The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity.
quote by Charles Eastman

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Native American
I am native american
Ho ka hey wah nah (steven and bruce)
Ho ka hey wah nah woh
Ho ka hey wah nah
Ho ka hey wah nah woh
Ho ka hey wah nah
Ho ka hey wah nah woh
(editors note: the above is war cry of the lakota(sioux) meaning
Lets go - now)
Life was forever when we were young (steven)
The land was protected for everyone (bruce)
Forever as long as the rivers run (both)
But now the water no longer comes (steven)
And now all that remains (both)
Is darkness a poisoned earth
And now before its too late
We must provide our own new birth
Chorus:
I am native american
I am native american
The question of honor you must decide (bruce)
The soul of the nation has been denied (steven)
Our dreams have been stolen before our eyes (both)
How do you say theres no tomorrow to a child? (bruce)
>from us there is much to learn (both)
There is so much youve forgotten
You cant change me
Try and understand I am proud of who I am
Chorus:
I am native american
I am native american
We must try and remember what were here for (steven)
You will suffer the darkness alone no more (bruce)
You will have the strength of all of us
Gathered here today (both)
That is something they can never take away (bruce)
Chorus:
I am native american
I am native american
Ho ka hey wah nah (steven and bruce)
Ho ka hey wah nah woh
Repeat 7 more times til fade
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Compulsion To Settle For Simplicity....
there is no denying that as a native
i think like a native
am no Englishman from
London Bridge
but a Bisayan from
Mindanao,
as such, i have no choice
but just to be myself,
in the utter simplicity of my language
translating myself
word by word in the nuances of
your Anglo-American world,
there is this attempt to be a part of
your world
did they say that Enlightenment?
that Genius of ideas
is only possible in your world
and not in the
land of my ancestors who know
nothing but only about spices and
spears and arrows and
jugs of wine and tattoos and
barbaric songs?
let me say what i want to say
in a few vocabularies
you may not listen, but at least
i have spoken.
I am thus compelled for that
simplicity that allows me to write this way.
Because i have nothing more
to offer you
Because what i have is only this
insistence to open my heart
and speak
what little love is still
left in there.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Walked
Native American Pride
They always came to us with a bribe
Wrong and misunderstood
They took our hood
We walked the Trail of Tears
Everyday full of fears
Children crying
Men and women dying
All this for what
So we can live in a hut
This happened a long time ago
Because the white men had a big ego
Native American Pride is what I have and will not hide.
poem by Sylvia Dise

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Poverty is a noose that strangles humility and breeds disrespect for God and man.
Native American Sioux proverbs

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The Boots...
the boots of modern America,
are made of black skin, Native American skin,
poor white trash skin, migrant worker skin,
unemployed skin, homeless skin,
prisoner poverty street skin....
who will they walk on next?
poem by Eric Cockrell

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Andrew Johnson was a Southerner generally who proclaimed that his native state of Tennessee was a country for white men.
quote by Stephen Ambrose

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Native American Pride
Equa Adanvdo adanedi aya hia nvlinegvgv Yv uduladi nudale iga
(Great Spirit give me the strength I need another day)
nashi Yv anasgvti adasehede anisoi
(that I may guide others)
Nasquu gohi Yv adadvdodi vhnai nehi
(Also this I ask of you)
Equa Unitsi Elohino
(Great Mother Earth)
We walked in peace and harmony
warriors brave and strong
guided by the Great Spirit in the sky
respecting the way of Mother Earth
we taught this to our children at birth
We were all but one, just like the Eagle, we were free
this was our way, the way it would always be
with our wings spread, we would fly
this was our Native American Pride
Then white man came to take our land
said our way of life was wrong
this is what they would decide
and it didn't take them long
Still we didn't run and hide
we stood tall and made our stand
never to carry the white man's brand
this was our Native American Pride
For our own beliefs, so many died
both women and children cried
as one by one, all was lost
at the white man's cost
Said the color of their skin, made them right
but we didn't give in, without a fight
no matter how hard they would try
they couldn't break our Native American Pride
(Spiritwind-2010)
poem by Spiritwind Wood

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The white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the Native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay and the disabled make up the American quilt.
quote by Jesse Louis Jackson

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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White men have too many chiefs.
Native American Nez Perce proverbs

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When the white man wins, it is a battle.
Native American proverbs

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Passionate Poverty
To some people poverty makes you repulsive
Because you own no tangible property to share;
Nothing to entertain and feed their compulsive
Profligacy of which you're unaware.
Poverty makes you glitter and truly
Human and affectionate because you value people
For who they are and their true worth, really
And from your heart and soul altruism quintuple.
Poverty peels off humbug and complacency
To expose the deeper layers of personality
Filled with genuine compassion and human decency
And poverty befriends simplicity, humanity and humility.
poem by John Sensele

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Some Native American writers enjoy being called Native American writers.
quote by Toni Morrison

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sonnet: The Magic of Poverty
A birth in poverty is luck supreme!
A death in poverty, a great blessing;
A life of poverty is rare a dream;
Achievements great, stark poverty can bring.
’Tis poverty that goads nations do feats;
’Tis poverty that stimulates scientists;
In everything, poverty, wealth just beats;
The greatest men were in poverty’s lists.
And poverty lessens our worries much;
Account to God will be much easier;
Poverty gives the saint a divine touch;
In poverty, poets can fly higher!
Poverty helps to shun worldly pleasures;
A soul in poverty, Heaven allures.
9-14-2002
poem by John Celes

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122
simplicity
before a table
a cup of rice and
few pieces of fish
you put your knee
near your mouth
as you mold
sticky white rice
with your bare hands
you open your mouth
and swallow what
you have in order
to live.
(shall i say
poverty?)
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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The Stench (Rising)
the stench... rising,
from your halls of justice,
from your plate glass
Wall Street windows,
from the steps of your churches,
from your brick home suburbs...
is the dried, crusted blood
of your Native American
brothers and sisters...
rising from their reservation
kerosene huts written in poverty,
culture raped whiskey tainted
white god judgements...
rising... till it fills
your nostrils, gags your mouth,
and breaks the shroud of your freedom
with the ghosts of what has been...
redemption demands justice!
the pale horse has come!
poem by Eric Cockrell

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The Shadow Inside My Shadow
poverty is not my cousin,
is not my lover,
is not my preacher,
poverty is not my brother.
poverty is not my prayer,
or the song that i sing
is not my answer
poverty is not my dream.
poverty is not my teacher,
not the hand that i hold.
poverty is not my anger,
not my spirit, not my soul.
ah! but this poverty is real
it races thru my mind
crashes into my heart,
& leaves me deaf and blind.
poverty is my companion.
the aching cold inside my hollow.
the blow behind my eyes,
poverty is the shadow
inside my shadow.
poem by Eric Cockrell

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Half Breed (Who I Am)
Do not judge or condemn me
for this is who I am
I'm exactly who our Creator
said He wanted me to be
creating me into this man
out of his own image He made me
Through His eye's He made me see
and gave me but only one destiny
one that I know I must journey
it was all part of His plan
to make me just who I am
a half breed Native American
My blood flows of my ancestors
on their path I will walk forever
with my heart pure and strong
and wisdom to know right from wrong
it beats the drum of their song
not as a full blood Indian
but a half breed Native American
poem by Spiritwind Wood

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Religion is the organization of spirituality into something that became the hand maiden of conquerors. Nearly all religions were brought to people and imposed on people by conquerors, and used as the framework to control their minds.
quote by John Henrik Clarke

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Talent and poverty, wealth and stupidity generally dwell together.
Those who think they can't are generally right.