University students and Ann Arbor residents crammed into the Mendelssohn Theatre on Saturday night to hear John Trudell's provocative address on the essence of the human spirit.
Trudell first became prominent as an activist for minority rights. He was the chair of the American Indian Movement from 1973 to 1979. His often-explosive activist efforts have, among other things, earned him a 17,000-page FBI file on his exploits.
Trudell's lecture began with the idea that humans are the children of the Earth.
"We are all the descendants of tribes - each and every one of us," Trudell said. "The being part of the human being is the spirit."
 |
| JOY JACOBS/Daily John Trudell, former chair of the American Indian Movement, spoke on the nature of raising consciousness and how humans have lost perception of reality over time. Trudell noted that he wants to believe but "finds a lie in the word." |
LSA junior Shanon Muir said Trudell raised many salient points.
"I thought it was very entertaining, very poignant," Muir said. "He said a lot of great things about spirituality. I really appreciated that."
Trudell said that somewhere in our pasts, people understood the spiritual nature of life. But now "the other part of reality said the earth is no longer the important thing." Trudell added that people have lost their relationship with Earth. It is seen as just a piece of property, Trudell said.
MLK Program Coordinator Tara Young said she really enjoyed listening to Trudell's speech.
"He is so deep," Young said. "A lot of it was smarter than I am."
Young said Trudell maintained his sense of humor during the lecture.
"I know for a fact people drove at least three hours to see him," Young said. "He is a strong part of Native American history."
Trudell said people look at power and authority as status. He said people see power as being something to attain rather than something to find within themselves.
"Let's look at power and authority," Trudell said. "We are conditioned to believe that whoever gets the most money has power. That's not true. Whoever gets the most money has access to authority, not power, authority."
Local resident George Roman said he anxiously awaited Trudell's speech.
"I think he was passionate in his speaking," Roman said. "There was a lot of raw truth in the things he said that we are not used to."
Trudell encouraged audience members to think more and believe less.
"When we believe we no longer think," Trudell said. "We lose all our objectivity. We no longer see."
01-20-98
| Previous Article | Next Article |
should be sent to: daily.letters@umich.edu | should be sent to: online.daily@umich.edu |