We were told that they wished merely to pass through our country. . . to seek for gold in the far west . . . Yet before the ashes of the council are cold, the Great Father is building his forts among us. . . . His presence here is . . . an insult to the spirits of our ancestors. Are we then to give up their sacred graves to be allowed for corn?
Interpretation
This quote reflects the conflict between indigenous rights and expansionist ambitions.
Red Cloud's words express the deep-seated grievances of Native Americans regarding the encroachment of settlers onto their lands. He highlights the hypocrisy of promises made by the U.S. government and the disrespect shown towards the sacred lands of his ancestors, questioning the morality of sacrificing graves for agricultural expansion. The quote emphasizes the spiritual bond between indigenous peoples and their ancestral territories, illustrating the broader themes of colonization and cultural erasure.
In practice
During a speech on indigenous rights, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of respecting ancestral lands.
I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.
The Great Spirit will not make me suffer because I am ignorant. He will put me in a place where I shall be better off than in this world.
When I was a young man, I was poor. In a war with other nations, I was in eighty-seven fights. There I received my name and was made Chief of my nation. But now I am old and am for peace.
Look at me. I was a warrior on this land where the sun rises, now I come from where the sun sets. Whose voice was first surrounded on this land - the red people with bows and arrows. The Great Father says he is good and kind to us. I can't see it.
We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity β a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.
Don't search for heaven and hell in the future. Both are now present. Whenever we manage to love without expectations, calculations, negotiations, we are indeed in heaven. Whenever we fight, hate, we are in hell.
Goodness is to do good to the deserving and love the good and hate the wicked, and not to be eager to inflict punishment or take vengeance, but to be gracious and kindly and forgiving.
To be white in America is to have the confidence to say, without a second thought: this space, this neighborhood, this city, this county, this country is mine.
The reason why men do not obey us, is because they see the mud at the bottom of our eye.
Everything that can be thought at all can be thought clearly. Everything that can be said can be said clearly. Ludwig Wittgenstein
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