An American Icon
Forced into Endangerment
"Where are the Buffalo? Gone."
Chief Seattle to President Franklin Pierce, 1855
"The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy
our land. How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land?
The idea is strange to us, yet we do not own the freshness of the air
or the sparkle of the water - how can you buy them from us? Every
part of this earth is sacred to my people...
...There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place
to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings. But
perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand - The
clatter ownly seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life
if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the
arguments of the frog around the pond at night?
The Whites too shall pass - Perhaps sooner than other
tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed and you will
one night suffocate in your own waste - When the
buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses tamed, the
secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many
men, and the view to the ripe hills blotted by talking
wires. Where is the eagle? Gone. Where is the buffalo? Gone.
And what is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt,
the end of living and the beginning of survival?"
"Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play..."
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