Being An Indian Means Living With The

Being Is A Spiritual Proposition. Gaining Is A Material Act. Traditionally, American Indians Have Always Attempted To Be The Best People They Could. Part Of That Spiritual Process Was And Is To Give Away Wealth, To Discard Wealth In Order Not To Gain.

[the Is] A Mistaken Belief That [the Word Indian] Refers Somehow To The Country, India. When Columbus Washed Up On The Beach In The Caribbean, He Was Not Looking For A Country Called India. Europeans Were Calling That Country Hindustan In 1492.... Columbus Called The Tribal People He Met "indio," From The Italian In Dio, Meaning "in God."

The One Thing I've Always Maintained Is That I'm An American Indian. I'm Not Politically Correct.

Tourists Came Around And Looked Into Our Tipis. That Those Were The Homes We Choose To Live In Didn`t Bother Them At All. The Untied The Door, Opened The Flap, And Barged Right In, Touching Our Things, Poking Through Our Bedrolls, Inspecting Everything. It Boggles My Mind That Tourists Feel They Have The God-given Right To Intrude Everywhere.

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.