George Copway (Kah-ge-ga-bowh)               Ojibwa Chief  
                    1818-1863

Among the Indians there have been no written laws. Customs handed down from generation to
generation have been the only laws to guide them. Every one might act different from what
was considered right did he choose to do so, but such acts would bring upon him the
censure of the Nation.... This fear of the Nation's censure acted as a mighty band,
binding all in one social, honorable compact.
 

 Tecumseh Shawnee
       "Where today are the Pequot?  Where are the Narragansett, the
Mohican, the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people?
They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the White Man,
as snow before a summer sun.
        "Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn without a struggle,
give up our homes, our country bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit, the
graves of our dead and everything that is dear and sacred to us?  I know you
will cry with me, 'Never!  Never!'"

From the 1927 Grand Council of American Indians
 "The white people, who are trying to make us over into
their image, they want us to be what they call "assimilated," bringing the
Indians into the mainstream and destroying our own way of life and our own
cultural patterns. They believe we should be contented like those whose
concept of happiness is materialistic and greedy, which is very different
from our way. We want freedom from the white man rather than to be
intergrated. We don't want any part of the establishment, we want to be
free to raise our children in our religion, in our ways, to be able to
hunt and fish and live in peace. We don't want power, we don't want to be
congressmen, or bankers....we want to be ourselves. We want to have our
heritage, because we are the owners of this land and because we belong
here. The white man says, there is freedom and justice for all. We have
had "freedom and justice," and that is why we have been almost exterminated.
We shall not forget this."

From Chief Plenty Coups, Crow
"The ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the
blood of our ancestors."

From Black Hawk, Sauk
"How smooth must be the language of the whites, when
they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right."

Shinguaconse ("Little Pine")
"My father, you have made promises to me and to my children. If the promises had
 been made by a person of no standing, I should not be surprised to see his promises
 fail. But you, who are so great in riches and power; I am astonished that I do not see
                          your promises fulfilled!

  "I would have been better pleased if you had never made such promises than that
            you should have made them and not performed them. . ."

Resolution of the Fifth Annual Meetings of the Traditional Elders Circle, 1980 
"There are many things to be shared with the Four Colors of humanity in our
  common destiny as one with our Mother the Earth. It is this sharing that must be
   considered with great care by the Elders and the medicine people who carry the
 Sacred Trusts, so that no harm may come to people through ignorance and misuse of
                          these powerful forces."

Canassatego 
"We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white people think we do
 not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we
                 receive for it are soon worn out and gone."

Tom Brown, Jr., The Tracker 
"If today I had a young mind to direct, to start on the journey of life, and I was faced
with the duty of choosing between the natural way of my forefathers and that of the...
 present way of civilization, I would, for its welfare, unhesitatingly set that child's feet
         in the path of my forefathers. I would raise him to be an Indian!"

  "We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the
crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off
 its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable
                                spirit."

Wintu Woman, 19th Century
"When we Indians kill meat, we eat it all up. When we dig roots, we make little
    holes. When we build houses, we make little holes. When we burn grass for
 grasshoppers, we don't ruin things. We shake down acorns and pine nuts. We don't
   chop down the trees. We only use dead wood. But the white people plow up the
  ground, pull down the trees, kill everything. ... the White people pay no attention.
 ...How can the spirit of the earth like the White man? ... everywhere the White man
                         has touched it, it is sore."

William Commanda, Mamiwinini, Canada, 1991 
"Traditional people of Indian nations have interpreted the two roads that face the
 light-skinned race as the road to technology and the road to spirituality. We feel that
  the road to technology.... has led modern society to a damaged and seared earth.
 Could it be that the road to technology represents a rush to destruction, and that the
 road to spirituality represents the slower path that the traditional native people have
  traveled and are now seeking again? The earth is not scorched on this trail. The
                        grass is still growing there." 

Chief Aupumut, Mohican. 1725  
"When it comes time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of
  death, so when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live
  their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero
                              going home." 

Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation 
"We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be
 born. We must protect the forests for those who can't speak for themselves such as
                     the birds, animals, fish and trees."

Zitkala-Sa 
"A wee child toddling in a wonder world, I prefer to their dogma my excursions into
 the natural gardens where the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of
   birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers. If this is
              Paganism, then at present, at least, I am a Pagan."

From Chief Joseph, Nez Perces'
"If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace.....Treat all
men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made
by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people
should have equal rights upon it.......Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to
trade....where I choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act
for myself, and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty."

Chief Seattle
"When the Earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear, when that happens, The
Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them."

