Our chiefs are killed. . . . The little children are freezing to death. . . . My people have no blankets, no food. . . . My heart is sick and sad. . . . I will fight no more forever.
Interpretation
This quote expresses profound sorrow and a sense of defeat in the face of injustice faced by one's people.
Chief Joseph's words convey the deep anguish and despair felt by a leader witnessing the suffering of his people, particularly the vulnerability of children. The quote reflects a moment of resignation after a long struggle, highlighting the impact of loss, hardship, and the futility of continued conflict when basic human needs are unmet.
In practice
During a speech about social justice and native rights.
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 — 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.
In time of war, soldiers, however sensible, care a great deal more on some occasions about slaking their thirst than about the danger of enteric fever. Better known as typhoid, the disease is often spread by drinking contaminated water.
I was taught that if you see a person drowning, you must jump into the water to save them, whether you can swim or not.
Extraordinary circumstances often bring along with them extraordinary strength. No man knows, till the experiment, what he is capable of effecting.
Even when I get on airplanes, very often, as I walk down the aisle, I notice a lot of people staring or whispering. I recognize the fact that yes, to a lot of people, I will always be that 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped and who was held captive.
Fear is not the natural state of civilized people.
We took this challenge before our Lord and our conscience, and it must be done, because this man, Hitler, he is the ultimate evil.
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