The Vision of Vine Deloria, Jr.

Comment: Hermano Vine Deloria, Jr. was a great visionary. I remember his book 'Custer Died For Your Sins' published in the year I graduated from Sacramento High School ~1969~ Hard and heavy times! Indeed, Mother Earth’s cry, Great Heavens Smile! ~ Peta de Aztlan

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Frank: The vision of Vine Deloria Jr. (image placeholder)          (image placeholder)(image placeholder)
© Indian Country Today November 23, 2005
Posted: November 23, 2005
by: Billy Frank Jr. / Guest columnist

My brother, Vine Deloria Jr., of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, passed away on Nov. 13, joining the likes of Joe DeLaCruz of the Quinault and Dutch Kinley of the Lummi, as well as Joseph of the Nez Perce and Crazy Horse of the Lakota Sioux at the Great Council Fire. I will miss him deeply, and always be grateful for the brightness he contributed to the world.

Deloria was a rock, a steady hand in the struggle for justice. He was a man of great vision and spirit who understood the ongoing need to value Indian legacies in both tribal and non-tribal societies. He knew the wisdom of learning from our predecessors and comprehending ageless tribal traditions.

I will miss Deloria's intellect and his abiding determination to secure justice for the tribes. I will also miss his humor. He used it well, even in the face of seemingly hopeless adversity. He often called me ''Billy Jack'' as he teased me about being thrown into jail so often during the protest days of the 1960s. We fought many battles together, from the grassy banks of the Nisqually River to the marbled halls of Washington, D.C. We shared hundreds of podiums and thousands of thoughts and dreams. I credit him for instilling focus, leadership and direction to the ongoing struggles of the tribes.

Deloria's ability to inspire unity, at all levels, was historic. In 1964, he was called on to rebuild the National Congress of American Indians. As NCAI's executive director he restored financial and managerial stability and rescued the organization from insolvency and internal differences. Through his writing and speeches he became a leading voice against tribal termination and for the reform of federal Indian policy. He laid the groundwork for the federal policy of tribal self-determination that emerged in the late 1960s and in the 1970 Nixon Statement on Indian Self-Determination. This marked a major turning point in federal Indian policy that continues to benefit both tribal and non-tribal communities today.

In the tumultuous year of 1969, as we fought so hard to assert our generally neglected rights, Deloria published ''Custer Died for Your Sins.'' It was possibly the most influential book ever written on federal Indian policy and, in my book, it and other Vine writings, words and actions distinguished him as the tribal version of Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. He reminded us that ''ideological leverage is always superior to violence ... it is vitally important that the Indian people pick the intellectual arena as the one in which to wage war.'' A few years after he wrote this, Judge George Boldt reaffirmed the validity of the treaties in the U.S. v. Washington decision. Vine should be remembered for his giant contribution to paving the way for that far-reaching decision.

Earlier this year, I had the honor of seeing Deloria receive the American Indian Visionary Award at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Never has such an honor been so richly deserved. More recently, we have been working together on a treaty exhibit for the National Museum of the American Indian. His hope was that this exhibit will make further inroads toward a dream he always supported and worked toward - education of the American public about the true history of the tribes.

Through this and other ongoing efforts, and for the rest of my days, I will do all I can to help keep the fire of Vine Deloria Jr.'s vision burning bright and look forward to the day when we will again sit together at our ancestral council fire.

Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually, chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, was the recipient of Indian Country Today's

2004 American Indian Visionary Award.
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