Delphine Red Shirt. Photo by Rich Luhr / Flickr
Lakota say action speaks louder than words
By Delphine Red Shirt
Native Sun News Columnist
nsweekly.com How do you define the word appropriation? Most dictionaries define it as a noun where it means an act or the act of taking something for one’s own use, usually without the owner’s permission. There is another definition referring to what is appropriated (money) that is set aside for a special purpose. But the definition that most Lakota people are used to is the one where action speaks louder than words. Originally, another meaning was the taking of private property by the government. One of the common lessons that older Lakota people talk about is our Lakota ways and how they belong to us. Some even talk about dreams or visions about how these ways are tied to how well we Lakota guard them and keep them so that we would survive as a people, as a nation. “Le na nitawa,” they say, “these ways are yours.” Keep in mind, that this was not to deny that other ways (cultures) existed, only that these ways, were Lakota ways, and they were strictly for the maintenance of our culture as Lakota people. Like the Lakota language; there is no culture without it. Like the Lakota dances; the grass dance, the fancy dance for both men and women, the traditional dances for both men and women. These were ours (not the jingle dress dance) but the fancy shawl (sina) wacipi. Like the religion and the prayers and songs associated with ceremony. The whole meaning of the Sundance is so that the Lakota people might live. These ways are strong and beautiful when you know them in Lakota, especially the Lakota spoken when these ways are taught in the language: wacici, lowanwan, ahiyaya. Oyakapi, they were spoken. The sound of these words were imparted into the listener’s ear with rhythmic clarity and each word was selected to convey meaning to the listener, syllable by syllable. It is easy to read as it is written here, phonetically. Say each vowel, no foreign symbols, just each English alphabet.
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