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  There was a grandfather whose grandson often came in the evenings to sit at his knee and ask the many questions that children ask. One day the grandson came to visit with a look of anger on his face.

Grandfather said, "Come, sit, tell me what happened today."

The child sat and leaned his chin on Grandfather's knee. Looking up into the wrinkled, nut-brown face and the kind dark eyes, the child's anger turned to quiet tears.

"I went to town with Father to trade the furs he collected over the past several months. Father said that since I had helped him with the trapping, I could get something for me...something that I wanted. I was so excited to be in the trading post. I looked at many things and finally found a metal knife! It was small, but a good size for me, so Father got it for me."

Grandfather softly placed his hand on the boy's raven hair and said, "And then what happened?"

"I went outside to wait for Father, and to admire my new knife in the sunlight. Some town boys came by and saw me. They got all around me and started saying bad things. They called me dirty and stupid and said that I should not have such a fine knife. The largest boy pushed me back and I fell over one of the other boys. I dropped my knife and one of them snatched it up and they ran away laughing." Here the boy's anger returned, "I hate them. I hate them all!"

Grandfather, with eyes that have seen too much, lifted his grandson's face and said, "I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those who have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times. It is as if there are two wolves inside me, one is white and one is black. The White Wolf is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. But it will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way."

The grandfather continued, "But the Black Wolf is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing. Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit."

The boy looked intently into Grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?"

Grandfather smiled and said, "The one I feed."

Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation

"We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can't speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees."

From the 1927 Grand Council of American Indians

"The white people, who are trying to make us over into their image, they want us to be what they call "assimilated," bringing the Indians into the mainstream and destroying our own way of life and our own cultural patterns. They believe we should be contented like those whose concept of happiness is materialistic and greedy, which is very different from our way. We want freedom from the white man rather than to be intergrated. We don't want any part of the establishment, we want to be free to raise our children in our religion, in our ways, to be able to hunt and fish and live in peace. We don't want power, we don't want to be congressmen, or bankers....we want to be ourselves. We want to have our heritage, because we are the owners of this land and because we belong here. The white man says, there is freedom and justice for all. We have had "freedom and justice," and that is why we have been almost exterminated. We shall not forget this."

Shinguaconse ("Little Pine")

 "My father, you have made promises to me and to my children. If the promises had been made by a person of no standing, I should not be surprised to see his promises fail. But you, who are so great in riches and power; I am astonished that I do not see your promises fulfilled! "I would have been better pleased if you had never made such promises than that you should have made them and not performed them. . ."

From Black Hawk, Sauk

 "How smooth must be the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right."

<< Isaiah 5:21 >>

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

<< Isaiah 5:20 >>

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

<< Proverbs 17:15 >>

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.

<< Matthew 6:23 >>

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!