Adela

As the sky paints its story, we stand strong on sacred ground.

GRAHAM GREENE - Born June 22, 1952, on the Six Nations Reserve in Ohsweken, Ontario, Mr. Greene is a 70 year old FIRST NATIONS Canadian actor who belongs to the ONEIDA tribe.
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He has worked on stage, in film, and in TV productions in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his 1990 performance in "Dances with Wolves". Other films you may have seen him in include Thunderheart, Maverick, Die Hard with a Vengeance, the Green Mile, and Wind River. Graham Greene graduated from the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in 1974 & immediately began performing in professional theatre in Toronto and England, while also working as an audio technician for area rock bands. His TV debut was in 1979 and his screen debut in 1983. His acting career has now spanned over 4 decades & he remains as busy as ever. In addition to the Academy Award nomination for Dance with Wolves, he has been consistently recognized for his work, and also received nominations in 1994, 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2016. Graham Greene lives in Toronto, Canada, married since 1994, and has 1 adult daughter.
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A content mind brings lasting peace.

This is Matrix movie star Keanu Reeves. He was abandoned by his father at 3 years old and grew up with 3 different stepfathers.
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He is dyslexic. His dream of becoming a hockey player was shattered by a serious accident. His daughter died at birth. His wife died in a car accident. His best friend, River Phoenix, died of an overdose. His sister battled leukemia.
No bodyguards, no luxury houses. Keanu lives in an ordinary apartment and likes wandering around town and often seen riding a subway in NYC.
When he was filming the movie "The Lake House," he overheard the conversation of two costume assistants, one crying as he would lose his house if he did not pay $20,000 - On the same day, Keanu deposited the necessary amount in his bank account. In his career, he has donated large sums to hospitals including $75 million of his earnings from “The Matrix” to charities.
In 2010, on his birthday, Keanu walked into a bakery & bought a brioche with a single candle, ate it in front of the bakery, and offered coffee to people who stopped to talk to him.
In 1997 some paparazzi found him walking one morning in the company of a homeless man in Los Angeles, listening to him and sharing his life for a few hours.
In life, sometimes the ones most broken from inside are the ones most willing to help others.
This man could buy everything, and instead every day he gets up and chooses one thing that cannot be bought;
To be a caring person. ♥️
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Walla Walla – People of Many Waters
A Sahaptin tribe who lived for centuries on the Columbia River Plateau in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington, their name is translated several ways but, most often, as “many waters.” While the people have their own distinct dialect, their language is closely related to the Nez Perce. The tribe included many groups and bands that were often referred to by their village names, such as Wallulapum and Chomnapum.
A hunter-gatherer tribe, they lived in “tents” that were easy to move. However, their lodging differed from many other nomadic tribes, in that it was bigger and covered with tule mats rather than hides. Called a longhouse, it was made out of lodge poles much like a tepee, but was much longer, sometimes as much as 80 feet in length. Resembling a modern-day “A” frame house in appearance, the lodge poles were covered with mats made of tule, a plant that grows freely in the area along waterways. When the tribe moved, the mats were gathered and moved and the lodge poles left behind.
Beginning in the early 1700s the Walla Walla people raised great herds of horses, making their lifestyle much easier as they gathered seasonal plants. They also traveled across the Rocky Mountains to trade dried roots and salmon to the Plains Indians for buffalo meat and hides.
The people were first encountered by white travelers during the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805. The explorers were warmly welcomed by Chief Yellepit, whose village of about 15 lodges, was situated on the Columbia River near the mouth of the Walla Walla River. The communication between the two groups was made between a Shoshone woman who had been captured by the Walla Walla and the expedition’s guide and interpreter, Sacagawea, who was also of the Shoshone tribe. Though Yelleppit extended an offer to the expedition to stay with the village, Lewis and Clark were in a hurry to reach the Pacific Ocean. However, they promised to spend a few days on their return. In April 1806, as the explorers began to make their way back east, the expedition spent several days with the Walla Walla, during which time, gifts were exchanged and goods traded. Two of the items left by the expedition with the tribe was a peace medal engraved with a portrait of Thomas Jefferson and a small American flag. In their documentation, Lewis and Clark estimated the tribe’s numbers as 1,600; however, this probably included other bands now recognized as independent.
The next non-native to encounter the Walla Walla people was a trader by the name of David Thompson of the Canadian-British North West Company, who arrived in 1811. About five miles upriver from Chief Yellepit’s village, he staked a pole with a note claiming the territory for the British Crown and declaring that the North West Company intended to build a trading post at the site. Continuing downriver, Thompson stopped at Yellepit’s village, where he discovered the American “claims” in the form of Yellepit’s flag and medal. Though neither Lewis and Clark or Thompson had much power to actually lay claim to the region, Yellepit was very supportive of the idea of Canadians setting up a trading post nearby.

