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Swiss Award Laudatory
Swiss Award Laudatory
There is a well known Dakota teaching story called “The Great Wolf and
Little Mouse Sister” in which a tiny, insignificant mouse feels
compassion for a great wolf that has lost his eyes because of his greed,
arrogance and foolishness. As the story opens, the wolf is howling,
crying, and flailing the ground in despair. Now he is blind. How can he
hunt? How will he survive? The little mouse should have had the good
sense to stay away, for after all, she was nothing more than a small bite
of food to a wolf. Anyway, what could she possibly do to help? And yet
something called her, and she bravely approached the wolf with curiosity
and compassion in her heart.
We live in a world in which many of the great wolves of power have lost
their eyes. And because they lead nations and powerful organizations,
their blindness plunges many others beside themselves into darkness.
When these powerful self-centered beasts become desperate and afraid,
or are totally absorbed in self-interest, they often hurt vulnerable people
within their reach. Sometimes they do it intentionally, in order to deflect
opposition to themselves onto a convenient scapegoat. Other times,
they simply roll over little people without really even consciously
realizing what they are doing. When the great wolves are blind, we are
all in danger.
[Pause]
Phil Lane Jr. was born at Haskell Indian Residential School where his mother,
Lena Parker Vale and his father Philip Nathan Lane Sr. first met and later
married. Having tribal ancestors that made all of North America their home, he
From the European perspective of hereditary leadership, Phil was born of true
―royalty‖ in every meaning of that word; his is an ancient lineage of hereditary
spiritual and political leadership that has never compromised nor surrendered
their age-old promises to serve the best interests of the people with justice,
compassion, respect, nobility, love, and courage in the face of the greatest
adversities and challenges. In 1992 Phil, himself, was formally recognized as a
hereditary Chief, following in the footsteps of those that went before him,
through a traditional headdress ceremony conducted by respected tribal elders
from across North America. This sacred headdress ceremony was performed
during the same occasion that Phil received the prestigious Windstar Award,
presented annually by the late John Denver and the Windstar Foundation to a
global citizen whose personal and professional life exemplifies commitment to a
global perspective, operates with awareness of the spiritual dimension of human
existence, and demonstrates concrete actions of the benefit for humans and all
living systems of the Earth. Other Windstar winners include: Oceanologist
Jacques-Yves Cousteau; Yevgeni Velikhov, Vice President of the Soviet Academy
of Sciences; Wangari Maathai, founder of Kenya’s Greenbelt Movement.
On his father’s side, Phil’s great-grandfather was Chief Philip Deloria or Teepee
Sapa (Black Lodge), who raised Phil’s father during his younger years, after the
young boy’s beloved mother died at an early age from tuberculoses. Along with
being a hereditary Chief and Spiritual Leader of the White Swan Dakotas, Chief
Deloria, without ever rejecting or demeaning Dakota traditional ways, also
became an Anglican Minister.
For forty years, Chief Deloria ministered to the spiritual and physical needs of the
Great Sioux Nation, as well as representing his Dakota people of the Yankton
Sioux Tribe in their on-going treaty negotiations with the U.S. government. In
1936, in honor of his noble character, selfless service, and dedication to uplifting
his people, Chief Deloria’s image was included as one of the 60 Saints of the
Ages whose statues grace the High Altar of the National Cathedral in
Washington, D.C.
On his mother’s side, Phil’s great-grandfather was John Wesley Parker, a full-
blooded Chickasaw, who was raised by his aunt and uncle (who was the
Governor (Chief) of the Chickasaw Nation), after his parents died tragically on
the Trail of Tears. The infamous Trail of Tears occurred when the U.S. Military
force-marched the Chickasaw people over 1,000 miles through the dead of
winter from Tennessee to the Oklahoma Territory. Many of the Chickasaws died
of starvation, exhaustion, and the bitter, freezing cold.
John Wesley Parker spoke 17 different Native American languages and served as
the Official Translator between the many different tribes who lived in the
Oklahoma Territory. He was also Commissioner of the Chickasaw Nation, a
Senator and President of the Chickasaw Senate, and a representative to the
Chickasaw Legislature. He was known throughout the Oklahoma Territory as a
man of great integrity and wisdom.
Phil’s beloved parents have continued this age-old traditional lineage of spiritual
leadership and service. Over the years, they both have been publicly recognized
through various prestigious awards and honorary positions for their lifetime of
dedicated service to indigenous people. They both are regarded as among the
most respected and well loved tribal elders of North America.
