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A Very Good Trade
“Indigenous children are not educated, they are guided. (They) don’t learn to be winners, because in order for some to win, others must lose. Learn to share where you live and what you have to eat. You have an example of a life where the individual counts less than the collective. This is indigenous mystery, a legacy that passes from generation to generation. What our children learn early is by the heart in the rhythm of the Earth. “
— Ailton Krenak
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You must treat animals like your brothers….everything that happens to animals will soon happen to humans. Everything is related.
— Chief Seattle -1854
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“Crowfoot stood and watched as the white man spread many one dollar bills on the ground.
“This is what the white man trades with; this is his buffalo robe. Just as you trade skins, we trade with these pieces of paper.”
When the white chief had laid all his money on the ground and shown how much he would give if the Indians would sign a treaty, Crowfoot took a handful of clay, made a ball out of it and put it on the fire.
It did not crack.
Then he said to the white man, Now put your money on the fire and see if it will last as long as the clay.
The white man said, No….my money will burn because it is made of paper.
With an amused gleam in his eyes the old chief said, Oh, your money is not…