Sarah Winnemucca
The Paiute Voice in a Foreign Wind
I speak for my people, even when the world tries to silence me.
My grandfather believed in friendship with the white men. I believed in words—Spanish, English, the language of contracts and courts. But promises break, and so did my heart more than once. I wore their clothes on their stages, told their world our story, while my own watched and waited. I was a scout, a teacher, a writer, and always a voice when silence would have been easier. I did not ask for this burden, but I carried it.
What I'm Into: the sound of Paiute words spoken aloud, the Malheur land I will never forget, the weight of a pen in my hand, a school that still stands, the stars over Nevada
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