If I Want My People To Be

I Do Not Want To Be Civilized. I Want To Be Liberated.

We Indians Do Not Teach That There Is Only One God. We Know That Everything Has Power, Including The Most Inanimate, Inconsequential Things. Stones Have Power. A Blade Of Grass Has Power. Trees And Clouds And All Our Relatives In The Insect And Animal World Have Power. We Believe We Must Respect That Power By Acknowledging It's Presence. By Honoring The Power Of The Spirits In That Way, It Becomes Our Power As Well. It Protects Us.

Before Aim, Indians Were Dispirited, Defeated, And Culturally Dissolving. People Were Ashamed To Be Indian. You Didn't See The Young People Wearing Braids Or Chokers Or Ribbon Shirts In Those Days. Hell, I Didn't Wear 'em. People Didn't Sun Dance, They Didn't Sweat, They Were Losing Their Languages. Then There Was That Spark At Alcatraz, And We Took Off. Man, We Took A Ride Across This Country. We Put Indians And Indian Rights Smack Dab In The Middle Of The Public Consciousness For The First Time Since The So-called Indian Wars.

I've Always Considered Myself A Man Of Integrity As A Leader Of The American Indian Movement And Of Indian People. I Will Stand That Test Against Anyone At Anytime, Anywhere.

You Can't Talk About The Environment, You Can't Talk About Political Correctness, Affirmative Action And All The Other Innumerable Things That Freedom Is About, Unless You Have A Free Society Based Upon The Integrity Of The Individual. If You Have A Responsible Society, These Other Issues Will Not Come Up In A Responsible Society, And That Is What Freedom Is All About.