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.
In old days there were angels who came and took men by the hand and led them away from the city of destruction. We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threatening destruction: a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no more backward; and the hand may be a little child's.
I wanted people not to care about whether you were gay, straight, black, white, transgender, whatever it may be... That being said, there's more work to be done... I still want to change the world, absolutely.
More than ever before in history, individuals can now band together to solve grand challenges. We face enormous problems, but we 'as individuals' have enormous power to solve them.
Good morning, Revolution: You're the very best friend I ever had. We gonna pal around together from now on
The Millennium Development Goals can be met by 2015, but only if all involved break with business as usual and dramatically accelerate and scale up action now.
For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.