Dave Yakima Chief

Dave Yakima Chief
Contributed biography: Dave was born June 25, 1930 on Pine Ridge Reservation. He passed to the Spirit World on June 10, 2005 in Oregon. His Lakota name is Wakinyan. He is also related to Kicking Bear through his father, Elbert Chief. His grandfather, Silas Fills the Pipe was a catechist with Black Elk on the Pine Ridge Reservation for many years too. Dave's great grandfather was Red Dog, a signer of the 1868 treaty. Dave had many sisters and brothers. Dave was a runner and ran three times across the USA for Lakota freedom causes: The Trail of Broken Treaties, 1972, The Longest Walk, 1978 and Jim Thorpe Longest run. Dave was a boxer in his late teens and early 20's and was in the Army for a short time in Korea too. Dave was spiritual advisor to Leonard Peltier, incarcerated Oglala Lakota, and a respected spiritual elder to Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred Bundle of the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota Nation.

Dave Yakima Chief on the Circle

Posted June 9, 2010, under Quotations
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The Circle has healing power. In the Circle we are all equal. When in the Circle, no one is in front of you. No one is behind you. No one is above you. No one is below you. The Sacred Circle is designed to create unity. The Hoop of Life is also a circle. On this hoop there is a place for every species, every race, every tree, and every plant. It is this completeness of Life that must be respected in order to bring about health on this planet. To understand each other, as the ripples when a stone is tossed into the waters, the Circle starts small and grows…until it fills the whole lake.
— Dave Yakima Chief cited by Terri Jean in 365 Days of Walking the Red Road: The Native American path to leading a spiritual life every day, (Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media Corporation, 2003), p. 50. Quotation for February 15th.

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"The Circle has healing power"
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