(I recommend any of his books...he will truely be missed-Witchway)

 

 

Sunday, November 13, 2005

In Honor of Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933-2005)

 

 

The great indigenous visionary, philosopher, author and activist Vine

Deloria, Jr. passed over to join his ancestors today, November 13,

2005. Our thoughts and prayers go to his wife, Barbara, to his children

and his other relatives. The passing of Vine creates a huge

intellectual and analytical void in the native and non-native worlds.

He will be greatly missed.

It is appropriate on this website to reflect on the meaning of Vine's

contibutions to indigenous peoples' resistance, and to reflect on our

responsibilities to maintain and to advance the lessons that Vine gave

to us. It is safe to say that without the example provided by the

writing and the thinking of Vine Deloria, Jr., there likely would have

been no American Indian Movement, there would be no international

indigenous peoples' movement as it exists today, and there would be

little hope for the future of indigenous peoples in the Americas.

Vine Deloria, Jr. was a true revolutionary when he wrote "Custer Died

for Your Sins" in 1969, the first of his scores of books and scholarly

articles (for a partial bibliography of Vine's important books go to:

http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A31). He had the courage and

the vision to challenge the dominating society at its core. He was

unapologetic in confronting the racism of U.S.law and policy, and he

was prophetic in challenging young indigenous activists to hone their

strategies.

We will write much more about Vine in the upcoming days. He was our

elder statesman and mentor. For now, we will share this passage from

"Custer Died For Your Sins," as a reminder of our responsibilities, and

to ensure that we are more deliberate and strategic in our resistance.

 

"Ideological leverage is always superior to violence....The problems of

Indians have always been ideological rather than social, political or

economic....[I]t is vitally important that the Indian people pick the

intellectual arena as the one in which to wage war. Past events have

shown that the Indian people have always been fooled by the intentions

of the white man. Always we have discussed irrelevant issues while he

has taken our land. Never have we taken the time to examine the

premises upon which he operates so that we could manipulate him as he

has us."

-- "Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto," (1969) pp.251-252

 

and this relevent passage regarding the example of the great Oglala

Lakota leader Tashunka Witko (Crazy Horse):

"Crazy Horse never drafted anyone to follow him. People recognized that

what Crazy Horse did was for the best and was for the people. Crazy

Horse never had his name on the stationery. He never had business

cards. He never received a per diem. *** Until we can once again

produce people like Crazy Horse all the money and help in the world

will not save us. It is up to us to write the [next] chapter of the

American Indian upon this continent." page 272

 

For many of us, Vine was a contemporary Crazy Horse. Perhaps we

squandered his time with us. We took him for granted, and assumed that

he would always be with us. Now, the question is, not only will we

produce more Crazy Horses, but will we produce more Vine Deloria, Jr.s?

 

Vine, we will miss you, but we will continue your work toward freedom

for native peoples everywhere. Mitakuye Oyasin.