At 85 years of age, Phil’s father still loves to ride and train quarter horses and
along with Phil’s mother, who is 82, is still very active at home and in serving the
community. Phil’s beloved Sister, Deloria and her husband Jacob Big Horn have
also, dedicated their lives in service to the people.
From his childhood, Phil’s father and mother never let Phil forget that he
inherited an important legacy of responsibilities for service and leadership among
his people from the lineage’s of both his father and his mother. As well, Phil’s
Chickasaw grandmother Ella Parker Vale and his Chickasaw aunt Marlema Vale
Dugan were particularly influential in instilling a sense of destiny and a deep
connection to his indigenous cultural roots. On his Dakota side, Phil’s
grandmother Ella Deloria and grandfather Vine Deloria Sr. and his uncles Vine
Deloria Sr. and Samuel Deloria also served as inspirational role models. His
father sometimes reminded him of an old Dakota teaching that said,
True to the inner meaning of his sacred Dakota names (Shungmanu — a Leader
of Warriors Who Takes the Enemies Best Horses, given when he was 12 by his
grandfather, Walter Strong Heart, and Chanupa Sapa — A Sacred Black Pipe of
Peace, Born of Thunder, Lightning and Rain, given when he was 25 by his
grandfather, Frank White Buffalo Man) Phil was eventually to travel to many
lands and peoples in order to gain further knowledge, wisdom and understanding
that would be used to bring healing, peace, and development to Indigenous
people.
And so one day he went across ―Checkpoint Charlie‖, walked up the steps of the
Embassy of the USSR in East Berlin, and rang the bell beside the huge double
doors. His ringing echoed within hollow and long. He waited and rang again. A
voice spoke through the speaker beside the door, first in Russian, then in
German (presumably asking who he was and what he wanted.) When the voice
stopped, obviously expecting an answer, Phil gave greetings in English. There
was a long pause and then someone said very loud in English, ―Who is this?‖
Phil was so surprised he blurted out ―Hello. It’s Phil from Walla Walla. I would
like to speak to someone.‖ After some time, one of the big doors opened, and a
Russian who spoke perfect English invited Phil to come inside the Embassy.
They talked for more than three hours about why the United States and the
Soviet Union saw each other as enemies, the politics of Cuba, and how they all
wanted the same things for their children, and how perhaps one day the walls
would be taken down. They had tea and parted as friends. Phil learned from
that experience that every issue has many sides and that each perspective must
be carefully and respectfully considered. As his tribal Elders taught him, you
should never judge another human being until you have walked at least a mile in
their moccasins.
[Pause]
Remember the little mouse? The great blind wolf? The story says the
wolf lost his eyes because he was very selfish, arrogant, and foolish
(another story tells how he was tricked out of them by four weasels and
that they were able to trick him because he was already blind in his
heart).
Well, our story goes on to tell how the little mouse felt great compassion
for the wounded wolf, once so noble and proud and strong. She marched
right up to where he was laying with his face on the ground and she
Formative years
As a child and as a young man, Phil Lane, Jr. was taught his tribal traditions and
responsibilities by his mother and father as well as his grandparents and
extended family. As well, he served as an altar boy in the Anglican Church. His
parents never let him forget that his legacy of leadership and service among his
tribal people carried great spiritual responsibilities. As a young boy, his parents
and elders filled his heart and mind with the courageous stories of the sacrifice,
dedication, and selfless service of those loved ones who had gone before him.
He learned to respect, appreciate, and practice the traditional teachings of his
people as well as to respect and appreciate the other spiritual and cultural
traditions of the human family. He also learned that if he was to ever fulfill his
destiny as a servant to his people, he first had to learn many hard lessons, and
to acquire both spiritual and material disciplines that took years to acquire. From
early childhood, Phil developed an almost insatiable thirst for learning. He
listened intently to the Elders. He read and studied everything he could find
about the history and life of the indigenous people of the Americas. He also
studied western science and technology. His parents were outstanding role
models in this regard, constantly learning themselves, and never afraid to build
bridges between their traditional identity and all the best learning and technology
the non-Native world had to offer. Phil’s father was one of the first Native North
Americans to ever receive a university degree in forestry and he eventually
became an award-winning environmental engineer who was given a Presidential
Citation by President Lyndon B. Johnson for his design of fish ladders that
enabled spawning salmon to travel upstream past hydro-electric dams and, he
received, as well, the prestigious Eli S. Parker Award given to him by the
American Indian Science and Engineering Society for his lifetime of distinguished
work in the fields of Science and Engineering.