𝗦𝗮𝗺𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗘𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝘁𝘁 , born on August 9, 1944, is a renowned American actor known for his deep voice, strong presence, and iconic mustache.
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He began his acting career in the 1960s with small roles in films like The Way West (1967) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), as well as guest appearances on television shows such as Gunsmoke.
Elliott's breakthrough came with his lead role in the film Lifeguard (1976). He continued to gain fame with roles in Mask (1985), Gettysburg (1993), and Tombstone (1993). Elliott also starred in several adaptations of Louis L'Amour novels, including The Quick and the Dead (1987) and Conagher (1991), the latter earning him a Golden Globe nomination.
In the 2000s, Elliott appeared in films such as We Were Soldiers (2002), Hulk (2003), and Ghost Rider (2007). He made a significant impact with his role in A Star Is Born (2018), receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Recently, Elliott won a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in the series 1883 (2021–2022).
Sam Elliott has built a diverse and successful career, becoming an icon of Western films and earning widespread recognition in the film industry.
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Through every carving, the spirit of our ancestors speaks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLINT EASTWOOD ❤️
Clint Eastwood is a famous American actor, film director, producer and composer, famous for his flourishing career in the entertainment industry. ❤️ Get your t-shirt:👇👇 https://usaprintstees.com/campaign/vintage-i-stand-with-trump-pro-trump-supporter-men-women-t-shirt
Born on May 31, 1930, in San Francisco, California, Eastwood rose to fame in the 1960s for his role as "The Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "The Dollar Trilogy" of spaghetti Westerns. He further solidified his status as a cultural icon with his role as Harry Callahan in the "Dirty Harry" film series, which began in 1971. Eastwood's career spanned more than six decades, during which he received won many awards, including multiple Oscars for best film. Director and Best Picture for "Unforgiven" (1992) and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004). Known for his stoic screen presence and tough personality, Eastwood has also directed and produced such critically acclaimed films as Mystic River (2003), Gran Torino (2008) and American Sniper (2014). In addition to his film work, Eastwood also dabbled in politics, serving as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, from 1986 to 1988. His contributions to cinema and his influence on Popular culture has made him one of its most respected people. and long-standing figures in Hollywood history.
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The river of life flows with the currents of change.

