*** Consider Me Hostile ***
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By James H. Starkey

In 1875, the government of the United States issued an order decreeing all Indians on the Western Plains must settle on assigned reservations (prisoner of war camps) by January 31, 1876.

Those who failed to comply would be considered "hostile" and the United States Army would move against them...
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Go ahead, consider me hostile and hope that I die,
I'll still live this lifestyle till the day that I fly,
Back to my relatives, up among the stars,
Unencumbered by oppression and all of these scars,

Ain't gonna find me hangin 'round the ol' fort,
Original instructions and Tisopaye support,
Supersede even, the plundering ways,
Of the Wasicu and all those bleak days,

I'm of the Oyate, and we still are able to know,
Our ancient lifeways, does the grass still grow?
Think of the treaties, do those rivers flow?
Think of the promise, does the wind yet blow?

Consider me hostile, if it helps you relate,
And if it excuses all of your hate,
Go ahead and despise me, cause I run free,
Like a coyote making the fenced cows flee,

Some days I am hungry, and some days I'm cold,
Some days I am humbled, and some I am bold,
Sometimes I'm lonely, and then I remember,
All the relations around me in the cold of December,

I'm of the Oyate, and still we are able to know,
Our ancient lifeways, does the grass still grow?
Think of the treaties, do those rivers flow?
Think of the promise, does the wind yet blow?

They'll never erase us, though they have tried,
With the thieves road and the ways that they lied,
And the way they now like to hem-how and forget,
Hoka hey it's a good day, we still ain't dead yet,

Assimilation, homogenization and melting pot ploys,
And thinking the winner has all the toys,
Lucre and loot and ill gotten gain,
Taking, fat-taking and leaving only pain,

I'm of the Oyate, and we still are able to know,
Our ancient lifeways, does the grass still grow?
Think of the treaties, do those rivers flow?
Think of the promise, does the wind yet blow?

Simple ways of beauty, all of Wakan Tankan,
Tasunka Witco, Tatanka Iyotanka,
Wambli Gleska, and brothers untold,
And unnamed sisters standing brave and bold,

Our existence is resistance; our persistence is found,
A Hocoka, a world, a cosmology round,
We ain't dead yet, gotta say it for real,
Our lifeways are one thing the fat-takers can't steal,

So consider me hostile, I resist and always fight,
Out of love for my people and to spite all your might,
I will not retreat, nor will I ever surrender,
Personally soverreign: I'll die a defender...

Note:
-Tisopaye: Tipi, shelter.
-Wasicu: Whiteness as I see it.
-Oyate: Dakota Indian
-Hoka: A member of a North American Indian people speaking the Hokan language.
-Wakan Tankan: Great Holy Spirit.
-Tasunka Witco: Crazy Horse (a Native American Indian Chief).
-Tatanka Iyotanka: The Sioux leader Sitting Bull.
-Wambli Gleska: Lakota leader Spotted Eagle.
-Hocoka: Sacred Circle.