Standing Bear

“I have looked to the white man for help, and I have been told that I am not a man. I am a savage, and have no rights.”

“We are poor and weak, but we are men, and we want to be treated as men.”

“All I want is to be a man and be treated as a man. I want to be able to go where I please, and not have a soldier follow me.”

“My hand is not the color of your hand, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also will feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be of the same color as yours. I am a man. The same God made us both.”

“This hand is not the color of yours, but if I prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel pain. The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a man.”

“I have been a man all my life, but I was not a man in the eyes of the white man until this day.”

“I only ask to be allowed to live, and to live in peace.”