So, try to picture it. Here you have a boy of 18. He’s a young man, a Native
North American who grew up in a deeply prejudiced white America in the 1950’s
and 60’s where Indians were considered second-class citizens, if anything. Their
tribal communities, in most cases, were almost completely socially and
economically devastated.
On the other hand, he has been told all of his life that he comes from a noble
lineage, and that one day, along with the rest of his extended family, he must
take up the mantle of leadership and service on behalf of his tribal people. Well,
maybe so, but right now its 1962. In order to survive, Phil has become as tough
as a sack of nails. He is an all-around champion athlete, and he is angry. Angry
at how he knows Native North Americans have been treated; angry at the
injustices of an America that was beating up and killing black people for trying to
exercise their right to vote in the South; angry at the materialistic system that
had so thoroughly crushed the spirit out of so many Indigenous communities,
leaving them in grinding poverty, dependency and alcoholism.
And so after high school, Phil Lane, Jr. joined the ranks of other angry young
men of color in North America. He drank a lot of alcohol, he used drugs, he
fought at the drop of a hat, he had unhealthy relationships with women, and he
hated the materialistic system that surrounded his tribal people and himself and
was determined to find a way to weaken its strangle hold on Indigenous people.
In years to follow, Phil often commented on that ―wild‖ period of his life. ―I am
very thankful for my experiences with alcohol and drugs,‖ he explains. ―Those
experiences have given me some humility not to judge others, as well as a deep
compassion and understanding for others who suffer from the hurts of the past,
because I have been there myself.‖
[Pause]
Remember the little mouse who gave her eyes to the wolf? Well, the
story goes on that she just stood there, listening to the wolf as he
whooped and danced around the meadow. But now she was blind, and it
gradually dawned on her that she had done a very, very foolish thing.
She waited, her little brow furled in worry and fear, fully expecting the
wolf to discover her, and to eat her like a kernel of popcorn. She had
given her eyes because her heart prompted her to do so. She had listened
to the voice of spirit. But now she was exposed, helpless, and vulnerable.
To her surprise, the wolf quite suddenly stopped his celebration and
walked quietly over to where she stood in the grass. For a long time he
said nothing; and she waited in fear. Then he bent down and said in a
very gentle voice. “Little Sister, how could you do such a thing for me?
Now you are blind.” All she could say was “My heart told me to do it.”
And then the wolf wept the weeping of regret, loss, and shame. He wept
a long time, and the little mouse could only wait and be with him while
he wept. And when his heart had been washed clean of the anger, fear,
pride, and selfishness that had for so long covered up his true nature as a
noble being, he stopped weeping, and after a time he said, “Little Sister,
do you remember the old teaching about a Sacred Lake high up in the
mountains?” “Yes,” she said, suddenly filled with hope. My grandmother
told me that whoever prays on its shores and drinks of its waters will be
healed of any infirmity. But do you think it really exists? Maybe it’s just
an old story.”
The Great Wolf was quiet a moment, and then he said, “Little Sister, if a
tiny mouse can make a blind wolf see, maybe there is such a thing as a
Sacred Lake. We will look for it together.” And so the Great Wolf
lowered himself to the ground, and invited his Little Mouse Sister to
climb up on his back; and together they set out on a long, long journey.
I was telling you that when Phil was a young man, he went through a period of
rather wild and self-destructive behavior. He was angry; he was hurt; and by his
own admission, he would sometimes hurt others. But all through this time, he
never really lost his connection to the Creator, and he never really forgot (for
very long) that he had a destiny to fulfill that was connected to his lineage. The
heat of the fire of search burning within him began to rise. Increasingly, he
found himself spending time with elders and spiritual teachers, always searching
for answers and a spiritual way out of the hurt and pain of the past and present.
The laser searchlight of his soul began to seek out and explore spiritual
teachings from around the world. The more he searched, the more it seemed to
him that the spiritual foundations of all the diverse religions and great traditions
(including his own Dakota and Chickasaw traditions) are really one.
