@ICC

"I conclude my comments by reminding the Indian people of the great war chief of the Oglala Sioux--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 stationary. He never had business cards. He never even received a per diem.
When he was dying, having been bayoneted in the back at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, Crazy Horse said to his father, "Tell the people it is no use to depend on me any more now." 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 final chapter of the American Indian upon this continent."

Vine Deloria, Jr. in Custer Died for Your Sins

" I saw before me a man who looked quite young, not over thirty years old, five feet eight inched height, lithe and sinewy, with a scar in the face. The expression of his countenance was one of quite dignity, but morose, dogged, tenacious, and melencholy. He behaved with stolidity, like a man who realized that he had to give in to fate, but would not do so as sullenly as possible...
All Indians gave him a high reputation for courage and generosity. In advancing upon an enemy, none of his warriors were allowed to pass him. He had made himself hundreds of friends by his charity towards the poor, as it was a point of honor with him never to keep anything for himself, excepting weapons of war. I never heard an Indian mention his name save in terms of respect. In the Custer Massacre, the attack by Reno had first caused a panic among the women and children and some of the warriors, who started to flee; but Crazy Horse, throwing away his rifle, brained one of the incoming soldiers with his stone war-club, and jumped upon his horse."

Captain John G. Bourke, United States Army

"We must teach the children to read and write, so the white men cannot cheat us, and we must hang on to our land until the young folks can speak English and look out for own interests."

Tatanka Iyotake (Sitting Bull) - Hunkpapa

"I hardly sustain myself beneath the weight of white men's blood that I have shed. The whites provoked the war; their injustices, their indignities to our families, the cruel, unheard of and wholly unprovoked massacre at Fort Lyon ... shook... all the veins which bind and support me. I rose, tomahawk in hand, and I have done all the hurt to the whites that I could."

T?at?á?ka íyotake (Sitting Bull) - Hunkpapa

"The farther my people keep away from the whites the better I shall be satisfied. The white people are wicked and I don't want my women to become as the white women I have seen. I want you to teach my people to read and write, but they must not become white people in their ways; it is too bad a life. I could not let them do it. I would rather die an Indian than live a white man."

Tatanka Iyotake - Hunkpapa , 1888

“First, the immigrants who populated these shores were not exactly the cream of the crop of Europe. For the most part they were the misfits of their day, the losers in political and theological disputes of the day. Some were Manson-like families of 17th and 18th century hippies chased from one land to the next until, in desperation, they arrived on these shores determined to reconstruct for themselves the former homelands. New Swedens, New Frances, and New Englands flourished, and one glance at the map of New England will indicate how thoroughly the new settlers wished to relive their former lives in familiar places.
No comprehensive theory of human existence, no profound religious insights, and no universal political ideas came to these shores initially. Rather the ideas that came with the first settlers were the perverted ideas that had failed in Europe; the psychological walking wounded brought with them an irrational fear of the unknown that was slightly less emotional than the fear of extinction that they had known in Europe. All of the ideological failures of European history arrived in the coastal areas with the Pilgrims, and it has taken us many centuries to comprehend the extent of the disaster that the first settlers presented to the Indians and themselves.
Second, a large portion of the first generations of settlers were the criminal element of England who had a choice between immediate execution or exile in the wilderness of America. Georgia was a penal colony of the British crown and the first families of Georgia for many generations were descendants of whores and footpads of the Old World. There was not, therefore, an inbred respect for the law or human rights that we today attribute to the Founding Fathers. A significant proportion, then and now, was from the beginning devoted to the violation of laws, the disregard of rights of any kind, and the casual murder and rape of those who resisted them. Something in the neighborhood of fifty thousand convicts were transported to the New World in an effort to provide law and order in the Old.
Third, a substantial number of immigrants arrived in the New World with their forseeable future years already mortgaged to pay for their passage over. "Redemptioners" or "free willers" booked passage for America and on their arrival were auctioned off by the ship captain to the highest bidder. Many English merchants specialized in this trade and fraudulent practices in recruiting were common place. The immigrants were packed aboard like sardines, and a mortality of more 50 percent during a trip the New World was not unusual. These people, if they had hope, had a rugged term of servitude before they could realized that hope, and they composed almost half of the total white immigrants before 1776.
Rather than begin with a fairly intelligent, devout and honest citizenry, therefore, the English settlers were more than 50 percent indentured servants, a considerable percentage of criminals, and a scattering of religious fanatics. It was quite a group to amass under any circumstances.
The major justification used by the Europeons to dispossess the American Indian was that it was God's intent that the farmer should replace the hunter and that civilization should be brought to the shades of primitive chaos. Visualizing the New World as a last chance at a living Garden of Eden, the early settlers set out to establish roots in the Atlantic Coast areas. But the myth of the European as the divine gardener is one of the most ludicrous beliefs that white Americans still cherish.
Instead of being natural farmers, most of the early colonies actually imported food from Europe because they did not know how to farm."

Vine Deloria, Jr. in Spirit and Reason: The Vine Deloria, Jr. Reader

"In transplanting Europe to these peaceful shores, the colonists violated the most basic principle of man's history: certain lands are given to certain peoples. It is these peoples only who can flourish, thrive, and survive on the land. Intruders may hold sway for centuries but they will eventually be pushed from the land or the land itself will destroy them."

Vine Deloria, Jr

"Since the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized is so deeply entrenched in the United States and Canada, most of us have never learned how to actively challenge the status quo. The current institutions and systems are designed to maintain the privilege of the colonizer and the subjugation of the colonized, and to produce generations of people who will never question their position within this relationship."

