critical appreciation of chief seattle speech
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Since his death in 1866, Chief Seattle has grown in fame and stature to a point where he has become a sort of Abraham Lincoln of American Indians, a gifted orator and visionary leader.
This week, a book called "Brother Eagle, Sister Sky: A Message From Chief Seattle" is No. 5 on the New York Times best seller list for nonfiction. Also this week, as part of the official celebration of Earth Day on Wednesday, organizers have asked religious leaders from around the world to read a famous letter from Chief Seattle to President Franklin Pierce.
There is one problem: A number of historians say Chief Seattle never said most of what he is supposed to have said. For years, but with little success, this small group of debunkers has been trying to spread the word that most of Chief Seattle's famous oratory was written in 1971 by a scriptwriter from Texas.
"Chief Seattle is probably our greatest manufactured prophet," said David Buerge, a Northwest historian who is writing a book on the chief. He is one of the scholars frustrated that their work has failed to stop the myth from spreading around the world.
The "letter" to Pierce, an embellished version of an embellished version of a speech given by the 68-year-old chief in 1854, makes him out to be an environmental prophet. "The earth is our mother," says one rendering of the letter, which goes on, "I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairies left by the white man who shot them from a passing train."