John Trudell
John Trudell
John Trudellwas a Native American author, poet, actor, musician, and political activist. He was the spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz. During most of the 1970s, he served as the chairman of the American Indian Movement, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth15 February 1946
CountryUnited States of America
interest native people realities younger
I have a real interest in working with younger Native artists. I think it's a very important way for Native people to communicate the realities of our culture and remember our ancestors.
expand music people room ways
I find there is room in music to talk with music. It may expand ways people can participate with music. It doesn't sound hokey or like some kind of voice-over.
freedoms males owned people
You go back and you read your Constitution. You read your Declaration of Independence. And you will see that the only people who could decide these freedoms were white males who owned property, and all the rest of us were excluded.
people
I don't want to tell people how to remember me. I want people to remember me as they remember me.
years worry people
I've never not been pleased with one of my albums. I figure because it's spoken word, there will be people who relate to it, and people who don't, so I don't worry about any of that. I've been doing it for over twenty years. I've always written because it was something I had to do, never for the glory.
writing people observation
A lot of my writing is basically about observation, and things that I've seen, either through personal experiences or the experiences of people around me, or society at large.
white america people
When I go around in America and I see the bulk of the white people, they do not feel oppressed; they feel powerless [. . .] and we understand the psychological genocide that they have already inflicted upon their own people
native-american people humans
We’re not Indians and we’re not Native Americans. We’re older than both concepts. We’re the people, we’re the human beings.
art culture lives longer people rely society truth
When one lives in a society where people can no longer rely on the institutions to tell them the truth, the truth must come from culture and art.
cannot change chooses control economic hands intention meaning minority people sick social until
We cannot change the political system, we cannot change the economic system, we cannot change the social system, until the people control the land, and then we take it out of the hands of that sick minority that chooses to pervert the meaning and the intention of humanity.
people
White people don't seem to have many Elders. They do have a lot of oldsters.
expected position
I was going mad. One day, I just started writing, and it was like therapy because I was in a position where I couldn't rage. I never expected to be a writer; it's a different world than I ever expected to be in.
doors entertainment knocking media rest saying whatever
Whatever their reasons, Hollywood, or the entertainment industry, is saying something about Indians. I don't see the rest of the media knocking down any doors to do that.
oral particular poet society tradition
Because we are all of an oral tradition in our beginning histories, the voice of the poet in this particular society will be heard.