Now that we are poor, we are free. No white man controls our footsteps.

If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place.

What white man can say I never stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say that I am a thief.

What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed? Who has seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?

The white man knows how to make everything, but he does not know how to distribute it

What treaty have the Sioux made with the white man that we have broken? Not one. What treaty have the white man ever made with us that they have kept? Not one. When I was a boy the Sioux owned the world; the sun rose and set on their land; they sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them?....What law have I broken? Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am a Sioux; because I was born where my father lived; because I would die for my people and my country?