General Howard informed me, in a haughty spirit, that he would give my people 30 days to go back home, collect all their stock, and move onto the reservation.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the struggle of a people facing forced relocation and the challenge of adapting to significant change imposed by authority.
In this quote, Chief Joseph speaks to the harsh reality of his people's displacement, as imposed by a commanding figure. The mention of a 'haughty spirit' suggests the arrogance of authority while emphasizing the pain and resistance of those facing such a drastic change in their way of life. The quote encapsulates the challenges of losing one's home and the inevitable impact on cultural identity and community.
In practice
During a rally advocating for indigenous rights, this quote can be used to highlight the ongoing struggles faced by Native American communities.
We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth, but we never quarrel about the Great Spirit. We do not want to learn that.
Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself β and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.
It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and the broken promises.
If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike. give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow.
The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.
All men were made by the Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers.
People don't want to experience change; they just want to wake up, and it's different.
If, in our world, there is any chance of becoming the person you haven't yet become...will I know how to seize that chance, turn my life into a garden that will be completely different from my forebears'?
As we develop new beliefs about who we are, our behavior will change to support the new identity.
These false barriers that we've erected of space and race, all these illusions that we've allowed to infect us like toxins, we've got to rid ourselves of that. We are a better nation when we are ultimately united in a common purpose and a common cause.
They ask me if I'm going to quit. I thought we were just getting started. We have a revolution to fight, a country to change.
Changes... can only be effected by alterations in the original. The only thing not prerecorded in a prerecorded universe are the prerecordings themselves. The copies can only repeat themselves word for word. A virus is a copy. You can pretty it up, cut it up, scramble it - it will reassemble in the same form.
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