It was during the darkest hours of this search and struggle to walk the path of
his traditional spiritual teachings, free of the destructive forces of materialism
that Phil had a spiritual awakening. This awakening in 1968 filled him with a
burning love for the Creator and a great desire and energy to serve the people
and to fulfill the vision of the future given to him by those who had walked the
path of service before him. A great and abiding faith was born in his heart that
the time, long prophesied by his tribal elders, for the spiritual and material
rehabilitation of all the peoples of the world has come; and that it is the
responsibility of everyone who believes in the Creator (by whatever name we call
our Creator), to build bonds of trust and collaboration with other races and
nations, and to work with all of the strength and capacity of one’s being to bring
justice, unity, peace, and well-being to the people of every race and nation.
And that is exactly what Phil Lane, Jr. began to do. For more than thirty years
Phil has worked unceasingly, often to the point of total exhaustion, for the
upliftment of the human family, and especially of Indigenous people. He has
continuously sacrificed personal comfort, income, professional advancement, old
age security and even the simple pleasures of spending time with family and
friends or taking a vacation. Following are a few highlights of his early years of
service.
Four Worlds
In the 1970’s and early 1980’s, Indigenous communities in Canada and the
United States had sunk into a black pit of despair, poverty, alcoholism, violence,
abuse, and misery.
The fact that these distinguished leaders came at all (despite traditional rivalries
and pervading community despair) speaks eloquently of the impact Phil had
already made in ―Indian Country,‖ and to the genius of his leadership. It is
important to bear in mind that when the human rights and freedom of people
are systematically violated for generation upon generation, there is a tendency
for those people to internalize that oppression, and to turn against each other.
This paralyzing phenomenon routinely undermines the capacity of oppressed
people to sustain their own healing and development processes.
This historic four-day meeting took place in Lethbridge and at the Blood Indian
Reserve on the high plains of southern Alberta, Canada in the week between
Christmas 1982 and the 1983 New Year.
With the utmost skill and wisdom, Phil orchestrated a gathering, the like of which
had not occurred for hundreds of years, if ever. The importance of this
gathering was that forty of the wisest, most experienced and influential people of
many tribes of North America came together to deliberate about problems and
challenges that were destroying every one of their communities, and required
common effort to overcome.
Invitations were sent using high plains traditional protocol, which requires that
tobacco and cloth be sent, and if accepted, signifies that the process to follow
would take place on spiritual grounds (beyond politics and personal interest).
The meeting itself was held in traditional Council fashion. A buffalo robe filled
the center of the great circle around which participants gathered. Sage was
burned. Songs were sung. Prayers were offered, and an eagle fan (i.e. wing of
eagle) was passed from person to person, the elders speaking first, each
delegate speaking in turn, and everyone else listening respectfully.
From that meeting, a bold project was conceived to build an instrument for the
healing and development of Indigenous communities. That instrument, in the
form of a research, technical assistance, and capacity building program, became
known as ―Four Worlds.‖
What the elders said at that meeting was basically the following.
Phil emerged from this meeting with the solid mandate of respected spiritual
leaders and elders from many tribes to build programs and eventually a
movement that would serve as a catalyst and support for healing and
development processes in indigenous communities. But moving from talk to
action is never easy. There is an old proverb that says ―Whenever the cry of
truth is raised, so also is the cry of denial.‖
Phil worked tirelessly and with great courage to build Four Worlds and to serve
communities in the face of tremendous criticism from many people, including
some native people. For example, when (in 1983) he articulated the goal of ―the
elimination of alcohol and drug abuse in native communities by the year 2000,‖
he was condemned and attacked by native leaders and community members
who were deeply addicted to alcohol and drugs, as well as, by a number of
people who were working in the treatment of native alcoholism (of all groups!).
Privately, they actually said, ―If this goal is realized, we’re all out of work.‖ He
was criticized for involving non-natives as members of his inner working group,
even though the elders had clearly advised that it was critical to work with
people of ―all four directions‖ (symbolically, black, white, red and yellow) , and to
bring together the gifts of each of these peoples in the work of uplifting tribal
communities. He was attacked for seeking spiritual understanding and wisdom
from teachers and traditions around the world that seemed ―strange‖ and
―foreign‖ to his attackers. He was, also, attacked (often by jealous program
leaders) for his insistence on integrating traditional cultural wisdom and modern
Following is a list of some of the most important contributions that have been
made to the upliftment and empowerment of Indigenous people as a result of
Phil Lane Jr. and the work of Four Worlds.
