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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
contributions
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.
©American
Indian
Movement
of
Colorado:
http://coloradoaim.org
|
Partial
bibliograhy of books by
vine deloria, jr.
- Aggressions
of
civilization:
federal
Indian
policy
since
the
1880s,
Philadelphia:
Temple
University
Press,
1984.
- American
Indian
policy
in the
twentieth
century,
Norman:
University
of
Oklahoma
Press,
1985.
- American
Indians,
American
justice,
Austin:
University
of Texas
Press,
1983.
- Behind
the
Trail of
Broken
Treaties:
an
Indian
declaration
of
independence,
New
York:
Dell
Publishing
Co.,
1974.
- A
Better
Day for
Indians,
New
York:
Field
Foundation,
1976.
- A
brief
history
of the
Federal
responsibility
to the
American
Indian,
Washington:
Dept. of
Health,
Education,
and
Welfare,
1979,
- Custer
died for
your
sins: an
Indian
manifesto,
New
York:
Macmillan,
1969.
- For
this
land:
writings
on
religion
in
America,
New
York:
Routledge,
1999.
- Frank
Waters:
man and
mystic,
Athens:
Swallow
Press:
Ohio
University
Press,
1993.
- God
is red:
a native
view of
religion,
Golden,
Colorado:
North
American
Press, 1994.
- The
Indian
affair, New
York:
Friendship
Press,
1974.
- Indians
of the
Pacific
Northwest,
New
York:
Doubleday,
1977.
- The
metaphysics
of
modern
existence,
San
Francisco:
Harper
&
Row,
1979.
- The
nations
within:
the past
and
future
of
American
Indian
sovereignty,
New
York:
Pantheon
Books,
1984.
- Of
utmost
good
faith,
San
Francisco:
Straight
Arrow
Books,
1971.
- Red
earth,
white
lies:
Native
Americans
and the
myth of
scientific
fact,
New
York:
Scibner,
1995.
- The
red
man
in
the
new
world
drama:
a
politico-legal
study
with
a
pageantry
of
American
Indian
history,
New
York:
Macmillan,
1971.
- Reminiscences
of
Vine
V.
Deloria,
Yankton
Sioux
Tribe of
South
Dakota
1970,
New York
Times
oral
history
program:
American
Indian
oral
history
research
project.
Part II;
no. 82.
- The
right to
know: a
paper,
Washington,
D.C.:
Office
of
Library
and
Information
Services,
U.S.
Dept. of
the
Interior,
1978.
- A
sender
of
words:
essays
in
memory
of John
G.
Neihardt,
Salt
Lake
City:
Howe
Brothers,
1984.
- Singing
for a
spirit:
a
portrait
of the
Dakota
Sioux,
Santa
Fe,
N.M.:
Clear
Light
Publishers,
1999.
- Spirit
and
reason:
the Vine
Deloria,
Jr.,
reader, Golden,
Colorado:
Fulcrum
Pub,
1999.
- Tribes,
treaties,
and
constitutional
tribulations
(with
Wilkins,
David
E.),
Austin:
University
of Texas
Press,
1999.
- We
talk,
you
listen;
new
tribes,
new
turf,
New
York:
Macmillan,
1970.
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