The Chief Seattle speech is a hoax. Chief Seattle never wrote a letter to
Pierce at all. He did make a speech on the Port Elliot Treaty of 1855, entitled
"The Indian's Night Promises to be Dark". It was tranlated by Dr. Henry Smith
and is to be found in " INDIAN ORATORY: FAMOUS SPEECHES BY NOTED INDIAN
CHIEFTAINS( Norman: U. of Oklahoma Press, 1971 Ppp. 118-122). The famous
environmental speech was written by Ted Perry, a screen writer, for a film
called HOME. The words were written in 1971-72. Perry used the name of
CHief Seattle in the body of the text, and he did use the original speech as a
model. Perry expected to be given credit for the text but he wasn't as the
producers thought it would sound more authentic if credit were not given.
The film was shown on national tv in the seventies and the speech became
a favorite for quotation among environmentalists.
A short discussion of the matter can be found in an article by the well-known
environmentalist J. Baird Callicot "American Indian Land Wisdom? Sorting Out
the Issues, JOURNAL OF FOREST HISTORY 33 no 1 (January 1989: pp. 35-42)
Some examples of differences between Perry and Chief Seattle:
Perry inserts into the speech mid twentieth century pop
ecology statements entirely lacking in Seattle's speech.Also,
Seattle said: "Your God loves your people and hates mine... The white
man's God cannot love his red children.."
Perry said: "Our God is the same God... He is the God of man, and His
compassion is equal for the red man and the white. "
Perry by the way was not aboriginal.
Cheers, Ken Hanly
