In 1855, the “Great White Chief of Washington” (President Franklin Pierce) made an offer for a large tract of Indian land, promising to create a “reservation” for the Indian people. The response from Chief Seattle of the Dewamish tribe, published according to a version attributed to American screenwriter Ted Perry, has been described as the most beautiful statement ever made on the environment. Its authenticity has been doubted. However, I met her in full on the portal of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), back in the 80s. I share some fragments.
“How can you buy or sell the firmament, not even the warmth of the earth? Such an idea is unknown to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air or the brilliance of the waters, how can you buy them? Each parcel of this land is sacred to my people, each bright pine bush, each grain of sand on the beaches, each drop of dew in the forests, each hillock and even the sound of each insect is sacred to the memory and past of my town.
“We are part of the earth and, likewise, she is part of us. The scented flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle; these are our brothers. The steep rocks, the humid meadows, the heat of the body horse and man, we all belong to the same family.
“If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred and at the same time you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the lives of our people.
“We know that the white man does not understand our way of life. He does not know how to distinguish between one piece of land and another, since he is a stranger who comes at night and takes from the land what he needs. The land is not his sister but his enemy and once conquered he goes on his way, leaving behind his parents’ grave without caring. He kidnaps his children’s land. He doesn’t care either. Both his parents’ grave and his children’s heritage are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and her brother, the firmament, as objects that are bought, exploited and sold like sheep or colored beads.His appetite will devour the earth, leaving behind only a desert.
“The mere sight of their cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and understands nothing. There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities, nor is there a place to listen to the opening of the leaves on the trees in spring or how insects flap their wings. But perhaps this must also be because I am a savage who understands nothing. The noise seems to insult our ears. And after all, what good is life if man cannot listen to the solitary cry of the nightjar or the nocturnal discussions of frogs on the edge of a pond?
“What would man be without animals? If they were all exterminated, man would also die of great spiritual loneliness, because what happens to animals will also happen to man. Everything is linked. You must teach your children that the The ground they walk on is the ashes of our grandparents. Instill in your children that the earth is enriched with the lives of our fellow men so that they know how to respect it. Teach your children that we have taught ours that the earth is our mother. Everything that happens to the earth will happen to the children of the earth. If men spit on the ground, they spit on themselves. This we know: The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know , everything is linked, like the blood that unites a family. Everything is linked. Everything that happens to the earth, will happen to the children of the earth.
“The whites will also become extinct, perhaps before the other tribes. Contaminate their beds and one night you will perish drowning in your own waste. But you will walk towards your destruction surrounded by glory, inspired by the strength of the God who brought you to this earth and that by some special design he gave them dominion over her and over the red man.
“That fate is a mystery to us, for we do not understand why the buffaloes are exterminated, the wild horses tamed, the secret corners of the forests saturated with the breath of so many men, and the landscape of the lush hills cluttered with wires. speakers. Where is the bush? Destroyed. Where is the Eagle? Gone. Life ends and survival begins.”
*Journalist and science communicator UNAM
risita@dgdc.unam.mx