𝗦𝗮𝗺𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗘𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝘁𝘁 (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award and a National Board of Review Award.
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He has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Emmy Awards. Elliott was cast in the musical drama A Star Is Born (2018), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding prizes at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards. He also won a National Board of Review Award. Elliott starred as Shea Brennan in the American drama miniseries 1883 (2021–2022), for which he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie.
Elliott is known for his distinctive lanky physique, full mustache, and deep, sonorous voice. He began his acting career with minor appearances in The Way West (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), season five of Mission: Impossible, and guest-starred on television in the Western Gunsmoke (1972) before landing his first lead film role in Frogs (1972). His film breakthrough was in the drama Lifeguard (1976). Elliott co-starred in the box office hit Mask (1985) and went on to star in several Louis L'Amour adaptations such as The Quick and the Dead (1987) and Conagher (1991), the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. He received his second Golden Globe and first Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Buffalo Girls (1995). His other film credits from the early 1990s include as John Buford in the historical drama Gettysburg (1993) and as Virgil Earp in the Western Tombstone (also 1993). In 1998, he played the Stranger in The Big Lebowski.
In the 2000s, Elliott appeared in supporting roles in the drama We Were Soldiers (2002) and the superhero films Hulk (2003) and Ghost Rider (2007). In 2015, he guest-starred on the series Justified, which earned him a Critics' Choice Television Award, and in 2016 began starring in the Netflix series The Ranch. Elliott subsequently had a lead role in the comedy-drama The Hero.
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"We all make choices, but in the end, our choices make us."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEANU REEVES ❤️
Keanu Reeves, born on September 2, 1964, is a Canadian actor, producer, and musician known for his roles in action and sci-fi films like The Matrix and John Wick.
❤️ Get your t-shirt: https://usaprintstees.com/campaign/withthe
Actor, film director, film producer and musician Keanu Charles Reeves (Keanu Charles Reeves),
Missed the first 20 minutes of the party dedicated to the end of filming of his new movie at one of the clubs in New York.
He waited patiently in the rain to be let in.
No one recognized him.
The club owner said: “I didn't even know Keanu was standing in the rain waiting to get in - he didn't say anything to anyone.”
"He travels by public transport."
"He easily communicates with homeless people on the streets and helps them."
- He was only 60 years old (September 2, 1964)
- He can only eat hot dogs in the park, sitting among normal people.
- After filming one of the "Matrix", he gave all the stuntmen a new motorcycle - in recognition of their skills.
- He gave up most of the salaries of the costume designers and computer scientists who drew the special effects on "The Matrix" - deciding that their share of the film's budget was assessed short.
- He reduced his salary for the movie "The Devil's Advocate" to have enough money to invite Al Pacino.
- Almost at the same time his best friend passed away; His girlfriend lost a child and soon died in a car accident, and his sister suffered from leukemia.
Keanu didn't fail: he donated $5 million to the clinic that treated his sister, refused to be filmed (to be with her), and founded the Leukemia Foundation, donating significant amounts from each fee for the movie.
You may have been born a man, but stay a man..
Keanu Reeves' father is of Hawaiian descent...
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https://usaprintstees.com/campaign/withthe

The Trail of Tears carries the silent cries of a nation, echoing strength.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBERT TAYLOR ❤️
Robert Taylor was born in July 7, 1963 in Melbourne, Australia, and grew up in a Western Australia mining town. ❤️ Get your t-shirt: 👇👇
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Before taking to a life onscreen, Taylor went through many occupations, including mining, lifeguarding, bouncing, and working on an oil rig-during which period he narrowly averted death during a shipwreck in the Indian Ocean. At the age of 24, Taylor enrolled in the Western Australia Academy of Dramatic Arts, committing himself to an acting career from there on out. He made his screen debut shortly afterward with an appearance on an episode of the drama series "The Flying Doctors" (Nine Network 1986-1993), and landed his first regular television role just one year later.

Taylor joined the Australian soap opera "Home and Away" (Seven Network 1988-) for a 20-episode stint, playing the scheming romancer Nicholas Walsh. Additional recurring roles followed, including a starring position in the crime drama miniseries "The Feds" (Nine Network 1993-96) as Superintendant Dave Griffin. Taylor soon found success on the big screen, appearing in major films like "The Matrix" (1999), "Vertical Limit" (2001), and "Ned Kelly" (2003). After batting around a handful of smaller parts on film and television, Taylor returned to center stage as the star of the crime drama series "Longmire" (A&E 2012-), playing the titular Wyoming sheriff who returns to law enforcement following the death of his wife.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLINT EASTWOOD ❤️
Clint Eastwood is a famous American actor, film director, producer and composer, famous for his flourishing career in the entertainment industry. ❤️ Get your t-shirt: 👇👇
https://nativeamericans.shop/products/native-4
Born on May 31, 1930, in San Francisco, California, Eastwood rose to fame in the 1960s for his role as "The Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "The Dollar Trilogy" of spaghetti Westerns. He further solidified his status as a cultural icon with his role as Harry Callahan in the "Dirty Harry" film series, which began in 1971. Eastwood's career spanned more than six decades, during which he received won many awards, including multiple Oscars for best film. Director and Best Picture for "Unforgiven" (1992) and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004). Known for his stoic screen presence and tough personality, Eastwood has also directed and produced such critically acclaimed films as Mystic River (2003), Gran Torino (2008) and American Sniper (2014). In addition to his film work, Eastwood also dabbled in politics, serving as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, from 1986 to 1988. His contributions to cinema and his influence on Popular culture has made him one of its most respected people. and long-standing figures in Hollywood history.
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In the silence of the desert, our footsteps speak. The trail of tears carries the echoes of our strength and defiance.