1. When Four Worlds began visiting native communities in 1983, few in those
communities believed that healing (from the massive levels of alcoholism,
abuse, oppression and poverty) was even possible. ―This is the way we are
now,‖ people would say. Indeed, people could not imagine anything
different. But gradually, in community after community, a healing movement
was born, and Four Worlds was certainly one of its primary originators.
5. Four Worlds was originally core funded by the Canadian government, but
since 1994, has received no government funding for it’s core funding,
choosing instead to survive on it’s own economic enterprises and revenues
received for services it provides to contracted partners. The intent has been
to model self-sufficiency to the communities being served.
6. Through Phil’s leadership and tireless efforts for more than twenty years, the
devastating issue of the physical, sexual, psychological, spiritual and cultural
abuse of five generations of native children in residential schools run by the
Canadian and U.S. government and various churches has become an
international concern. The Four Worlds film ―Healing the Hurts‖ (1989) was
one of the primary catalysts that ignited the Residential School Healing
Movement in Canada. Four Worlds has single-handedly guided and helped to
fund the initiation of one of the largest legal actions ever to be filed in
Canadian history on behalf of residential school victims, comprised of more
than 600 individual plaintiffs from the Blackfoot Confederacy in southern
Alberta. The purpose of this legal action is to secure resources for healing
and development, and for individual compensation that will help the victims
of the residential schools to move beyond the crippling trauma of the past
that has for so long plagued native families and communities with a legacy of
shame, suicide, violent death, personal dysfunction, and social paralysis.
One of the consequences of Phil’s efforts to bring the residential school issues
to public attention, healing and resolution is that he has been severely
attacked by people and interests who want the residential school issues
covered up and forgotten. These people are presumably acting out of fear
On the Canadian National front, the work of Phil and others to address the
issue of residential schools continues. The Canadian Government has come
forward with $350,000,000 (about $217,000,000 US) Residential School
Healing Fund to be spent over a five-year period. Although this amount falls
far short of the 2 billion per year called fair and needed by the Canadian
Royal Commission on Aboriginal People in its final report (1997) ―Gathering
Strength‖, it is a beginning.
Currently, more than 8000 individual legal cases have been filed by
Residential School survivors, and more are being filed every week. It is
saddening to note that as the residential schools issue finally comes to light,
it is too late for many of the former victims of residential school abuse who
have already died of alcoholism, suicide or violent deaths. Phil’s focus now is
to find alternative ways that the legal issues can be resolved in a manner that
is just, as well as, healing for all concerned, rather than being forced to use a
legal system that is adversarial, demeaning, and disunifying in nature.
In 1994, Phil left his job as a tenured professor of education at the University
of Lethbridge, and set up an economic development arm of Four Worlds
called ―Four Directions International.‖ The purpose of this initiative was (and
is) to create viable businesses and sustainable economic enterprises in
partnership with Indigenous communities (and other partners) that will
eventually provide economic opportunities and generate prosperity for those
communities, while at the same time, providing revenue to Four Worlds that
can be used to fund humanitarian work. This effort has concentrated on the
information technology sector (such as the manufacture of made-to-order
computers, and the development of a computer managed learning platform
for distance education to Indigenous communities around the world), and
7. In 1999-2000, Phil and Four Worlds became a catalyst and one of the prime
movers in the development and negotiation of inter-continental Indigenous to
Indigenous trade and social development agreements between Indigenous
nations of Canada and Indigenous nations of Latin America and the
Caribbean. This movement to reunite the Indigenous peoples and First
Nations of the Americas in a comprehensive trade and socioeconomic
development network is called ―The Reunion of the Condor and the Eagle.‖
Indigenous spiritual leaders and elders in both the North and the South say
this is the fulfillment of ancient prophesies that foretold that after a ―long
wintertime‖ of oppression, suffering and decline at the hands of other
nations, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas and eventually around the
world would unite and one day become strong and healthy, and would
eventually take their renewed spiritual wisdom and strength to the whole
world. This ancient prophecy is so strong that in 1970, the elders of the
Otomi Nation in Central Mexico told their people to build a sacred ceremonial
center carved out of solid rock in the ancient Toltec and Aztec tradition, and
to dedicate this center to the ―Reunion of the Condor and the Eagle,‖
because, they said, in the future the actual fulfillment of the ancient prophecy
of the formal reunion of the Condor (Indigenous people of the South) and the
Eagle (Indigenous people of the North) would begin at that sacred site. With
the guidance of the Otomi elders, and after seven years of careful planning,
more than 100,000 Indigenous people of Mexico worked for three years to
complete the Center in 1980. It is located in the mountains just outside
Mexico City.
