Native American speeches

How can we buy the sky?" Chief Seattle began.

"How can you own the wind?

Every part of this earth is sacred. Every pine needle. Every sandy shore.

Every mist in the dark woods.

We are part of the earth and the earth is part of us.

The air is precious. It shares its spirit with all the life it supports.

The wind that gave me my first breath also received my last sigh.

This we know: the earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth.

The earth is our mother. What befalls the earth befalls all the son daughters of the earth.

All things are connected like the blood that unites us.

We did not weave the web of life. We are merely a strand in it.

Wherever we do to the web, we do to ourselves"

Chief Seattle

I have heard talk and talk but nothing is done.

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,

they do not protect my father's grave.

Good words will not give me back my children.

Good words will not give my people good health or stop them from dying.

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 !

Black Hawk

HOKA HAY! So live your life so the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their views, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a stranger if in a lonely place. SHOW RESPECT TO ALL PEOPLE, BUT GROVEL TO NONE. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes wise ones turn to fools and robs them of their visions. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that 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. -TECUMSEH-

We The First People
I'm proud to belong to one of the original clans
Whose Ancestors occupied all of these lands
Before we were found by some wandering seaman
Who knew just where he was - and we became “Indians”.

Tell me about our history, a tear will glisten
Stories of how life use to be, bring a rueful smile
Drums talk to me of our victories, I will listen
and flutes will find me dreaming all the while

In order to “save” us, they killed us
Our peaceful cultures were “dangerous”
And they thought they could just ravage us
But by fighting back, we became “savages”.

Call us lazy indeed - we're not driven by their greed
To gather materials about them
But my question is, how did we exist,
FOR HUNDREDS OF CENTURIES WITHOUT THEM

copy; 1995, R.C. Thomas (Potawatomi/Chippewa)

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