In Sitting Bull's speech, he talks about him and his people living in their own land in peace until the colonists came. He says now that the white man has come to his country, their land and warriors are gone. Sitting Bull believes that whites cannot call him a theif because they had stolen his land, not the other way around. "What white man can say I ever stole his lands or a penny of his money? Yet they say I am thief." The whites claimed that the land was theirs and the natives had stolen it. Nobody could say that to Sitting Bull because he and his people lived there first. Sitting Bull tries to make peace with the white men by compromising with treaties, but they always are violated. "What treaty that the whites have kept has the red man broken? Not one. What treaty that the whites ever made with us red men have they kept? Not one." This line being said, Sitting Bull and his native followers always wanted peace and were willing to keep a treaty under the white's word, but it is the whites that always broke the treaty's rules. The native Americans always stuck to their promises, but the whites never did. The U.S. government had a lot of power, so they used it to limit the Native American's land and freedom by creating treaties and breaking them to create even more limiting rules for another treaty. Because of the power positions, the native Americans had no choice but to accept peace treaties and obey them, and eventually see the treaty broken by greedy, power hungry generals and miners.
Sitting Bull also talks about how the social position the Native Americans was very unfair. Sitting Bull always acts genuine to anybody and was sure to present himself in a respectable manner. Yet the whites call him a bad Indian and a theif, simply because of his race. "Is it wicked in me because my skin is red; because I am a Sioux?" Sitting Bull wondered why people mistreated him and his people even though they were decent human beings. He understnads that the whites do not like him because of his race. This relates a lot to African Americans and their struggle for equality. Native Americans especially should be treated with repect because they lived in America first and have a right to equality.
"Sitting Bull: speech on keeping treaties (1891)." American History.
You did a really nice job of explaining the Native Americans side of the story as well as incorporating quotes that show first hand how they felt. It was also good that you compared the Native Americans to a topic that we have studied in class (African-Americans) in order to put it in perspective.
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