Russell Means Quotes

• I find freedom to be the most important issue facing any human being today, because without freedom, then life is pointless. The more dependent you become on centralized power, the more easily you are lead around.

  Russell Means

  Freedom, Issues, Important

  183 Copy quote

• You see the one thing I've always maintained is that I'm an American Indian. I'm not a Native American. I'm not politically correct. Everyone who's born in the Western Hemisphere is a Native American. We are all Native Americans. And if you notice, I put American before my ethnicity. I'm not a hyphenated African-American or Irish-American or Jewish-American or Mexican-American.

  Russell Means

  Native American, Ethnicity, Mexican

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  182 Copy quote

• The only way you can be free is to know is that you are worthwhile as a distinct human being.

  Russell Means

  Freedom, Being Free, Way

  119 Copy quote

• All European tradition, Marxism included, has conspired to defy the natural order of all things. Mother Earth has been abused, the powers have been abused, and this cannot go on forever. No theory can alter that simple fact. Mother Earth will retaliate, the whole environment will retaliate, and the abusers will be eliminated. Things come full circle, back to where they started. That's revolution.

  Russell Means

  Mother, Simple, Order

  "I Am Not a Leader": Russell Means’ 1980 Mother Jones Cover Story, www.motherjones.com.

  151 Copy quote

• Freedom is for everyone, whatever lifestyle they choose, as long as it's peaceful and honest

  Russell Means

  Freedom, Long, Peaceful

  99 Copy quote

• We Indians do not teach that there is only one god. We know that everything has power, including the most inanimate, inconsequential things. Stones have power. A blade of grass has power. Trees and clouds and all our relatives in the insect and animal world have power. We believe we must respect that power by acknowledging it's presence. By honoring the power of the spirits in that way, it becomes our power as well. It protects us.

  Russell Means

  Believe, Animal, Power

  163 Copy quote

• I do not want to be civilized. I want to be liberated.

  Russell Means

  Want, Civilized, Liberated

  60 Copy quote

• Before AIM, Indians were dispirited, defeated, and culturally dissolving. People were ashamed to be Indian. You didn't see the young people wearing braids or chokers or ribbon shirts in those days. Hell, I didn't wear 'em. People didn't Sun Dance, they didn't Sweat, they were losing their languages. Then there was that spark at Alcatraz, and we took off. Man, we took a ride across this country. We put Indians and Indian rights smack dab in the middle of the public consciousness for the first time since the so-called Indian wars.

  Russell Means

  Country, War, Men

  155 Copy quote

• [The is] a mistaken belief that [the word Indian] refers somehow to the country, India. When Columbus washed up on the beach in the Caribbean, he was not looking for a country called India. Europeans were calling that country Hindustan in 1492.... Columbus called the tribal people he met "Indio," from the Italian in dio, meaning "in God."

  Russell Means

  Country, Beach, Native American

  127 Copy quote

• 'Indian policy' has now been brought down upon the American people, and the American people are the new Indians of the 21st Century.

  Russell Means

  Usa, People, Century

  69 Copy quote

• I’m a human being, I’m not anyone’s mascot! And I am America’s conscience. And that’s what they don’t want to look at. They would rather look at a cartoon character than at the deceit of this country and this government.

  Russell Means

  Country, Character, Government

  106 Copy quote

• It’s just unconscionable that America has become so stupid.

  Russell Means

  Stupid, America

  "Former American Indian Movement activist Russell Means dies at 72". www.foxnews.com. October 22, 2012.

  80 Copy quote

• True to your own ancestors, therefore true to yourself.

  Russell Means

  True To Yourself, Ancestor

  Source: progressive.org

  31 Copy quote

• Golden eagles don`t mate with bald eagles, deer don`t mate with antelope, gray wolves don`t mate with red wolves. Just look at domesticated animals, at mongrel dogs, and mixed breed horses, and you`ll know the Great Mystery didn`t intend them to be that way. We weakened the species and introduced disease by mixing what should be kept seperate. Among humans, intermarriage weakens the respect people have for themselves and for their traditions. It undermines clarity of spirit and mind.

  Russell Means

  Dog, Horse, Animal

  77 Copy quote

• What the American Indian Movement says is that the American Indians are the Palestinians of the United States, and the Palestinians are the American Indians of Europe.

  Russell Means

  Europe, United States, Movement

  61 Copy quote

• Imagine going to the holy land in Israel, whether you're a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, and start carving up the mountain of Zion. It's an insult to our entire being. It's bad enough getting four white faces carved in up there [on Mount Rushmore], the shrine of hypocrisy.

  Russell Means

  Christian, Land, White

  Source: progressive.org

  49 Copy quote

• That's our charge as ancestors of unborn generations: to once again become free.

  Russell Means

  Generations, Ancestor, Unborn

  Source: progressive.org

  10 Copy quote

• May the Great Mystery continue to guide and protect the paths of you and your loved ones.

  Russell Means

  May, Path, Mystery

  16 Copy quote

• You can't talk about the environment, you can't talk about political correctness, affirmative action and all the other innumerable things that freedom is about, unless you have a free society based upon the integrity of the individual. If you have a responsible society, these other issues will not come up in a responsible society, and that is what freedom is all about.

  Russell Means

  Freedom, Integrity, Responsibility

  44 Copy quote

• An oral society develops both sides of your brain, and the utilization of your brain is more complete than in a linear education module. The written word limits your brain capability by immediately focusing on one area. You don't have any peripheral vision. It immediately divorces you from the environment.

  Russell Means

  Divorce, Vision, Brain

  Source: progressive.org

  31 Copy quote

• Indians in America are yet to be considered human beings, even though the Pope issued a papal bull in 1898 that declared us to be human beings. But to show you the institutional racism, the sports teams are still using the Indians as mascots.

  Russell Means

  Sports, Team, America

  Source: progressive.org

  15 Copy quote

• It takes a strong effort on the part of each American Indian not to become Europeanized. The strength for this effort can only come from the traditional ways, the traditional values that our elders retain.

  Russell Means

  Strong, Effort, Way

  "I Am Not a Leader": Russell Means’ 1980 Mother Jones Cover Story, www.motherjones.com.

  64 Copy quote

• So Indian policy has become institutionalized and the result has been that American people have become more dependent on government and that the American people have become more dependent on corporations.

  Russell Means

  Government, People, Corporations

  29 Copy quote

• Being is a spiritual proposition. Gaining is a material act. Traditionally, American Indians have always attempted to be the best people they could. Part of that spiritual process was and is to give away wealth, to discard wealth in order not to gain.

  Russell Means

  Spiritual, Order, People

  "I Am Not a Leader": Russell Means’ 1980 Mother Jones Cover Story, www.motherjones.com.

  19 Copy quote

• If you learn from an experience, that's good - so nothing bad happened to you.

  Russell Means

  Experience, Happened, Ifs

  52 Copy quote

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