I Have Stood Up for You

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.