For Indigenous Eyes Only - a decolonization handbook by Waziyatawin and Michael Yellow Bird

The Sans Arc, or Itázip?ho (Itazipcola, Hazipco - ‘Those who hunt without bows’) in Lakota, are a subdivision of the Lakota people. Sans Arc is the French translation of the Lakota name which means, "Without bows."

DAMAKOTA DO

"Thus the native discovers that his life, his breath, his beating heart are the same as those of the settler. He finds out that the settler's skin is not of any more value than a native's skin; and it must be said that this discovery shakes the world in a very necessary manner. All the new, revolutionary assurance of the native stems from it. For if, in fact, my life is worth as much as the settler's, his glance no longer shrivels me up nor freezes me, and his voice no longer turns me into stone. I am no longer on tenterhooks in his presence; in fact, I don't give a damn for him. Not only does his presence no longer trouble me, but I am already preparing such efficient ambushes for him that soon there will be no way out but that of flight."

Frantz Fanon in THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH

HAPPY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY

Ten years ago today i remember smashing an effigy of Columbus on the quad at UNM as UNM Native Studies celebrated its first INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY and watching the faces of shocked white students walking by. But what really struck me was the rage that SW women had in them when we finally talked some of them into taking a swing nothing but pure rage as they swung that stick as hard as they could at the Columbus effigy.

"The victory ceremonies centered about the young warriors and everyone was very proud of them. This was because the young hunters and warriors were the protectors of the tribe. To them everyone, young and old, looked for protection. Lives, food, property, and fireside were in their keeping and the cost was theirs even to giving up their lives. For this reason, mothers and sisters joined happily in honoring the braves at these big celebrations.
Mother further interested me by sometimes talking about the braves. She would tell me what they had done and why they were honored. Men in council were there because of merit. A man might be poor in goods, own few horses, and live in a small tipi, but he would sit with the council. Riches brought no man power and though he might have many horses he could not buy a seat with the wise ones. Mother tried, I believe, to develop in me a spirit of fair dealing and also the wish appraise people justly”
To become a great brave was, however, the highest aspiration. At the same time it imposed upon the young man the greatest efforts. Not only must he have great physical bravery and fighting prowess, but he must meet the severest tests of character. The great brave was a man of strict honor, undoubted truthfulness, and unbounded generosity. He was strong enough to part with his last horse or weapon and his last bit of food. In conduct he never forgot pride and dignity, accepting praise and honor and wearing fine regalia without arrogance. To endure pain, to bear the scars of life and battle, to defy the elements and to laugh and sing in the face of death, a man had to possess the prime requisite of a Lakota brave—courage. And only the brave could hope to become a chief.
When but a mere child, father inspired me by often saying: ‘Son, I never want to see you live to be an old man. Die young on the battlefield. That is the way a Lakota dies.’ The full intent of this advice was that I must never shirk my duty to my tribe no matter what price in sacrifice I paid. Yet in serving my tribe I was serving myself. If I failed in duty, I simply failed to meet a test of manhood, and a man living in his tribe without respect was a living nonentity. My ancestors had been brave men. There was not an enemy they feared—not even did they fear death. So if I were not afraid to die I would then dare to do whatever came for me to do.
Among surrounding tribes both friendly and otherwise, the Lakotas were known as fearless fighters. Not because they looked for trouble with their neighbors, but because they determinedly kept their territory free from enemy tribes who now and then invaded their grounds. Certain areas were recognized as the homeland of the Lakota, and when the scouts discovered an enemy band near, the warriors went out and drove them back. Now and then a war-party went out to avenge the death of a fellow tribesman, but most of our troubles were over boundary lines or hunting grounds.
Contrary to much that has been written, warfare with the Lakota was not a tribal profession. They did not fight to gain territory nor to conquer another people. Neither did the fight to subject other tribes to slavery. They never kept captives nor exacted tribute from those subdued, and there was no institution that remotely resembled a prison. As a matter of fact, the philosophical ideal of the Lakota was harmony, and the most powerful symbol was that of peace.”

Ote Kte (Luther Standing Bear) - Oglala

"Moreover, firing at long range was tedious business to men whose sole aim in battle was to strike the enemy with the hand or something held in the hand. As the old men say now, "White man's war is just shooting". After World War I, some of the Sioux veterans (members of the American Legion) sought admission to the old tribal warrior orders. But the old men resisted their claims: they considered that killing men with rifle-fire was no qualification for standing as warriors. Such warfare is just shooting".

Stanley Vestal in Sitting Bull: Champion of the Sioux

Sometimes all you can do is laugh at the colonized because anyone who thinks scouting is a 9 to 5 job has never been a scout that's a 24/7/365 job:

"As far back as Lakota memory reaches, the chiefs have been chosen in council. The selection of the new leader was made by the chiefs of one or more bands coming together for the consideration of young men who have become notable and outstanding. A selection might be made in the first council, or several might be made in the first council, or several might be held before decision was reached, for proof of the young man’s fitness had to be evident to the whole council. Sometimes the matter was deferred from year to year until worth was fully proven, for the place of chief was one to be gained in no way except by merit.
The young chief must know the hard life of the hunter and the perils of the scout and warrior; must be slow in speech and decision; must be honest in council, and have the confidence of the people. While not forgetting the rights of other chiefs. All matters, such as electing new leaders and moving were done in conference with other chiefs and leaders. And lastly, the young chief must be a giver and not a receiver—a man of self denial.”

Ote Kte (Luther Standing Bear) - Oglala

"The ultimate aim of Dakota life, stripped of accessories, was quite simple: one must obey kinship rules; one must be a good relative. No Dakota who has participated in that life will dispute that. In the last analysis every other consideration was secondary--property, personal ambition, glory, good times, life itself. Without that aim and the constant struggle to attain it, the people would no longer be Dakotas in truth."

Ella Deloria, Yankton Dakota, in Speaking of Indians,1944