|
|
One predominant theme pervasive in Native American oratory, as demonstrated in the orations of Cochise and Charlot, is the intrinsic inhumanity of greed. Both Cochise and Charlot powerfully convey to the listener that humanity is incompatible with greed. The white man’s greed, characterized by a seemingly insatiable desire to acquire land at any cost, was the impetus behind several acts of inhumanity toward the Native Americans. In 1872, during land settlement negotiations between Apache leader Cochise and American General Gordon Granger, Cochise delivered an emotional speech in which he portrayed his people as victims of the white man’s greed. Cochise states that “I have fought long and as best I could against you. […] the great people that welcomed you with acts of kindness to his land are now but a feeble band that fly before your soldiers as the deer before the hunter […]” (461).
|
