains. The spiritual center
within is a sacred site our prophecies say will have special purpose in the future for mankind to
survive and now should be left in its natural state. All nations must protect this spiritual center.
The Hopi and all original native people hold the land in balance by prayer, fasting and
performing ceremonies. Our spiritual Elders still hold the land in the Western Hemisphere in
balance for all living beings, including humans. No one should be relocated from their sacred
homelands in this Western Hemisphere or anywhere in the world. Acts of forced relocation, such
as Public Law 93-531 in the United States, must be repealed.
The United Nations stands on our native homeland. The United Nations talks about human
rights, equality and justice and yet the native people have never had a real opportunity to speak
to this assembly since its establishment until today. It should be the mission of your nations and
this assembly to use your power and rules to examine and work to cure the damage people have
done to this Earth and to each other. Hopi Elders know that was your mission and they wait to
see whether you will act on it now.
Nature, the First People and the spirit of our ancestors are giving you loud warnings. Today,
December 10, 1992, you see increasing floods, more damaging hurricanes, hail storms, climate
changes and earthquakes as our prophecies said would come. Even animals and birds are
warning us with strange change in their behavior such as the beaching of whales. Why do
animals act like they know about the earth's problems and most humans act like they know
nothing? If we humans do not wake up to the warnings, the great purification will come to
destroy this world just as the previous worlds were destroyed.
(Thomas and Oren Lyons held up a picture of a large rock drawing in Hopiland)
This rock drawing shows part of the Hopi prophecy. There are two paths. The first with
technology but separate from natural and spiritual law leads to these jagged lines representing
chaos. The lower path is one that remains in harmony with natural law. Here we see a line that
represents a choice like a bridge joining the paths. If we return to spiritual harmony and live from
our hearts, we can experience a paradise in this world. If we continue only on this upper path, we
will come to destruction.
Its up to all of us, as children of Mother Earth, to clean up this mess before it's too late.
The Elders request that during this International Year for the Worlds Indigenous Peoples, the
United Nations keep that door open for spiritual leaders from the four corners of the world to
come to speak to you for more than a few minutes as soon as possible. The Elders also request
that eight investigative teams visit the native areas of the world to observe and tell the truth
about what is being done and stop these nations from moving in this self-destructive direction.
If any of you leaders want to learn more about the spiritual vision and power of the Elders, I
invite you to come out to Hopiland and sit down with our real spiritual leaders in their sacred
Kivas where they will reveal the ancient secrets of survival and balance.
I hope that all members of this assembly that know the spiritual way will not just talk about it,
but in order to have real peace and harmony, will follow what it says across the United Nations
wall: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and study war no more.” Lets, together, do
that now!
Epilogue
The night before the presentations of the native people from around the world to the General
Assembly, there was a total eclipse of the moon over New York City and the sky was clear. The
evening after the presentation by Mr. Banyacya and the other native spokespersons, heavy rain
and strong wind began. The weathermen had been calling for a snowstorm but what came the
following day were the worst floods in New York's mEmery. Major highways were washed away
by the sea and the United Nations itself experienced flooding of its lower subfloors, forcing a
shutdown of its heating and air conditioning and all personnel were dismissed at three o'clock.
In the ground floor meeting room, where on December 11, native peoples were meeting
representatives of various UN agencies, Thomas Banyacya spontaneously called on all the
participants, including UN officials, to form a great circle. All the Elders were in the center and
Thomas called in some non-native people as well. Each silently said a prayer. The forming of the
circle of unity of all people from the four corners of the Earth was more than just a symbolic act.
One participant said she had never felt herself to be in such a safe place. Later, several people
present noted that no further storm damage occurred in Manhattan and that the storm itself
abated that afternoon.
