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In addition to individual responsibility and effort, a further essential to the development of our Indian people consists in united effort, in community planning and organization wherever we happen to live. The Community Organization Workshop of the National Congress of American Indians held at Brigham City, Utah, in June, demonstrated in thrilling fashion the presence of native Indian leadership, of interest and concern that we improve our Indian community life. The sharing of ideas and convictions during the Workshop evidenced strikingly that out Indian problems are mutual, that no one of our problems is unique to our particular community, and, further, that no one of our Indian problems is truly unique to our Indian people; the needs of our people are the basic needs of all people everywhere.

It seems to me that we have too often in the past felt that somehow we were quite different, that as Indians we needed a special understanding. I may very well shock many of you when I say that I am convinced we need to rid ourselves of that attitude. If we do, we can work with other people, other organizations and agencies, and in that cooperative effort we shall find ourselves truly a part of our local communities, of our individual states, and of our federal government. Human needs and problems are basically the same everywhere in the world, and only as peoples and nations generously and unselfishly work and live together will there be any hope for adequate opportunity for all men to live peacefully and to utilize constructively the highest qualities of the human spirit.

We are confronted with many social and economic problems in our Indian communities: family disorganization, poor housing -- our homes, in some areas have been described as constituting some of the worst rural slums in the United States -- poor roads, inadequate economic living standards, poor health and nutrition, juvenile delinquency, inadequate educational opportunity, law and order problems, lack of wholesome recreational opportunity. All these are negative aspect of Indian conditions at the present time. In our discussions here as we are in convention assembled, let us employ a positive, imaginative approach to them, and let us carry home with us the fire of convictions which we will translate into action at home: our adventure, yours and mine, begins at home, not here. 

This brings me to the third thought, or a third string to your bow, that I wish to share with you today. What you and I accomplish from day to day, from month to month, at home and in our own communities, will deter-mine the progress of our Indian people. Unremitting effort at home daily will make the difference in our way of life on the reservation, in the towns and cities in which we live. Our national meeting here for these few days will be utterly meaningless if we do not return home with renewed courage and energies for a fresh assault upon our problems at Home. Our National Congress will be only as strong as we are, individually, in our efforts wherever we live. Putting it very simply, I make a plea that we constant, that we maintain faith in ourselves and in each other, for the goal at the end of our adventure is a shining one: a rediscovery of our own innate strengths and self-determination, a renewal of our best Indian traditions as our own unique contribution to the richness of American life. 

Transcription Notes:
There are some small typing errors that the writer had to type over. I am not sure if or how this needs to be noted in the transcription.