Indian Influence & Contributions: Freedom

I heard a Lakota Elder once say, "Freedom means you are never
in a hurry." You may be surpised to discover that American Indian
people provided early immigrants to this Turtle continent with their
first view of real freedom. In most of the countries these european
immigrants came from, society was governed by a King or Queen.
There was no republic, no democracy, no freedom of religion or
freedom of speech. When these newcomers came to this land of
ours, they saw in Indigenous cultures the true freedom they had
secretly longed for. Our Indigenous societies never had Kings or
Queens. There were no Princes or Princesses. There was not
one "Chief" who governed the whole community, there were many
leaders who worked together with the community to meet the needs
of all. Can you imagine waking up in the morning without an alarm?
Picture getting on your horse and taking a nice morning ride as the
sun rises and paints the sky with an orange and yellow glow. No
job to rush off to.... no bills to pay.... no traffic jams.... This, my
friends, is real freedom. This way of life is what the early european
settlers caught a glimpse of, and wanted badly for themselves.
So, in this way, the Indigenous people of this continent gave the
United States of America its original concept of freedom..........

Are we truly free today? Thinking back to the old ways, the times
of real freedom, I would have to say that what America has today
is only a distant shadow of the freedom my ancestors enjoyed.
Still, a great many of the noble ideals of the USA were practiced
by the communities of the nearly 1,000 Indian Nations of this land
for countless centuries. Our Nations are ancient, and we remain
here after suffering through the American holocaust only because
we are people of integrity, strength, resolve, and freedom........