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"We are INDIGENOUS to this land. We didn't come from
China, Mongolia, Ireland or Greece. We traveled around yes, and met other cultures and peoples, but get
this: we are indigenous "native to these lands." Although it's hard for Eurocentric Americans or
Europeans to accept this, our cultures and languages are home grown. The Catholic missionaries and [those] who came over
from Spain to steal and plunder couldn't--and--wouldn't believe that indigenous peoples could create a
"civilization" more advanced that that in Europe at the time, so they began the process of looking to Europe
for the source of inspiration for Indigenous culture here on Turtle Island."
Tom Dostou, Makwa, Midewin Society |
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"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." |
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“ Don’t
listen to peers who say you can’t do what you want to do. If you fail at something, just pick yourself up and try
again. That’s what I did.” |
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"Then I heard
a wise woman talk at a conference. She spoke of being removed from
her culture, unplugged from it, disconnected and set aside like an
old toaster. But she was always a toaster and the day came when
someone plugged her back in and the electricity flowed. She became
functional again - and the tool of her reawakening was her language. |
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“Take care of your mind. Watch your words, they are really
powerful. Same with your bodies. Take care of yourself. You are very powerful.”
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"Listening is the first sense to develop in the womb. It
is not surprising, then, that I was conscious of sounds earlier than anything else as an infant. Mainly, these were the
sounds of bird wings rising up into the sky, rustling trees, the cry of the mourning dove, and the rippling wind. They
were the first nonhuman sounds I heard because my family spent most of the time outdoors. This awareness was followed by
other sounds of life embracing me with deep signs and measured breaths. Those human sounds then became syllables, or
vocables, and voice patterns with intonations and inflections. Eventually and inexplicably, they turned into words such
as Waconda, meaning Creator, or the Great Mystery of LIfe, and waduge, meaning to eat, and Mayah, the Earth. Single
words became explosions of sounds and images, and these traveled outward in strings of sentences or melodies and
songs." |
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"In our story of Creation, we talk about each one of us having our own path to travel, and our own gift to give and to share. You see, what we say is that the Creator gave us all special gifts; each one of us is special. And each one of us is a special gift to each other because we've got something to share." John Peters (Slow Turtle), Wampanoag
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