The comments posted today, for the most part, are a little "out there". But that's okay cause we all need a little levity in our lives. So here's a couple of things from the "Twilight Zone". I have given this some serious thought...Why are so many states named after tribes? And what about the prairie, especially Oklahoma, that was ravaged by the "dustbowl" in the thirties? So many sons and daughters of "sooners" were forced to pack up and head out to California (Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath). They had dust blowing all the way to Washington, DC. Maybe there is a power in this land greater than the white man.

Yeah,there are a lot of things named after Indians.There are two streets not far from me that intersect each other.One is named Cherokee Rd. and the other is Shawnee Trail.There is also a community center nearby that is named Annawakee.It is named after a Cherokee woman from many years ago.

Most white people just don't get it and refuse to see the Truth. They don't even listen to their own "prophets." Like I said, I don't want to be in the same "boat" as those who refuse to listen and heed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGGy_xKdxjU&feature=related

The questions you propose are ancient ones which have been proposed by western philosophers for centuries. These questions often called for the need to change. It is not that history repeats itself, but it rhymes. What American represents to many is a dream, and yet to several it is a nightmare, and many can never understand why it is this way, simply that they want the nation state called the United States gone. For millions of descendants of slaves and the indigenous, this land has become the symbol of oppression. Yet for the dominant social paradigm to admit such a thing would cause for them to be just in this regard and remedy the situation. That of which would cause not only a collapse of a false paradigm, but a collapse of the actual physical nation state which they rely upon to validate their existence. Since it is nearly impossible for the western mind to achieve these means through pure self-reflection, it is only achieved at the thorough collapse of a civilization. This would explain why many anticipate the downfall of this society, because of its lack of desire to change and evolve to the underlying realities of the world.

However, Native Americans , including the Lakotah also have underlying issues to overcome. One of them being the lack of population, another being lack of financial capital, and the other being a lack of stable and reliable leadership. This will also cause a contradiction in the way of centuries of thoughts. Because like westerners, Native Americans too have to adapt to harsh realities of this world, and how they largely go about fixing this will determine their fate as well. The hard choice of maintaining traditions and also expanding wealth come to head. And these are ethical questions which are not easy for any society to grapple with, but which are necessary in order to maintain a stable society and one that moves forward. It is something which is indeed hard.

I agree. And I humbly suggest that perhaps the answers to the questions posed by western "philosophers" reside in the spiritual pathways of native peoples, both east and west.
Very heavy subject, indeed, WalLiDruDumA