May it be so

May it be so. May I have strength. May I continue to be loved and liked and gain good things. May it be so.

-Tewa Rain Power Ceremony

These words come from a letter written to me by my uncle for a customer. My name is Jason Kicking Bird. I am a Hunkpapa Ocheti Shakowin Lakota, what the white man likes to call Sioux. A very powerful people. The other Indian Nations call us the "Mighty Sioux" and I think that they are making fun about the way that we see ourselves. But that is alright. We call the Shaela, or Cheyanne, "the Beautiful People" because of the beadwork that they do. And if we say they are beautiful, then they must be. I was born in 1913 in the moon when the chokecherries are full near the Paha Sapa, what the white man calls the Black Hills of South Dakota. I hid away when the reservation police came to take my brothers and sisters to the Carlyle Indian School, so I grew up hearing the stories that the old men had to tell about the days when the Lakota were strong and how we beat the Cavalry in the wars of 1868 and 1876. My father rode against Custer when he invaded the Greasy Grass, and he told stories of how he wiped out many soldiers. I know that he was too young to have done any fighting and I know that he probably spent his time taking souvenirs off of the battlefield. But I know that he was there and that he saw our last victory against the United States. I don't mind too much about us becoming Americans. The young warriors need to have a place to test themselves and the Marines are good for this. My children, and my grandchildren and great-grandchildren have had a chance to carry on the warrior tradition without getting into too much trouble with the police. I have seen many things, like the first time that I saw a light-bulb over in Winner. We traveled for three days to see it and it was a little bulb with a lot of wire and it didn't make any more light than a wax candle, but it was amazing to see. I hope that you like this painting that my nephew did. I am much better looking than he made me out to be. Love your friends and family and all the two-legged, four-legged, and winged creatures and you will be fine.

In memory of Jason Kicking Bird 1913 - 2005