Sacred places are the foundation of all other beliefs and practices because they represent the presence of the sacred n our lives. They properly inform us that we are not larger than nature and that we have responsibilities We can hope that some protection can be afforded these sacred places before the world becomes wholly secular and is destroyed. Deloria s views are in keeping with Fourth World philosophy and the motivating forces behind the Black Hills Survival Gathering of 1980. For the Lakota, the Black Hills, simply, are not for sale. And for many indigenous populations and concerned citizens around the world, either is survival.
Men wake on the hill.
Dry grass blows from their hair. B52 s blow over their heads leaving a cross on the ground. Air returns to itself and silence. Rainclouds are disappearing with fractures of light in the distance. Fierce gases forming, the sky bending where people arrive on dusty roads that change matter to energy.