One of our people in the Native community said the difference between white people and Indians is that Indian people know they are oppressed but donโt feel powerless. White people donโt feel oppressed, but feel powerless. Deconstruct that disempowerment. Part of the mythology that theyโve been teaching you is that you have no power. Power is not brute force and money; power is in your spirit. Power is in your soul. It is what your ancestors, your old people gave you. Power is in the earth; it is in your relationship to the earth.
Winona LaDukeI would like to see as many people patriotic to a land as I have seen patriotic to a flag.
Winona LaDukeThe essence of the problem is about consumption, recognizing that a society that consumes one-third of the world's resources is unsustainable. This level of consumption requires constant intervention into other people's lands. That's what's going on.
Winona LaDukeIn the end, there is no absence of irony: the integrity of what is sacred to Native Americans will be determined by the government that has been responsible for doing everything in its power to destroy Native American cultures.
Winona LaDuke