SPIRITUAL & POLITICAL ACTIVISM

Russell Means & Leonard Crow Dog at Wounded Knee

“Political activism and spirituality are relatives, and for the sake of survival it made no sense to pretend and adopt the white man's ideas and practices of separation to remain sovereign. That would have been a trap, a cultural trap that would have crippled any of our gains. Even though there are many literary pieces interpreting the spiritual and practical outlook of Native peoples Western sense of order and separation keeps most Americans out of relationship with these webs that hold Life together and the dances of each part of Life moving uniquely.


A lot of scorn is heaped upon people, and a People who see activism, and Spirit, church and state, conception and Life, etc. as one. In American culture the circular view of living with everything is absurd and at best cute in a movie like Lion King. The circular view of living with everything is fundamental to the survival of the many sovereign nations. Merging is another survival tool as viable as a Western education, a peyote ceremony, the Pipe, and an economic plan for ones’ nation…” –Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Leonard Crow Dog in sweatlodge by Richard Erdoes