Lyons, Oren 2004-10-26

From SWC Oral History Collection
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Chief Oren Lyons discusses Native Americans’ views on governance identity, rule of law and their responsibility to all life. As well as discussing his opinion on western culture and views


General Interview Information

Interviewee Name: Oren Lyons

Additional Parties Recorded:

Date: October 26, 2004

Location: Lubbock, Texas

Interviewer: Barry Lopez

Length: 1 hour


Abstract

Sovereignty as a crucial issue for Native Americans, Definition of sovereignty, Unique issue for, Native American, Roman Catholic Church as authority, No mention of western hemisphere in the Bible, Democracy set up several hundred years before western civilization, System of Native American confederation, No conception of police and army, Peace law, Unspoken law, Equity and unity, The way of living, Spiritual law, Recognized even before Christopher Columbus came, Warfare as living motif in Europe, Depictions of battles and castle, Toured a fortress in Norway, Set up new rule in the new land, Declaration of emptiness due to no Christians, Issue of land, Different world value of buying and selling land, Discovery, Set up new rule to indigenous people, Treated as object, Tool of aggression, Establishment of new rule and law, Judge Marshall’s law, Laid on the basis for Indian’s land, Reason for Indians to search for the sovereignty, Speculation on native elders’ rarely seen on governance issue, Different world views, Adam Smith’s theory, Driving force of the western empires, Conflicts on perspectives, Spiritual sight, Respect of things alive, Natural law, Universal laws, Unchallengeable spiritual law, Industrialization and booming population, Necessity of counseling of minds, Tree of peace maker, Structure of Indian tribes, Instructions of life, Mindset of instructors who consuls, Great impediment of the implementation of the wisdom, Human ego, Thanksgiving ceremonies, Opportunities to enforce the belief, Hope of release tension of indigenous and white, Beginning of the tension, Existence of law and ethics, Making decision with respect to peace maker, Good and evil, Individual consumers’ direct threat to human community, Population doubled, Assumption made based on education, People once as unity, Temporary damage to the earth, Nature law, Prediction of the future earth, Regeneration of the nature, Wisdom discipline and rules to overcome the future problem, Contemporary people’s mind set for different culture and way of life, Interview recording stopped for technical reason


Access Information

Original Recording Format:

Recording Format Notes:

Transcript: No transcript available



Thank you for your interest in this oral history interview. Our oral history collection is available to patrons in the Southwest Collection's Reading Room, located on the campus of Texas Tech University. For reading room hours, visit our website. Please contact Reference Staff at least one week prior to your visit to ensure the oral history you are interested in will be available. Due to copyright issues, duplications of our oral histories can only be made for family members. If an oral history transcript has been made available online, the link will be provided on this page. More information on accessing our oral histories is located here. Preferred citation style can be found here.