Native American Issues Quotes

Holocaust? Ninety million Indians? Only four million left? They all have casinos - what's to complain about?

I do not talk English very much… I go down Washington… Government wants to open the Indian country. Indian he no ready yet, maybe half of it, they ready. That’s what I come for. That’s what I tell commissioner.

The illicit traffic of liquor among the Indians and the indiscriminate leasing of their lands have done more harm than anything that happened to them in their history, even now we hear of some desperate deed committed through their drunkenness.

Thou deputy of Pleimont and Boston, paint our words on paper and send them to those on whom thou art dependant; and say to them that all the allied Savages dwelling on the river Kenebek hate firewater…; and that if the English have any more of it brought hither to sell to the Savages, the latter will believe the English wish to exterminate them.

It's a bit of a sore spot, the Thanksgiving in Indian country.

I don't think the approach is to simply give them [the Indian tribes] money, because too much money has disappeared in Indian country, too much has been mismanaged. The history of Indian country is the disappearance of money.

That those tribes [the Sac and Fox Indians] cannot exist surrounded by our settlements and in continual contact with our citizensis certain. They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in their condition.

We filed a constitutional rights lawsuit on my reservation, and I had to go out and interview all these old people. And I found that many of the old people on my reservation didn't know who was president. That kind of pointed out to me the irrelevance at times of who is in Washington.

The Indian is but a sketch in red crayon of a rudimental manhood. To the problem of his relation to the white race, there is one solution: extermination.

Economic and health statistics, as well as police-violence statistics, shed light on the pressures on American Indian communities and individuals: Indian youths have the highest suicide rate of any United States ethnic group.

My heart is so heavy when I see the reality of the Indian reservation and as an American, I know I am, too, responsible.

For eight years, I've served on the Indian Affairs committee, two years as the ranking member. I've been on that committee since Day One. I will stay on the committee for as long as I'm in the Senate because of my commitment to making a difference for Alaska Natives.

I desire a stop may be put to the selling of strong Liquors by the White people to my people especially near the Indian nation. If the white people make strong drink, let them sell it to one another, or drink it in their own families. This will avoid a great deal of mischief which otherwise will, happen from my people getting drunk and quarrelling with the White people. I have no strong prisons like you to confine them for it. Our only way is to put them under ground and all these (pointing proudly to his Warriors) will be ready to do that to those who shall deserve it.

For the world who enquire for correct and just information [about Indians], they must take my words for the truth, or else come to this country and look for themselves, into these grotesque circles of never-ending laughter and fun, instead of going to Washington City to gaze on the poor embarrassed Indian who is called there by his "Great Father," to contend with the sophistry of the learned and acquisitive world, in bartering away his lands with the graves and the hunting grounds of his ancestors.

It's amazing to me that some kids are surprised to find out Indians are still alive.

My opinion is that the movie business should show an accurate picture, but I think the responsibility lies in the educational system. Most of the educational material I've seen on the Native American does not portray an actual picture.

In high school I dated a white woman. She would come to visit me on the rez. And her dad, who was very racist, didn't like that at all. And he told her one time, 'You shouldn't go on the rez if you're white because Indians have a lot of anger in their heart.'

In the John Wayne movies, the Indians were savages that were trying to scalp you. That culture has really suffered because of the stereotype you see in those westerns.

I have had vegan Thanksgiving of tofurkey and soy gravy. And it's not to say that Thanksgiving will ever justify the genocide of the Native Americans. But vegan Thanksgiving - that's just spitting on the graves, isn't it?

An awareness reached across America that if Native American people had to resort to arms at Wounded Knee, there must really be something wrong.

I think when you see 'Ridiculous Six,' the show speaks for itself in terms of its treatment of American Indians.

The American Indian, once proud and free, is torn now between White and tribal values; between the politics and language of the White man and his own historic culture. His problems, sharpened by years of defeat and exploitation, neglect and inadequate effort, will take many years to overcome.

Gordie, the white boy genius, gave me this book by a Russian dude named Tolstoy, who wrote, 'Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' Well, I hate to argue with a Russian genius, but Tolstoy didn't know Indians, and he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reasons: the frikkin' booze.

I think awards in this country at this time are inappropriate to be received or given until the condition of the American Indian is drastically altered. If we are not our brother's keeper, at least let us not be his executioner.

If you will investigate all the Indian troubles, you will find that there is something wrong of this nature at the bottom of all of them, something relating to the supplies, or else a tardy and broken faith on the part of the general government.