Vine Deloria's Words of Praise for Russell Means

"As I was listening to Russell Means I continually looked around the room to see the faces of the people as he spoke. Almost every face shone with a new pride, a beatific vision of the tribe as it should be, not as it had become through a century of betrayal. Old men sat entranced and nodded ever so slightly at the different points Russell discussed. I came away from Means' speech with the feeling that Russell is a terribly important man to our tribe. He may be the greatest Lakota of this century and his ability to light the eyes that have been dimmed so long is probably more important for us than anything that anyone else can do. I think it is the pride in living that many Indians have lost, and in the clarity of Russell Means' speech many Indian people found that pride and also found a strength they did not know they had possessed. We should cherish this man as one of our greatest people. History has a way of leveling all the honors of a century and allowing the truly great figures to emerge from the shadows as they really were. I cannot remain silent and allow a chance to go by to honor as best I can a man who gave to my tribe even for a brief moment a vision of something better than what we had. If Russell Means has faults, and we all do, he also has talent and dedication which greatly outweighs the faults and which in my mind make him one of the great Indians of our time."

Vine Deloria, Jr.
Author of "God is Red" and "Custer Died for Your Sins"

Photos: The South Dakota Badlands, Russell Means, and Bison in the Black Hills.