Unknown Speaker addressing the National Congress of American Indians in the mid
1960's
"In early days we were close to nature. We judged time, weather conditions, and
many things by the elements--the good earth, the blue sky, the flying of geese, and the changing winds. We
looked to these for guidance and answers. Our prayers and thanksgiving were said to the four winds--to the
East, from whence the new day was born; to the South, which sent the warm breeze which gave a feeling of
comfort; to the West, which ended the day and brought rest; and to the North, the Mother of winter whose
sharp air awakened a time of preparation for the long days ahead. We lived by God's hand through nature
and evaluated the changing winds to tell us or warn us of what was ahead.Today we are again
evaluating the changing winds. May we be strong in spirit and equal to our Fathers of another day in reading
the signs accurately and interpreting them wisely. May Wah-Kon-Tah, the Great Spirit, look down upon us,
guide us, inspire us, and give us courage and wisdom. Above all, may He look down upon us and be
pleased."

Crazy Horse - Sioux
"I was hostile to the white man...We preferred hunting to a life of idleness on our
reservations. At times we did not get enough to eat and we were not allowed to hunt. All
we wanted was peace and to be let alone.
Soldiers came...in the winter..and destroyed our villages. Then Long Hair (Custer)
came...They said we massacred him, but he would have done the same to us. Our first
impulse was to escape...but we were so hemmed in we had to fight. After that I lived in
peace, but the government would not let me alone. I was not allowed to remain quiet. I
was tired of fighting...They tried to confine me..and a soldier ran his bayonet into me. I
have spoken.

Sitting Bull Hunkpapa Sioux
"I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made
me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put
other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for Eagles to
be Crows. We are poor..but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must
die...we die defending our rights."

 
Red Cloud(Makhpiya-luta) , April, 1870
"In 1868, men came out and brought papers.  We could not read them and they
did not tell us truly what was in them.  We thought the treaty was to remove
the forts and for us to cease from fighting.  But they wanted to send us
traders on the Missouri, but we wanted traders where we were.  When I
reached Washington, the Great Father explained to me that the interpreters
had deceived me.  All I want is right and just."

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

....I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we
do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them
with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.

Sogoyewapha, "Red Jacket" - Senaca
Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great
 Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so
 much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?

Spotted Tail
"This war did not spring up on our land, this war was brought upon us by the
children of the Great Father who came to take our land without a price, and
who, in our land, do a great many evil things... This war has come from
robbery - from the stealing of our land."

John Wooden Legs, Cheyenne
"Our land is everything to us... I will tell you one of the things we
remember on our land.  We remember that our grandfathers paid for it - with
their lives."

Wovoka, Paiute                                                    
"You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's
       bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.

 "You ask me to dig for stones! Shall I dig under her skin for bones? Then when I
                die I cannot enter her body to be born again.

 "You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it and be rich like white men, but
                     how dare I cut my mother's hair?

 "I want my people to stay with me here. All the dead men will come to life again.
  Their spirits will come to their bodies again. We must wait here in the homes of
      our fathers and be ready to meet them in the bosom of our mother."

Chief Maquinna, Nootka
"Once I was in Victoria, and I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank and that
 the white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by they got it
 back with interest. "We are Indians and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or
 blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them
 with interest, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank."

Many Horses
"I will follow the white man's trail. I will make him my friend, but I will not bend my
back to his burdens. I will be cunning as a coyote. I will ask him to help me
understand his ways, then I will prepare the way for my children, and their children.
The Great Spirit has shown me - a day will come when they will outrun the white
man in his own shoes."

Metea, a Potowatami chief of the Illinois nation
"My Father: a long time has passed since first we came upon our lands; and our
people have all sunk into their graves. They had sense. We are all young and foolish,
and do not wish to do anything that they would not approve, were they living. We
are fearful we shall offend their spirits if we sell our lands; and we are fearful we
shall offend you if we do not sell them. This has caused us great perplexity of
thought, because we have counselled among ourselves, and do not know how we
can part with our lands.
My Father, we have sold you a great tract of land already; but it is not enough! We
sold it to you for the benefit of your children, to farm and to live upon. We have now
but a little left. We shall want it all for ourselves. We know not how long we shall
live, and we wish to leave some lands for our children to hunt upon. You are
gradually taking away our hunting grounds. Your children are driving us before
them. We are growing uneasy. What lands you have you may retain. But we shall sell
no more

Santana, Kiowa Chief
"I love this land and the buffalo and will not part with it.  I want you
to understand well what I say.  Write it on paper...I hear a great deal of
good talk from the gentlemen the Great Father sends us, but they never do
what they say.  I don't want any of the medicine lodges (schools and
churches) within the country.  I want the children raised as I was.
    I have heard you intend to settle us on a reservation near the
mountains.  I don't want to settle.  I love to roam over the prairies.
There I feel free and happy, but when we settle down we grow pale and die.
    A long time ago this land belonged to our fathers, but when I go up to
the river I see camps of soldiers on its banks.  These soldiers cut down my
timber, they kill my buffalo and when I see that, my heart feels like
bursting."

These words from our past, tell us of the pain and
loss we, the children of the Earth, feel in our hearts and express
our concern for, not only our future but the future of the world as
we watch the land being raped in the name of progress.