A famous Chief and Medicine Man uttered those words, Tȟatȟaŋka Iyotȟaŋka was his real name and he was also referred to as Sitting Bull.
The above words are appropriate.
When the Americans decided that it could no longer live with the Sioux or keep its promises to the Sioux they sent soldiers after the people who were defending their own.
Sitting Bull was not about to go away without a response so he taught the US Army a little lesson when he defeated Lt Col Custer at the battle of the Little Bighorn.
The Sioux looked at life a little differently than the people who stole their lands.
He made some observations about his enemies and a few other notable comments:
I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle.
If I agree to dispose of any part of our land to the white people I would feel guilty of taking food away from our children’s mouths, and I do not wish to be that mean.If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place.
Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country?
Only seven years ago we made a treaty by which we were assured that the buffalo country should be left to us forever. Now they threaten to take that from us also.
Strangely enough, they have a mind to till the soil, and the love of possessions is a disease in them.
There are things they tell us that sound good to hear, but when they have accomplished their purpose they will go home and will not try to fulfill our agreements with them.
Therefore, I do not wish to consider any proposition to cede any portion of our tribal holdings to the Great Father.
They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbors away from her, and deface her with their buildings and their refuse.
What treaty that the whites have kept has the red man broken? Not one.
What white man can say I never stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say that I am a thief.
What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed? Who has seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?
The disease that is causing problems today was recognized by the Sioux for what it was years ago. The man who spoke these words was one of the few in history who had a noble heart.
Aside from wisdom, Sitting Bull was known for his generosity. It is told he would give money to poor white people in the big cities so they could eat.
It is worth going back in time and seeing what other cultures thought of our culture. I can’t honestly say Sitting Bull was wrong, can you?
