Oren Lyons

Oren R. Lyons Jr. (born 1930) is a Haudenosaunee Faithkeeper of the Wolf Clan of both the Onondaga Nation and the Seneca Nation of the Six Nations of the Grand River. For more than 14 years he has been a member of the Indigenous Peoples of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations and has had other leadership roles. Quotes We come here...speaking the truth on behalf of people, of the world, of the four-footed, of the winged, of the fish that swim. Someone must speak for them. I do not see a delegation for the four-footed. I see no seat for the eagles...We forget and we consider ourselves superior, but we are after all a mere part of the Creation. And we must continue to understand where we are. And we stand between the mountain and the ant, somewhere and only there, as part and parcel of the Creation...It is our responsibility, since we have been given the minds to take care of these things. The elements and the animals, and the birds, they live in a state of grace. They are absolute, they can do no wrong. It is only we, the two-leggeds, that can do this. Speech at United Nations conference in Geneva, Switzerland (1977). Included in Native American Reader: Stories, Speeches and Poems edited by Jerry D. Blanche The history of humankind in North and South America can be divided into two parts: the history of the aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere prior to the landfall of Western man, and the history of North and South America after the voyages of Columbus. These histories can be likened to an iceberg.... [S]even-eighths lie beneath the surface of the water. We can see Western occupation above the surface and visible. The aboriginal peoples' time is below the surface and invisible. This 500-year occupation by Western man contrasts with the conservative estimate of 12,000 years of aboriginal occupation. "The American Indian in the Past," in Exiled in the Land of the Free, edited by Oren R. Lyons and John C. Mohawk (1992) External links C-SPAN appearances Category:1930 births Category:Living people Category:Native American activists