Thursday, September 13, 2007

T13 History


Quotes from Chief Joseph


Of all the characters in history I am completely drawn to only a handful. One of them is the remarkable Chief Joseph (In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat or Thunder coming up over the land from the water), the great Nez Pierce chief who was one of the most ardent defender of the Peoples rights and lands. He was most valiant in his resistance against the US Government. The tribe had maintained good relations with the whites after the Lewis and Clark expedition. Joseph spent much of his early childhood at a mission maintained by Christian missionaries.
In 1855 Chief Joseph's father, Old Joseph, signed a treaty with the U.S. that allowed his people to retain much of their traditional lands. In 1863 another treaty was created that severely reduced the amount of land, but Old Joseph maintained that his people never agreed to this second treaty.
A showdown over the second "non-treaty" came after Chief Joseph assumed his role as Chief in 1877. After months of fighting and forced marches, many of the Nez Perce were sent to a reservation in what is now Oklahoma, where many died from malaria and starvation.
Chief Joseph tried every possible appeal to the federal authorities to return the Nez Perce to the land of their ancestors. In 1885, he was sent along with many of his band to a reservation in Washington where, according to the reservation doctor, he later died of a broken heart.

1. I have carried a heavy load on my back ever since I was a boy. I realized then that we could not hold our own with the white men. We were like deer. They were like grizzly bears. We had small country. Their country was large. We were contented to let things remain as the Great Spirit Chief made them. They were not, and would change the rivers and mountains if they did not suit them..

2. I am tired of fighting.... from where the sun now stands, I will fight no more.

3. Our fathers gave us many laws, which they had learned from their fathers. These laws were good. They told us to treat all people as they treated us; that we should never be the first to break a bargain; that is was a disgrace to tell a lie; that we should speak only the truth; that it was a shame for one man to take another's wife or his property without paying for it.
Suppose a white man should come to me and say, "Joseph, I like your horses. I want to buy them."
I say to him, "No, my horses suit me; I will not sell them."
Then he goes to my neighbor and says, "Pay me money, and I will sell you Joseph’s horses."
The white man returns to me and says, "Joseph, I have bought your horses and you must let me have them."
If we sold our lands to the government, this is the way they bought them.
4. I am not a child, I think for myself. No man can think for me.
5. If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace. Treat all men alike. Give them a chance to live and grow.
6. All men were made brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.
7. If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect him to grow fat? If you pen an Indian up on a small spot of earth, and compel him to stay there, he will not be contented, nor will he grow and prosper.
8. The earth and myself are of one mind.
9. We were taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything, and that he never forgets, that hereafter he will give every man a spirit home according to his deserts; If he has been a good man, he will have a good home; if he has been a bad man, he will have a bad home.
This I believe, and all my people believe the same.
10. Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my country, now overrun by white men. They do not protect my father’s grave. They do not pay for all my horses and cattle.
Good words cannot give me back my children. Good words will not give my people good health and stop them from dying. Good words will not get my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves.
I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk.
11. We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God, as the Catholics and Protestants do. We do not want that. We may quarrel with men about things on earth, but we never quarrel about the Great Spirit.
12. I believe much trouble and blood would be saved if we opened our hearts more. I will tell you in my way how the Indian sees things. The white man has more words to tell you how they look to him, but is does not require many words to seek the truth.
13. Too many misinterpretations have been made... too many misunderstandings...
14. The Great Spirit Chief who rules above all will smile upon this land... and this time the Indian race is waiting and praying.



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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool post. I use a Chief Joseph quote in my latest mystery...without tracking through 400+ pages I don't remember exactly, but I love Indian wisdom books and have tons!

Ann Aguirre said...

I like number 11 especially.

Moondancer said...

Okay, this is my fav TT for the day. Thank you for sharing his wisdom.

http://moondancerdrake.livejournal.com/

Unknown said...

These are some great quotes. I'm not familar with Chief Joseph, but I'll have to look him up now.

Robin said...

Very powerful words. My family was not in the US at that time, but the history of the Indians has always weighed very heavily on my heart.

Lisa Andel said...

Wonderful TT. I'm not familiar with Chief Joseph either, but I like the way he thinks.

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Makes me wonder what would have happened if the Whites had found a way to live in harmony with the Natives. What would our lives be like now?

It makes me sad to see the beauty of these people and the wisdom they had and how callously it was all destroyed.

Denise Patrick said...

It's shameful the way we have treated the Native Americans. Unfortunately, I don't think the government will ever admit they were wrong in many of the things they did.

Thanks for visiting my TT!

Jenny McB said...

Spoken so eloquently, I liked the quote about organized religion.

Thank you for stopping by.

Ann said...

Wonderful list. Thanks for sharing these quotes.