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.
Interpretation
Decolonization requires individual healing and honest reflection to address emotional and societal issues.
This quote by Russell Means conveys the importance of personal healing and introspection in the process of decolonization. He suggests that to truly restore and empower marginalized communities, it is necessary to engage with each individual’s emotions honestly, providing therapeutic support that enables them to confront their historical and personal traumas.
In practice
During a workshop on community healing, this quote can serve as a starting point for discussion.
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.
Being an Indian means living with the land. And the only way we'll be able to do that is to gain our freedom.
Times change. The vices of your age are stylish today.
It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime.
I stand in Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun; and behold! the Shadow has departed! I will be a Shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.
Nothing is going to change, unless someone does something soon
I am not the first man who wanted to make changes in his life at 60 and I won't be the last. It is just that others can do it with anonymity.
We should not forget that in the '60s, George Wallace's motto was 'segregation forever,' and that he did nothing to deter bombings and other acts of violence and, by his actions, condoned them.
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