[quotes] All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life - Winona LaDuke 1999

 

"Mohawk legend says that at one time the earth was one, never-ending ocean. One day, a pregnant woman fell from the sky. A flock of swans carried her down to earth, gently placing her on the back of a large sea turtle. Some beavers then swam to the bottom of the ocean and picked up some soil and brought it back to this woman so she could have some dry ground on which to walk. She then walked in an ever-widening circle on top of the turtle's back, spreading soil around. On this giant turtle's back the earth became whole. As a result, North America is known today by the name Turtle Island." 

"Today, an estimated 24 percent of all North American industry is located on or near the Great Lakes, all of which are drained by the St. Lawrence River." 

"The four leggeds came before the two leggeds. They are our older brothers, we came from them. Before them, we were the root people. That is why we are spiritually related to them. We call them in our language Tatanka, which means 'He Who Owns Us.' We cannot say that we own the buffalo, because he owns us."

"The buffale were made for the prairie, and the prairie for the buffalo."

"But to make this cultural presentation, they would need to throw out all of the Native Hawaiians actually living on the land."

"In 1898, the United States annexed Hawai'i by congressional resolution, without the consent of or compensation to the Kanaka Maoli."

"Of the 194,000 acres that the Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL) today estimates that it oversees on behalf of the Native Hawaiians, over 45 percent is leased out to farmers, for a mere $4 per acre per year. Fourteen percent is designated as public land, i.e., state parks or forest reserves. The military claims over 200,000 acres."

"The majority of the financial benefits of tourism find their way back to the country that invests in tourism, rather than the place that hosts tourists [...] since U.S.-based international corporations control much of the infrastructure of the tourism industry."

"This is not America, this is a colony. The sugar and pineapple plantations were the first wave of colonialism. The military and finally tourism are the next waves of colonialism. The purpose of a colony is to take its land, to take its resources, and exploit its people."

"The world is not so large, it is quite small. There are 27 species of birds on the endangered species list which live in Hawai'i and nest in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and if they develop the oil in the refuge, we will not have those birds. The world is quite small... Because each act is a pebble in a pond. Small pebble, large ripple."

"It is clear that the only ones who can care for an area so well are those who have prayed there for a century."

"The beginning of nationhood, the beginning of sovereignty, and working for self determination, has to do with making right your path with the Creator and practicing your ceremony and your culture."

"Native peoples are the poorest population in North America, yet our lands are home to a wealth of resources. Two-thirds of the country's uranium; one-third of all western low-sulfur coal; and vast hydro-electric, oil, and natural gas resources are all situated on Native land."