𝗦𝗮𝗺𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗘𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝘁𝘁 , born on August 9, 1944, is a renowned American actor known for his deep voice, strong presence, and iconic mustache.
❤️Get your t-shirt: https://usaprintstees.com/campaign/withthe
He began his acting career in the 1960s with small roles in films like The Way West (1967) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), as well as guest appearances on television shows such as Gunsmoke.
Elliott's breakthrough came with his lead role in the film Lifeguard (1976). He continued to gain fame with roles in Mask (1985), Gettysburg (1993), and Tombstone (1993). Elliott also starred in several adaptations of Louis L'Amour novels, including The Quick and the Dead (1987) and Conagher (1991), the latter earning him a Golden Globe nomination.
In the 2000s, Elliott appeared in films such as We Were Soldiers (2002), Hulk (2003), and Ghost Rider (2007). He made a significant impact with his role in A Star Is Born (2018), receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Recently, Elliott won a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in the series 1883 (2021–2022).
Sam Elliott has built a diverse and successful career, becoming an icon of Western films and earning widespread recognition in the film industry.
I think you will be proud to wear this Awesome T-shirt 👇👇
https://usaprintstees.com/campaign/withthe

With faces painted in strength, the trail of tears becomes a march of unyielding warriors.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEANU REEVES ❤️
Keanu Reeves, born on September 2, 1964, is a Canadian actor, producer, and musician known for his roles in action and sci-fi films like The Matrix and John Wick.
❤️ Get your t-shirt: https://nativeamericans.shop/products/native-m3-ah
Actor, film director, film producer and musician Keanu Charles Reeves (Keanu Charles Reeves),
Missed the first 20 minutes of the party dedicated to the end of filming of his new movie at one of the clubs in New York.
He waited patiently in the rain to be let in.
No one recognized him.
The club owner said: “I didn't even know Keanu was standing in the rain waiting to get in - he didn't say anything to anyone.”
"He travels by public transport."
"He easily communicates with homeless people on the streets and helps them."
- He was only 60 years old (September 2, 1964)
- He can only eat hot dogs in the park, sitting among normal people.
- After filming one of the "Matrix", he gave all the stuntmen a new motorcycle - in recognition of their skills.
- He gave up most of the salaries of the costume designers and computer scientists who drew the special effects on "The Matrix" - deciding that their share of the film's budget was assessed short.
- He reduced his salary for the movie "The Devil's Advocate" to have enough money to invite Al Pacino.
- Almost at the same time his best friend passed away; His girlfriend lost a child and soon died in a car accident, and his sister suffered from leukemia.
Keanu didn't fail: he donated $5 million to the clinic that treated his sister, refused to be filmed (to be with her), and founded the Leukemia Foundation, donating significant amounts from each fee for the movie.
You may have been born a man, but stay a man..
Keanu Reeves' father is of Hawaiian descent...
❤️ I think you will be proud to wear this Awesome T-shirt 👇👇
https://nativeamericans.shop/products/native-m3-ah11:48/-strong/-heart:>:o:-((:-h

Daniel Allen Campbell (born April 13, 1976) is an American professional football coach and former tight end who is the head coach of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL).
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He served as the assistant head coach and tight ends coach for the New Orleans Saints from 2016 to 2020 and also served as an assistant coach for the Miami Dolphins from 2010 to 2015, again as the tight ends coach and then as the interim head coach for most of the 2015 season. In the 2023 season, Campbell led the Lions to their first division title since 1993, their first playoff win since 1991, and their second ever NFC championship appearance.
Campbell played college football for Texas A&M. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the 1999 NFL draft, and played in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys, the Detroit Lions and the New Orleans Saints. Campbell played in the Super Bowl with the Giants in 2000.
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In the falling snow, the trail of tears is a path adorned with the resilience of our people.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JONH WAYNE ❤️
Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907, was born in Winterset, Iowa, but grew up in Southern California.
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After losing his football scholarship to the University of Southern California due to a bodysurfing accident, he began working for the Fox Film Corporation. He appeared mostly in small parts, but his first leading role came in Raoul Walsh's Western The Big Trail (1930), an early widescreen film epic that was a box-office failure. He played leading roles in numerous B movies during the 1930s, most of them also Westerns, without becoming a major name. John Ford's Stagecoach (1939) made Wayne a mainstream star, and he starred in 142 motion pictures altogether. According to biographer Ronald Davis, "John Wayne personified for millions the nation's frontier heritage."
Wayne's other roles in Westerns included a cattleman driving his herd on the Chisholm Trail in Red River (1948), a Civil War veteran whose niece is abducted by a tribe of Comanches in The Searchers (1956), a troubled rancher competing with a lawyer (James Stewart) for a woman's hand in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and a cantankerous one-eyed marshal in True Grit (1969), for which he received the Academy Award for Best Actor. Wayne is also remembered for his roles in The Quiet Man (1952) with Maureen O'Hara, Rio Bravo (1959) with Dean Martin, and The Longest Day (1962). In his final screen performance, he starred as an aging gunfighter battling cancer in The Shootist (1976). Wayne made his last public appearance at the Academy Awards ceremony on April 9, 1979, and died of stomach cancer two months later. In 1980, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States
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“I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.”
– Red Cloud, Chief of the Oglala Lakota tribe.
Sources: Photograph taken by John K. Hillers, circa 1880 / Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut / Wikimedia Commons

