Monday, November 14, 2005
Vine Deloria, Jr. has passed on
Sunday, November 13, 2005In Honor of Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933-2005)The great indigenous visionary, philosopher, author and activistVine Deloria, Jr. passed over to join his ancestors today, November13, 2005. Our thoughts and prayers go to his wife, Barbara, to hischildren and his other relatives. The passing of Vine creates a hugeintellectual and analytical void in the native and non-nativeworlds. He will be greatly missed.It is appropriate on this website to reflect on the meaning ofVine's contibutions to indigenous peoples' resistance, and toreflect on our responsibilities to maintain and to advance thelessons that Vine gave to us. It is safe to say that without theexample provided by the writing and the thinking of Vine Deloria,Jr., there likely would have been no American Indian Movement, therewould be no international indigenous peoples' movement as it existstoday, and there would be little hope for the future of indigenouspeoples in the Americas.Vine Deloria, Jr. was a true revolutionary when he wrote "CusterDied for Your Sins" in 1969, the first of his scores of books andscholarly articles (for a partial bibliography of Vine's importantbooks go to:
http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A31).
<http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A31%29.>
He had the courageand the vision to challenge the dominating society at its core. Hewas unapologetic in confronting the racism of U.S.law and policy,and he was prophetic in challenging young indigenous activists tohone their strategies.We will write much more about Vine in the upcoming days. He was ourelder statesman and mentor. For now, we will share this passagefrom "Custer Died For Your Sins," as a reminder of ourresponsibilities, and to ensure that we are more deliberate andstrategic in our resistance."Ideological leverage is always superior to violence....The problemsof Indians have always been ideological rather than social,political or economic....[I]t is vitally important that the Indianpeople pick the intellectual arena as the one in which to wage war.Past events have shown that the Indian people have always beenfooled by the intentions of the white man. Always we have discussedirrelevant issues while he has taken our land. Never have we takenthe time to examine the premises upon which he operates so that wecould manipulate him as he has us."-- "Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto," (1969) pp.251-252and this relevent passage regarding the example of the great OglalaLakota leader Tashunka Witko (Crazy Horse):"Crazy Horse never drafted anyone to follow him. People recognizedthat what Crazy Horse did was for the best and was for the people.Crazy Horse never had his name on the stationery. He never hadbusiness cards. He never received a per diem. *** Until we can onceagain produce people like Crazy Horse all the money and help in theworld will not save us. It is up to us to write the [next] chapterof the American Indian upon this continent." page 272For many of us, Vine was a contemporary Crazy Horse. Perhaps wesquandered his time with us. We took him for granted, and assumedthat he would always be with us. Now, the question is, not only willwe produce more Crazy Horses, but will we produce more Vine Deloria,Jr.s?Vine, we will miss you, but we will continue your work towardfreedom for native peoples everywhere. Mitakuye Oyasin.(For a partial bibliography of Vine's important books go to:
http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A31)<http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A31%29>
http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A31).
<http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A31%29.>
He had the courageand the vision to challenge the dominating society at its core. Hewas unapologetic in confronting the racism of U.S.law and policy,and he was prophetic in challenging young indigenous activists tohone their strategies.We will write much more about Vine in the upcoming days. He was ourelder statesman and mentor. For now, we will share this passagefrom "Custer Died For Your Sins," as a reminder of ourresponsibilities, and to ensure that we are more deliberate andstrategic in our resistance."Ideological leverage is always superior to violence....The problemsof Indians have always been ideological rather than social,political or economic....[I]t is vitally important that the Indianpeople pick the intellectual arena as the one in which to wage war.Past events have shown that the Indian people have always beenfooled by the intentions of the white man. Always we have discussedirrelevant issues while he has taken our land. Never have we takenthe time to examine the premises upon which he operates so that wecould manipulate him as he has us."-- "Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto," (1969) pp.251-252and this relevent passage regarding the example of the great OglalaLakota leader Tashunka Witko (Crazy Horse):"Crazy Horse never drafted anyone to follow him. People recognizedthat what Crazy Horse did was for the best and was for the people.Crazy Horse never had his name on the stationery. He never hadbusiness cards. He never received a per diem. *** Until we can onceagain produce people like Crazy Horse all the money and help in theworld will not save us. It is up to us to write the [next] chapterof the American Indian upon this continent." page 272For many of us, Vine was a contemporary Crazy Horse. Perhaps wesquandered his time with us. We took him for granted, and assumedthat he would always be with us. Now, the question is, not only willwe produce more Crazy Horses, but will we produce more Vine Deloria,Jr.s?Vine, we will miss you, but we will continue your work towardfreedom for native peoples everywhere. Mitakuye Oyasin.(For a partial bibliography of Vine's important books go to:
http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A31)<http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A31%29>
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