The words of Chief Seattle 1852

The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell sky, the land, the idea is strange to us. Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, all our holy and the memory and experience with my people.

We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the dear, the great eagle, these are our brothers. Each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of the events in the memories in the life of my people. The waters murmur is the voice of my fathers father. The rivers are our brothers, they carry out canoes and feed our children.

So, If we sell you our land remember that the air is precious to us. That the air shares it´s spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. This we know; The Earth does not belong to Man, Man belongs to the Earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life he is merely a strand in it whatever he does to the web he does to himself.

Your destiny is a mystery to us, what will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered. What will happen when the secret corns of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires; The end of living and the beginning of survival.

When the last red man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will that be any spirit of my people left?

We love this earth as a new born loves it´s mothers heartbeat. So if we sell you our land love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Reserve the land for all children and love it as god loves us all. One thing we know there is only one god; no man be he red man or white man can be apart, we are brothers after all.