Native Village
WORDS FROM THE CIRCLE
"Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation like the waves
of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. Chief
Seattle
**"We may be different tribes, but we're all brothers and sisters." Opal
Gore, Comanche Nation
"Before you go to war, you try to figure out how not to go to war." Rony
Reed, Karuk
"They scattered before him parched corn, called momochitl, a kind of corn which bursts when parched and discloses
its contents and makes itself look like a very white flower; they said these were hailstones given to the god of
water."Early Spanish account of Aztec popcorn.
"They toast a certain kind of corn until it bursts. They call it pisancalla, and they use it as a confection."
Cobo (Spanish), 1650, speaking about Peruvian popcorn.
"Our sacred sites are more precious than gold." Phil
Emerson, Quechan
"The bulldozer or backhoe ripping into the earth, rips into our hearts. Our inability to stop this destruction
makes us feel as though we are failing our ancestors and our children. If you destroy the land, you destroy what we
believe in, who we are." Representative Nick Rahall
**“Youth can be the leaders of tomorrow – if we procrastinate..." Youth
advocate
"Education is your most powerful tool that you can give people. I don't care whether you're Native or any person of
color." Ernestine Werelus, Shoshone-Bannock
"As musicians we represent not just ourselves, but our families and community. When I stand on the stage I am with
those Oneidas who struggled, past and present, to protect our identity, culture and spiritual beliefs." Joanne
Shenandoah, Oneida
"Music is known as the universal language, a healing force. Hopefully, when people hear my music, it will inspire
them to fulfill their responsibilities to protect Mother Earth." Joanne
Shenandoah, Oneida
"We must always fight for what we believe in. We must never tire in our fight. It does not really matter how we
fight, what matters is what we are fighting for." Dino Butler,
American Indian Movement
"We, the great mass of the people, think only of the love we have for our land. For we do love the land where we
were brought up. We will never let our hold to this land go. To let it go will be like throwing away our mother that
gave us birth." Aitooweyah
"Great Spirit...To the center of the world you have taken me and showed me the goodness and the beauty and the
strangeness of the greening earth...you have shown me, and I have seen." BLACK
ELK
"It's time to break the stereotypes of American Indians present in the entertainment industry. Our cultures have
been co-opted and distorted by the mainstream media for the entertainment of others." Ray
Halbritter, Oneida Nation Representative
"The Iroquois Six Nations Confederacy was the first United Nations of the North American Continent. Our Great Law
of Peace serves as a guideline for our people and was used by Thomas Jefferson when the Constitution of the United
States was being drafted. Our laws of Democracy have been admired and adopted by many different cultures. Not many know
how important these natural laws are." Howard Lyons,
Mohawk Wolf Clan
**"We need to all work together as a nation of one tribe, the tribe of Human Kind, to make this world a good place
for all. That all starts with education of the young." Howard
Lyons, Mohawk Wolf Clan
"The mind's eye changes the way we judge
things." Fools Crow, LAKOTA
"The difference between a Flower and a Weed is a Judgment ." Unknown
"Learning the language helps to understand the thought processes that went into creating it and how the ancestors
communicated with each other." Gabriel Salinas, Luiseno
"We can't be selfish. We don't come here for ourselves. Whether we know it or not, our people, our tribes, are
depending on us." Casey Douma, president of Haskell Indian
University's Student Senate
"Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak... Non-violence is hard work.
It is the willingness to sacrifice. It is the patience to win." Cesar
Chavez
"We are invisible because the majority of people in this country are not educated properly about American Indians
and grow up thinking we're historical beings who exist only in museums." Rosemary
Richmond, Akwesasne Mohawk of the Bear Clan
"Because my roots are from Alaska. I'm the heartbeat of Alaska. I breathe, I walk, I eat what it offers from the
land and the sea. I guess I want people in general to respect all the tribes of Alaska Natives. Because we are the very
roots of Alaska." Mary Ann Immamak
"Listen to all the teachers in the woods. Watch the trees, the animals and all living things--you'll learn more
from them than from books." Joe Coyhis, STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE
"We are the only species destroying Mother Earth!" Chief
Arvol Looking Horse.
"Wanting peace is not unpatriotic." Jackie Alan Giuliano,
Phd.
''The earth comes first. The weather is more than the weather. Nature is never a backdrop. The rain has something to
say, and when birds are singing, the birds have something to say.'' Henrietta
Wise
**"We must foster the development of our language among those who will be speaking it in the future." Jack
Anawak
"Men must be born and reborn to belong. Their bodies must be formed of the dust of their forefathers." Luther
Standing Bear, Lakota
"Men and women have an equal responsibility to restore the strength of the family, which is the foundation of
all cultures."--Haida Gwaii Traditional Circle of Elders
"A lot of times when I'm playing the flute, I catch myself praying. To me, some of the songs are prayers."
Charlie Rising Sun, Cheyenne
"Kinship with all creatures of the earth, sky and water was a real and active principle." ~CHIEF
STANDING BEAR - SIOUX, 1800s
"Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth and the Great Silence alone!"--Ohiyesa
(Dr. Charles A. Eastman), SANTEE SIOUX
"We were put here by the Creator and these were our rights." CHIEF
WENINOCK YAKIMA, 1855
"All of us begin to rethink what is good about ourselves - put the past where it belongs - and get on with the
possibilities of the present!" Howard Rainer, TAOS PUEBLO-CREEK
"Many religions have been brought to this land. And the way my religion is, they teach me, and they taught me, and
told me to respect all religions. And I still do that." --Horace
Axtell, NEZ PERCE
**"If you look deep inside, you're going to find in yourself dignity, character, hope, beauty and dreams."
Billy Mills
"Since the beginning, Native People lived a life of being in harmony with all that surrounds us. It is a
belief that all human kind are related to each other.......we believe we are related to all other living species:
the winged ones, the four-legged, the plant life, and the elements of life - - air - fire - water. The
sun, moon, stars are there to guide us......" Dennis
J. Banks, 1984
"There is one God looking down on us all. We are children of the one God. God is listening to me. The sun, the
darkness, the winds are all listening to what we now say." Geronimo,
APACHE
"Native people want to use 21st century technology, but they don't want to give up their culture to do it," Marty
de Montaño, National Museum of the American Indian
"Eagle feathers are significant because eagles are messengers that carry our messages to the Creator. They bring
messages back to us within the markings of those feathers." Mark
Denning, Oneida
"We may be different tribes, but we're all brothers and sisters." Kenny
Scabby Robe, Blackfoot
"If you're going to do any meaningful work, you have to get out of the public eye and spend serious time in
libraries. That's where the important things happen." Vine
Deloria, Hunkpapa Lakota
"Issues change as generations change, but I've tried to stay out front with issues that will be of interest to
future generations." Vine Deloria, Hunkpapa Lakota
Words
from the Circle p.4 
Words
from the Circle p.6
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