Latest Russell Means Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

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

  Russell Means

  Generations, Ancestor, Unborn

  Source: progressive.org

• I don't want to be remembered as an activist; I want to be remembered as an American Indian patriot.

  Russell Means

  Want, Patriot, American Indian

  Source: progressive.org

• Even though the American Indian Movement on a national-international scale has proven to be extremely dysfunctional, the American Indian Movement I was associated with I'm very proud of. We were a revolutionary, militant organization whose purpose was spirituality first, and that's how I want to be remembered.

  Russell Means

  Organization, Movement, Want

  Source: progressive.org

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

  Russell Means

  True To Yourself, Ancestor

  Source: progressive.org

• 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

• I've always considered myself a man of integrity as a leader of the American Indian Movement and of Indian people. I will stand that test against anyone at anytime, anywhere.

  Russell Means

  Integrity, Men, People

  Source: progressive.org

• 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

• Children in poverty aren't trying to get out of poverty; they're just trying to rip off a pair of Nikes. So we Indian people are a microcosm of what's happening in America. We are now consumers, and our culture has gone.

  Russell Means

  Nike, Children, Rip

  Source: progressive.org

• Indian people are relics; we do not exist in the present.

  Russell Means

  People, Relics, Indian

  Source: progressive.org

• America always put forth this phony melting pot theory, but it's a reality now. They couldn't accomplish the melting pot economically; they couldn't accomplish it politically, or through education and science. But America has become a consumer society, and I see young people in the cities - of all colors and races - hanging out together over consumerism.

  Russell Means

  Reality, Color, Cities

  Source: progressive.org

• Colonialism has completed the destruction of the American Indian in the United States - the cultural destruction.

  Russell Means

  Colonialism, United States, American Indian

  Source: progressive.org

• I knew at that young age that going to the Bureau of Indian Affairs was useless, absolutely useless. I grew up having no faith in the bureaucracy of government.

  Russell Means

  Government, Age, Useless

  Source: progressive.org

• 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

• I say to the Christians and to every missionary on the reservations, you're welcome to have a church here if you can support yourself. But if these churches can't support themselves, then take the hint and quit using our poverty for your direct mail solicitations.

  Russell Means

  Christian, Support, Church

  Source: progressive.org