Happy 80th Birthday to Sam Elliott
Sam Elliott, born on August 9, 1944, is a renowned American actor known for his deep voice, strong presence, and iconic mustache.
❤️Get your t-shirt: https://nativeamericans.shop/products/native-4
He began his acting career in the 1960s with small roles in films like The Way West (1967) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), as well as guest appearances on television shows such as Gunsmoke.
Elliott's breakthrough came with his lead role in the film Lifeguard (1976). He continued to gain fame with roles in Mask (1985), Gettysburg (1993), and Tombstone (1993). Elliott also starred in several adaptations of Louis L'Amour novels, including The Quick and the Dead (1987) and Conagher (1991), the latter earning him a Golden Globe nomination.
In the 2000s, Elliott appeared in films such as We Were Soldiers (2002), Hulk (2003), and Ghost Rider (2007). He made a significant impact with his role in A Star Is Born (2018), receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Recently, Elliott won a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in the series 1883 (2021–2022).
Sam Elliott has built a diverse and successful career, becoming an icon of Western films and earning widespread recognition in the film industry.
I think you will be proud to wear this Awesome T-shirt 👇👇
https://nativeamericans.shop/products/native-4

These are the one's who discovered AmericaAnd should be taught in our history booksNot the false storyline they give about Columbus discovery America

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEANU REEVES ❤️
Keanu Reeves, born on September 2, 1964, is a Canadian actor, producer, and musician known for his roles in action and sci-fi films like The Matrix and John Wick.
❤️ Get your t-shirt: https://usaprintstees.com/campaign/tu-nht-tt-c
Actor, film director, film producer and musician Keanu Charles Reeves (Keanu Charles Reeves),
Missed the first 20 minutes of the party dedicated to the end of filming of his new movie at one of the clubs in New York.
He waited patiently in the rain to be let in.
No one recognized him.
The club owner said: “I didn't even know Keanu was standing in the rain waiting to get in - he didn't say anything to anyone.”
"He travels by public transport."
"He easily communicates with homeless people on the streets and helps them."
- He was only 60 years old (September 2, 1964)
- He can only eat hot dogs in the park, sitting among normal people.
- After filming one of the "Matrix", he gave all the stuntmen a new motorcycle - in recognition of their skills.
- He gave up most of the salaries of the costume designers and computer scientists who drew the special effects on "The Matrix" - deciding that their share of the film's budget was assessed short.
- He reduced his salary for the movie "The Devil's Advocate" to have enough money to invite Al Pacino.
- Almost at the same time his best friend passed away; His girlfriend lost a child and soon died in a car accident, and his sister suffered from leukemia.
Keanu didn't fail: he donated $5 million to the clinic that treated his sister, refused to be filmed (to be with her), and founded the Leukemia Foundation, donating significant amounts from each fee for the movie.
You may have been born a man, but stay a man..
Keanu Reeves' father is of Hawaiian descent...
❤️ I think you will be proud to wear this Awesome T-shirt 👇👇
https://usaprintstees.com/campaign/tu-nht-tt-c

