Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007 TV Movie)

Adam Beach: Charles Eastman

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Quotes 

• Charles Eastman : And now you speak of coercion. I don't understand.

  Henry Dawes : If we don't put that land into the hands of individual Indians in five years- less-homesteaders and ranchers will demand it all... for nothing. The Indian must own his own piece of earth, Charles.

  Charles Eastman : Did you know that there is no word in the Sioux language for that, sir?

  Henry Dawes : For what?

  Charles Eastman : To "own the earth." Not in any native language.

  Henry Dawes : Well, then perhaps you should invent one.

• Charles Eastman : My dear Senator Dawes, as I believed you sincere in asking me to keep you informed, I write you again in an appeal for your assistance. With no medical equipment here worthy of the name and understocked in medicines, there has been little reason for the sick to risk the journey to the agency for treatment. I bought a horse and a wagon with my own salary and have just now returned from the several weeks in the villages. It is a mistake to trust the official reports. Measles, influenza and whooping cough have ascended from hell all at once. My own assistant's child has been taken. The agent here, Royer, has no experience and even less inclination to help these people. Of equal concern is the epidemic of hopelessness that has overtaken the reservation. That the Sioux would bear the wretched taste of cod-liver oil for the ounce of spirits contained in the bottle is, to me, the whole of their experience in a nutshell. I no longer deny them. Many here fear a return to the old ways. The prophesy of a Paiute shaman called Wovoka has spread from tribe to tribe faster than a telegraph signal, rekindling old superstitions among the Sioux and old apprehensions among the whites who are sure to mistake desperation for hostility. As conditions worsen, the church can provide little solace beyond a Christian burial. Sincerely yours, Charles Eastman.

• Henry Dawes : We cannot allow a return to incivility.

  Charles Eastman : Incivility? And what has civility earned them, might I ask? Trained nurses? Even one hospital?

  Henry Dawes : All things the Sioux will provide for themselves, Charles, once this plan has passed. As you yourself agreed - they must adapt.

  Charles Eastman : Must they adapt, sir, to the point of their own extermination?

  Henry Dawes : Extermination? I suppose you say we've exterminated your Indian heritage rather than provided to you the benefits of an entire civilization?

  Charles Eastman : Senator, please sit. Sir, if every individual were taken personally under your care, as was my good fortune, I admit, the outcome might be what you seek. But I am not the example you held up to The Friends of the Indian. I am the example of nothing. I simply do not see how placing each Indian man on a desolate, 160-acre parcel of land is going to lead his children to medical school.

  Henry Dawes : It will, in time. But first, this must pass. Or I guarantee you, destitution is all the Sioux will ever know. I have many opponents, Charles, in the press, in Congress...

  Charles Eastman : You have an opponent before you, sir.

• Charles Eastman : I am acting in the interest of my people, following the example you set for me.

  Henry Dawes : Do you really think you know better than I what is in the interest of these people?

  Charles Eastman : Yes. I am one of them, Senator.

  Henry Dawes : You're no more a Sioux Indian than I am.

• Charles Eastman : I won't do this!

  Elaine Goodale : Charles?

  Charles Eastman : Should have jumped.

  Elaine Goodale : What?

  Charles Eastman : Should have jumped from the train. Might have got off, might have got off, yes, that's what I would have done. I would have walked till I reached the Red River which I would have followed to the North Woods. That's how I will find By the Red River. By the Red River.