While the governments of Canada, Mexico and Dominica have indicated their
support and enthusiasm for this bold undertaking, the animating vision, as well
as thousands of hours of negotiations and support building work and the initial
cost of that work has been carried by Phil Lane Jr. and Four Worlds.
On a more personal note, Phil has a wonderful wife (Suthida), four daughters, an
infant son, and two young grandsons. His three oldest daughters are all
professional health care providers and are happily married. His youngest
daughter, Deloria Lane Many Grey Horses has already emerged at the age of
eighteen as a future Indigenous leader following in her father’s footsteps. She is
a North American Indigenous Games track and field champion, Captain of her
cross country team and is currently featured in a new film, A Place At The Table,
about transcending racism and prejudice being produced by the South East
Poverty Law Center, a group well known in North America for its constant battle
against such organizations as the Ku Klux Klan, and for its tireless defenses of
oppressed peoples. As well as receiving her father’s hereditary lineage of
leadership, Deloria, through her mother is also a direct descendant of spiritual
leaders and hereditary chiefs of the Blackfoot Confederacy, including Many Grey
Horses, Black Bear, Long Time Squirrel, Riding at the Door,Red Crow and the
great Spiritual Visionary, Seen From A Far.
[Pause]
She was blind and yet somehow there was greatness within her. She had
made the Great Wolf see, and she brought him to his knees, with tears in
his eyes, ready to dedicate himself to helping her find the Sacred Lake.
Looking ahead
Phil Lane has been a midwife to the birth of dreams. For more than three
decades, he has labored unceasingly toward the fulfillment of ancient prophesies
that say that Indigenous people would experience a long wintertime of
oppression, suffering and misery. It was foretold that this dark period would
eventually be followed by a beautiful springtime of healing and renewal. The
prophesies say that not only would indigenous people recover the spiritual and
material greatness of bygone ages, but also that they would contribute to the
healing of the whole world.
The elders and spiritual leaders who gathered at that first historic meeting in
1982 fully confirmed that the time for the fulfillment of the prophesies had come.
What was needed, they said, was the creation of effective processes and
mechanisms for making the vision a reality. It is to this work that Phil Lane, Jr.
has dedicated his life.
―What is now needed is the sustained resources that will allow us to actually
implement this approach in partnership with Indigenous nations and the other
[Pause]
The Great Wolf and his Little Mouse Sister climbed high into the
mountains, and one day, quite unexpectedly, they came upon the most
beautiful lake they had ever seen burning brilliant turquoise in the
morning sun, and they knew they had found what they were looking for.
“Little Sister,” he said to her, “we have found the Sacred Lake. What
shall we do now?” “I cannot thank you enough, she said, but now I must
ask of you a difficult thing. Leave me. The rest I must do myself.”
And so the wolf placed his Little Sister gently at the water’s edge, kissed
her good-bye, and set out down the mountain.
The little mouse felt strangely at peace, and yet she could not imagine
what to do next. Suddenly, a voice boomed from the sky. “Little Mouse,
jump and reach for the heavens.” So she jumped. “Jump higher,” said the
voice. So she jumped again. “Jump still higher,” the voice commanded.
And she jumped again still higher. “Little Mouse, jump as if life
depended on it. Jump as you have never jumped before. Jump and touch
the sky.” And she jumped like she had never jumped before, and she felt
herself soaring, floating dizzily, flying and swooping, and she could see a
great distance. The sun poured yellow warmth upon the land. The
Sacred Lake below shone like a jewel. And she could see her Wolf
Brother far below, making his way down the mountain. And she heard
the voice again but now like a whisper within her.
We are here today to honor an Eagle among us, not only for what he has done,
but also because of the future toward which he guides us. If honoring Phil Lane
Jr. is to mean anything beyond words, then our admiration and our respect for
him must be backed up with our deeds. Indigenous nations everywhere are
awakening, and Indigenous peoples in their millions are ready to step out of the
shadow of oppression, and the grinding burden of poverty and powerlessness
that has for so long held them back. It was for this that Phil Lane Jr. was
instructed by Indigenous elders and spiritual leaders to reach out to the world.
Phil is doing his part. It now falls to us to do ours.