Home > News > Headlines

Print   Subscribe

Yellow Bird: Change comes but we can't forget past
Monday, June 25, 2007
Filed Under: Opinion

"I have to smile when I think about my childhood and how different it was. The very core of how we thought and lived was different, I've come to realize. And just as I thought my father was out of sync, I think that I, too, am grasping to hold onto old ways and wonder if it's too late, and I should let go.

If I use the Battle of the Little Big Horn as a marker, I can see our metamorphosis from Indian ways to this age's technology and I add here I'm still trying to get into the technology world.

There are times when Indians still are seen as people of the 1800s. Other people expect certain cultural ways and languages to be a part of all of our lives.

I say this because a young friend who lives in Grand Forks told me he was asked to say a prayer for a meeting, and they wanted him to pray in the Lakota language. He was uncomfortable, he said.

Why do they want you to say the prayer in that language? I asked. Are these Lakota people who will understand, or is it just because the prayer then will sound Indian?

A prayer is for the people to the Creator, and that's what's important.

He smiled.

Sometimes, I am so proud of the way our young people have fought back to hold the Indian people's place among the races. We have changed, just like our parents and grandparents, and will continue to do so. But that doesn't mean we forget who we are."

Get the Story:
Embrace change, but don't forget past (The Grand Forks Herald 6/23)
Username: indianz@indianz.com, Password: indianz

More Dorreen Yellow Bird:
Yellow Bird: Festival days and prairie nights (6/20)
Yellow Bird: The case of the $54 million pants (6/18)
Yellow Bird: Monarch butterfly a special creature (6/13)
Yellow Bird: Graduates inspire with their lives (6/6)
Yellow Bird: Meth walks our reservations (6/4)
Yellow Bird: Commercials influence our lives (5/30)
Yellow Bird: Remember heroes on Memorial Day (5/28)
Yellow Bird: Blogger lacks facts about Indian life (5/22)
Yellow Bird: Indian culture changes in subtle ways (5/16)
Yellow Bird: Wolf knew it was ready to cross over (5/14)
Yellow Bird: Woman sees world with understanding (5/9)
Yellow Bird: Indian women and spiritual leadership (5/7)
Yellow Bird: Tighten gun control laws in North Dakota (5/3)
Yellow Bird: Easy ways at becoming more green (4/30)
Yellow Bird: School shootings just don't 'happen' (4/18)
Yellow Bird: The Red River Valley Flood of 1997 (4/9)
Yellow Bird: Women of color share their views (4/5)
Yellow Bird: UND powwow needs your support (4/2)
Yellow Bird: UTTC begs for funding year after year (3/26)
Yellow Bird: Even more about colon cancer screening (3/21)
Yellow Bird: Remembering my aunt/mother, Pearl (3/19)
Yellow Bird: Colon cancer screening essential (3/14)
Yellow Bird: Return land to North Dakota tribe (3/12)
Yellow Bird: Native Media Center at UND prospers (3/7)
Yellow Bird: Woody Keeble a true American hero (3/5)
Yellow Bird: Cell phone addiction affects driving (2/28)
Yellow Bird: UND has many reasons to be proud (2/26)
Yellow Bird: Signs of spring already in the air (2/21)
Yellow Bird: US automakers ignore innovation (2/19)
Yellow Bird: Tribes should snuff out smoking too (2/14)
Yellow Bird: On being Black or Indian 'enough' (2/9)
Yellow Bird: Braving the cold North Dakota winter (2/5)
Yellow Bird: Chokecherry for North Dakota state fruit (1/31)
Yellow Bird: Name-calling and bullying in schools (1/24)
Yellow Bird: Climate change impossible to ignore (1/17)
Yellow Bird: Tribes can help Indian doctors program (1/15)
Yellow Bird: Tribes have much to offer North Dakota (1/11)
Yellow Bird: Catching a ride on the Dakota wind (1/2)

Copyright © Indianz.Com