| These Pages are Deciated to Those who have gone before us |
| These are their words |
| Chief Joseph (Nez Pierce) The earth was created by the assistance of the sun, an it should be left as it was...The country was made without lines of demaraction, and it is no man's business to divide it....I see the whites all over the country gaining wealth and see their desire to give us lands which are worthless...The earth and myself are of one mind. The measure of the land and the measure of our bodies are the same. Say to us if you can say it, that you were sent by the Creative Power to talk to us. Perhaps you think the Creator sent you here to dispose of us as you see fit. If I thought you were sent by the Creator I might be induced to think you had a right to dispose of me. Do not misunderstand me, but understand me fully with reference to my affection for the land. I never said the land was mine to do with it as I chose. The one who has the right to dispose of it is the one who created it. I claim a right to live on my land, and accord you the privilege to live on yours. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have carried a heavy load on my back ever since I was a boy. I realised then that we could not hold our own with the white men. We were like deer. They were like grizzly bears. We had small country. Their country was large. We were contended to let things remain as the Great Spirit Chief made them. They were not, and would change the rivers and mountains if they did not suit them ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am tired of fighting............from where the sun now stands, I will fight no more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All men were made brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be contented when penned up and denied liberty, to go where he pleases. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my country, now overrun by white men. They do not protect my father's grave. They do not pay for all my horses and cattle. Good words cannot give me back my children. Good words will not give my people good health and stop them from dying. Good words will not get my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves. I am tired of talk that comes to nothing It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk. |
| Sitting Bull (Lakota) If a man loses anything and goes back and looks carefully for it he will find it, and that is what the Indians are doing now when they ask you to give them the things that were promised them in the past; and I do not consider that they should be treated like beasts, and that is the reason I have grown up with the feelings I have.....I feel that my country has gotten a bad name, and I want it to have a good name; it used to have a good name; and I sit sometimes and wonder who it is that has given it a bad name. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am here by the will of the Great Spirit, and by his will I am chief. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now that we are poor, we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die,we die defending our rights ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land; they sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If a man loses anything and goes back and looks carefully for it, he will find it. |
| Chief Seattle Every part of all this soil is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove has been hollowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. The very dust you now stand on responds more willingly to their footsteps than to yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And when the last red man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall become a myth among the white men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe; and when our children's children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the pathless woods, they will not be alone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of the pond, the smell of the wind itself cleansed by a midday rain, or scented with pinon pine. The air is precious to the red man. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are part of the earth and the earth is part of us. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your religion was written on tablets of stone, ours on our hearts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
 |
|
| Links to My pages and other Web Sites click on image |
| continued on next page |
 |
| previous page |