I know Great Spirit is looking down upon me from above, and will hear what I say.
Sitting BullRead
When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land; they sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them?
Interpretation
This quote reflects on loss and the disintegration of a culture and its land over time.
Sitting Bull's quote captures a deep sense of loss and sorrow regarding the displacement of the Sioux people and their historical dominance over the land. It raises poignant questions about the fate of their warriors and the ownership of their lands, highlighting the contrasts between past glory and present reality. This reflection serves as a reminder of the struggles faced by indigenous peoples and the changes wrought by colonization.
In practice
In a discussion about indigenous rights and land ownership during a seminar.
I know Great Spirit is looking down upon me from above, and will hear what I say.
I want to tell you that if the Great Spirit had chosen anyone to be the chief of this country, it is myself.
Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country?
Therefore, I do not wish to consider any proposition to cede any portion of our tribal holdings to the Great Father.
I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle.
God made me an Indian, but not a reservation Indian.
He had opened his heart to the sublime indifference of the universe
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.
You are certainly under the guidance of the Holy Ghost or you wouldn't have come where you now are.
No species ... possesses a purpose beyond the imperatives created by genetic history ... The human mind is a device for survival and reproduction, and reason is just one of its various techniques.
What delights, what pleasures does your life offer you that outweigh the raptures of death?
Two races share today the soil of Canada. These people had not always been friends. But I hasten to say it. There is no longer any family here but the human family. It matters not the language people speak, or the altars at which they kneel.
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