Being of your blood,
Through thick and thin,
      I have stood up for you.
When the world’s most devilish
Intrigue of humanity was set
And was coiling around you tighter and tighter—
      I have stood up for you.
When public sentiment was against you
And sent you to oblivion,
      I have stood up for you.
When the country was hysterically enraged
For defending your loved ones
And your birthright of priority—
      I have stood up for you.
When you were tagged as “Indians”
And outlawed creatures—
      I have stood up for you.
Haunted and hunted on thy domain,
With no chance of redress
But doomed, as though thy fate—
      I have stood up for you.
When you were described and pictured
And cartooned as cruel and savage—
      I have stood up for you.
When prejudice, hate and scorn
Sounded the keynote against you—
      I have stood up for you.
When starving and naked,
At the verge of your annihilation
By swords in the hands of criminals—
      I have stood up for you.
When the palefaces said
There was no hope for you—
      I have stood up for you.
When you were condemned and relegated
To the reservation system of hell—
      I have stood up for you.
When in prison and in bondage,
When you could neither speak nor see—
      I have stood up for you.
When decreed by the people across the sea
That you could neither learn nor be taught,
      I have stood up for you.
When it was put down black and white
That you could neither work nor support yourselves,
And that you were lazy and worthless—
      I have stood up for you.
When politics and greed were working you
For all that you were worth—
      I have stood up for you.
When everything you possessed was disappearing,
And your personal rights ignored—
      I have stood up for you.
As the Indian Bureau, like an octopus,
Sucked your very life blood,
      I have stood up for you.
For your freedom and citizenship,
By the abolishment of the Indian Bureau,
      I have stood up for you.
When the Indian Bureau says, “Were you freed
You would starve and be cheated”—
Only to feed its 7000 employees—
      I have stood up for you.
When you were judged “incompetent”
For freedom and citizenship by the Indian Bureau—
      I have stood up for you.
God knows that I am with thee day and night;
That is why I have stood up for you.
It might have been self-sacrifice.
It might have been the hand of God leading me.
Whatever it was, you have proven yourselves to be
What I have stood up for you to be.

With your kind permission, your attention I will claim,
I am only just an Indian, it matters not my name,
But I represent my people, their cause and interest, too;
And in their name and honor, I present myself to you.
They have your sacred promise, your pledge of friendship warm,
That you would always aid them and protect them from all harm,
And in my humble efforts, as I briefly state their case,
Will you pardon my shortcomings, and my errors all erase?

I do not come with grandeur, or boast of any fame,
Rank in politics, society, or wealth I cannot claim,
I never went to college, have no title of LL. D.,
As the Great Spirit made me, is all that you may see.
With the forces that oppose me, I certainly should pause,
If I were not depending on the justice of my cause.
I am only just an Indian, who here represents his band;
With this simple introduction, I extend to you my hand.