LaDonna Harris

"One cannot be "an Indian." One is a Comanche, an Oneida, a Hopi. One can be self-determining, not as "an Indian," but as a Comanche, an Oneida, etc. We progress as communities, not as individuals. We want to maintain ourselves as communities, according to our group identity, not just as mere individuals or as amorphous "Indians"...We want to maintain ourselves as we are so we can contribute our differences, our particular understanding, to both the national community and to global society."

"tribal ideas of progress may be radically different from Euro-American ideas. For example, the Northern Cheyenne count as "progress" their ability to maintain environmental quality, rather than the development of their coal resources."

"At the moment there is a veritable renaissance going on in tribal America as we come to terms with who we are as tribal people in contemporary society. We are bringing tradition along with us into the future rather than "going back to tradition" and maintaining ourselves like rigid museum pieces."

"Indians have been the victims of fine rhetoric, followed by inaction or worse, for two centuries. Swift action is what is needed."