Dennis Banks
Dennis Banks
Dennis Banks, a Native American leader, teacher, lecturer, activist and author, is an Anishinaabe born on Leech Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. Banks is also known as Nowa Cumig. His name in the Ojibwe language means "In the Center of the Universe." He has been a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, which he co-founded in 1968 with Native Americans in Minneapolis...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionReligious Leader
Date of Birth12 April 1937
CountryUnited States of America
I have a Father's Day every day
And Americans realized that native people are still here, that they have a moral standing, a legal standing.
Most importantly, the meaning of spirituality lays the seeds for our destiny and the path we must follow.
I'm on this road for the rest of my life.
Even the people who come our way look upon us in amazement, that we run only for the healing of Mother Earth
When the run is over, there will be a closing ceremony and the runners will return to the many distant lands from which they came.
In 1990 we ran across Europe through 13 countries and covering 7,130 miles.
An awareness reached across America that if Native American people had to resort to arms at Wounded Knee, there must really be something wrong.
For 27 years, it meant only one thing. And we carry a message about the life on this planet and the quality of it is sacred. Very simple, but sometimes complex.
I would like to be a spectator today, but they gave me a t-shirt and they gave me some sticks and I'll probably get in there one play, but I'm not a player.
We're bringing hope. I think that's all that we can do. And somebody was caring for them. There's a lot of people been down there that are bringing hope and we were just one of them.
Since the beginning, Native Peoples lived a life of being in harmony with all that surrounds us. It is a belief that all humankind are related to each other. Each has a purpose, spirit and sacredness. It is an understanding with the Great Spirit or Creator that we will follow these ways. And in this understanding we believe we are related to all other living species...
What we did in the 1960s and early 1970s was raise the consciousness of white America that this government has a responsibility to Indian people. That there are treaties; that textbooks in every school in America have a responsibility to tell the truth. An awareness reached across America that if Native American people had to resort to arms at Wounded Knee, there must really be something wrong. And Americans realized that native people are still here, that they have a moral standing, a legal standing. From that, our own people began to sense the pride.
The Sun, Moon and Stars are there to guide us.