I am purified and free,
And I will not allow you to ignore me.
I have brought you a gift,
It is all I have, but it is yours.
You may reach out and enfold it.
It is only the strength in the caress of a gentle breeze,
But it will carry you to meet the eagle in the sky.
My name is "I am living," "I am here."

The largest American Indian Tribe is the Cherokee, with the 1980 census claiming 232,000 memebers. By 1800, the Cherokee had intermarried with the Scots-Irish and the British. All it took was a drop or two of Cherokee blood to be considered Cherokee. Some say that Cherokee is not a matter of blood at all, but a
"Thing of the Spirit."

(Jerry Ellis-Walking The Trail)

CALL TO THE FOUR SACRED WINDS

I call to the East, where the Father ascends
to all Mother Earth where life begins.
I fly through the cedars, pines, willows, and birch
as animals below me wander and search.

I call to the South, to the land down below.
Turtle stands silen, as man strings his bow
to hunt food and fur for all his kin before snow.
A life will end so others will grow.

I call to the North, that yansa once knew.
I follow their path till it disappears from view.
Once vast in number, there stand but few.
I hear only ghost thunder of millions of hooves.

I call to the West, to the ends of the lands,
to the Tsalagi, Kiowa, Comanche....all bands.
Unite for the strength. Teach the young and deman
that you are Native Americans. Learn your tongue and stand.

My name is FREEDOM....I fly through this land.
I call to the Four Sacred Winds of Turtle Island.

One does not sell the land people walk on.

(Crazy Horse)

I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself.

The ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the blood of our ancestors.

(Chief Plenty Coups, Crow)

When the Earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear, when that happens, The Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them.

(Chief Seattle)

Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?

(Red Jacket, Seneca)