This is written by Chief Dan George,in 1972..
In the course of my lifetime I have lived in two distinct cultures. I was born into a culture that lived in communal houses. My grandfather’s house was eighty feet long. It was called a smoke house, and it stood down by the beach along the inlet. All my grandfather’s sons and their families lived in this dwelling. Their sleeping apartments were separated by blankets made of bull rush weeds, but one open fire in the middle served the cooking needs of all. In houses like these, throughout the tribe, people learned to live with one another; learned to respect the rights of one another. And children shared the thoughts of the adult world and found themselves surrounded by aunts and uncles and cousins who loved them and did not threaten them. My father was born in such a house and learned from infancy how to love people and be at home with them.
And beyond this acceptance of one another there was a deep respect for everything in nature that surrounded them. My father loved the earth and all its creatures. The earth was his second mother. The earth and everything it contained was a gift from See-see-am…and the way to thank this great spirit was to use his gifts with respect.
I remember, as a little boy, fishing with him up Indian River and I can still see him as the sun rose above the mountain top in the early morning…I can see him standing by the water’s edge with his arms raised above his head while he softly moaned…”Thank you, thank you.” It left a deep impression on my young mind.
And I shall never forget his disappointment when once he caught me gaffing for fish “just for the fun of it.” “My son” he said, “The Great Spirit gave you those fish to be your brothers, to feed you when you are hungry. You must respect them. You must not kill them just for the fun of it.”
This then was the culture I was born into and for some years the only one I really knew or tasted. This is why I find it hard to accept many of the things I see around me.
I see people living in smoke houses hundreds of times bigger than the one I knew. But the people in one apartment do not even know the people in the next and care less about them.
It is also difficult for me to understand the deep hate that exists among people. It is hard to understand a culture that justifies the killing of millions in past wars, and it at this very moment preparing bombs to kill even greater numbers. It is hard for me to understand a culture that spends more on wars and weapons to kill, than it does on education and welfare to help and develop.
It is hard for me to understand a culture that not only hates and fights his brothers but even attacks nature and abuses her.
I see my white brothers going about blotting out nature from his cities. I see him strip the hills bare, leaving ugly wounds on the face of mountains. I see him tearing things from the bosom of mother earth as though she were a monster, who refused to share her treasures with him. I see him throw poison in the waters, indifferent to the life he kills there; and he chokes the air with deadly fumes.
My white brother does many things well for he is more clever than my people but I wonder if he has ever really learned to love at all. Perhaps he only loves the things that are outside and beyond him. And this is, of course, not love at all, for man must love all creation or he will love none of it. Man must love fully or he will become the lowest of the animals. It is the power to love that makes him the greatest of them all…for he alone of all animals is capable of love.
Love is something you and I must have. We must have it because our spirit feeds upon it. We must have it because without it we become weak and faint. Without love our self esteem weakens. Without it our courage fails. Without love we can no longer look out confidently at the world. Instead we turn inwardly and begin to feed upon our own personalities and little by little we destroy ourselves.
You and I need the strength and joy that comes from knowing that we are loved. With it we are creative. With it we march tirelessly. With it, and with it alone, we are able to sacrifice for others.
There have been times when we all wanted so desperately to feel a reassuring hand upon us…there have been lonely times when we so wanted a strong arm around us…I cannot tell you how deeply I miss my wife’s presence when I return from a trip. Her love was my greatest joy, my strength, my greatest blessing.
I am afraid my culture has little to offer yours. But my culture did prize friendship and companionship. It did not look on privacy as a thing to be clung to, for privacy builds walls and walls promote distrust. My culture lived in a big family community, and from infancy people learned to live with others.
My culture did not prize the hoarding of private possessions, in fact, to hoard was a shameful thing to do among my people. The Indian looked on all things in nature as belonging to him and he expected to share them with others and to take only what he needed.
Everyone likes to give as well as receive. No one wishes only to receive all the time. We have taken something from your culture…I wish you had taken something from our culture…for there were some beautiful and good things in it.
Soon it will be too late to know my culture, for integration is upon us and soon we will have no values but yours. Already many of our young people have forgotten the old ways. And many have been shamed of their Indian ways by scorn and ridicule. My culture is like a wounded deer that has crawled away into the forest to bleed and die alone.
The only thing that can truly help us is genuine love. You must truly love, be patient with us and share with us. And we must love you—with a genuine love that forgives and forgets…a love that gives the terrible sufferings your culture brought ours when it swept over us like a wave crashing along a beach…with a love that forgets and lifts up its head and sees in your eyes an answering love of trust and acceptance.
This is brotherhood…anything less is not worthy of the name.
I have spoken.