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“The president in Washington sends
word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the
sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the
freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy
them?
“Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine
needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow,
every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my
people.
“We know the sap which courses through trees as we know the blood
that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is
part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer,
the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices
in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the
same family.
“The shinning water that moves in the streams and the rivers is not
just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land,
you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the
clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of
my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.
“The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our
canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness
you would give any brother.
“If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us,
that the air shares its spirit with all life it supports. The wind
that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last
sigh. So if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred,
as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the
meadow flowers.
“Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That
the earth is our mother. What befalls the earth befalls the sons of
earth.
“This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the
earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man
did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever
he does to the web, he does to himself.
“One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious
to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on it creator.
“Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo
are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the
secret corners of the forest are heavy with the sent of many men and
the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the
thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is it to say
good-bye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the
beginning of survival.
“When the last Red Man has vanished with his wilderness and his
memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will
these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the
spirit of my people left?
“We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. So,
if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as
we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land, as it
is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love
it, as God loves us all.
“As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This
earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we
know: there is only one God. No man, be he Red Man or White Man, can
be apart. We are brother after all."
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