Being an Indian means living with the land. And the only way we'll be able to do that is to gain our freedom.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the intrinsic connection between Indigenous identity and the land, suggesting that true freedom is only attainable through a harmonious existence with it.
Russell Means highlights the importance of land in defining Indigenous identity and sovereignty. He states that being an Indian is not just a cultural identity, but a deep-rooted relationship with the land that must be preserved and liberated in order to thrive. The implication is that true freedom is inextricably linked to the ability to inhabit and honor the land, thus calling for a reclamation of both cultural and territorial autonomy.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about Indigenous rights and environmental justice.
I had often wondered how to best decolonize my people... It must be done one human being at a time. Without that kind of help, Western society does not allow people to come to terms with their feelings. With honesty and therapy, my people can be made whole again.
You see the one thing I've always maintained is that I'm an American Indian. I'm not a Native American. I'm not politically correct. Everyone who's born in the Western Hemisphere is a Native American. We are all Native Americans. And if you notice, I put American before my ethnicity. I'm not a hyphenated African-American or Irish-American or Jewish-American or Mexican-American.
Being is a spiritual proposition. Gaining is a material act. Traditionally, American Indians have always attempted to be the best people they could. Part of that spiritual process was and is to give away wealth, to discard wealth in order not to gain.
We say that slavery has vanished from European civilization, but this is not true. Slavery still exists, but now it applies only to women and its name is prostitution.
Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable.
Mastery of life is not a question of control, but of finding a balance between human and being...Human is form. Being is formless. Human and Being are not separate but interwoven.
What I have written is but a fleeting intimation of the outside of what one man sees and may tell about the path he walks. No one shares the secret of a life; no one enters into the heart of the mystery.
One must find the source within one's own Self, one must possess it. Everything else was seeking -- a detour, an error.
God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America.
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