Plight Of 16,000 Relocated Indians

By JOE O'DOWD JR., Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: June 17, 1986

This year's Academy Award-winning documentary, "Broken Rainbow" - the story of the forced relocation of more than 400 Navajo families - will be screened tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the Friends Center, 1501 Cherry St.

The relocation, the result of a 1974 law whose deadline in July 7, is "the largest (such) project since Japanese-Americans were interned at camps in World War II," according to Navajo spokesman Larry Anderson.

The screening is a benefit presented by the Big Mountain Support Group of Greater Philadelphia. The movie depicts the plight of the people who have lost their land as a result of the legislation.

Filmmakers Maria Floria and Victoria Mudd have documented the devastating effects of the relocation on the lives of many of the 16,000 people who are part of the 400 affected families.

The legislation gave Peabody Coal Co. the right to strip mine 65,000 acres of Indian land at Big Mountain, Arizona, which has long been sacred to both the Navajo and Hopi tribes, serving as a focal point for many ceremonies.

The screening will be preceded by a press conference, also at the Friends Center, from 6:45 to 7:30 p.m., and will be followed by an update and question-and-answer session.

The sreening is part of the Neighborhood Film Project's Moving Images Program.

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