Description 

Napayshni is the wise man who talks his tribe down from irrational decisions. He attempts to keep the peace between tribe to tribe, creating less conflict and anger. He speaks softly, but profoundly. He may be the peace, but when provoked his old warrior ways will prevail.

Early Life 

My name is Napayshni and in English this means Courageous. I was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation, now known as South Dakota. My family and my people lived and loved there for a very long time. We were known as the Lakota Sioux. My people were not killers unless made to be. We brought peace, trade, and kind to others. We did not speak to people unless deemed necessary. Some say we are not fair people because we do not give many chances. I guess it truly depends on what people believe is appropriate. I lived on the reservation with my people for thirteen years until our home was raided. In the 1880s, the US Government joined up with catholic missionaries to steal native American children, even some men, including myself to be shipped to schools far away, our clothes burned, and our hair cut off. They deprived us of our heritage and families. They wanted cultural assimilation that we did not ask for. There were words from the man who created the school that he would always say, “Kill the Indian Save the Man.” I could never understand what these words meant, but as I have grown, these words have finally been made clear. By the time I was fourteen, I had met a white man named Johnny Fieldwalker. He was a man that was hired to guard the school and was not allowed to talk to me but still did. He did not believe in what these people were doing to us. He helped me understand my culture and the reasons we were taken from our homes. He made it his plan to help me get away from this place as he knew where some of my people were hiding. They were Sioux people who traveled all of this way to get some of their children back. The man told me that I would need to sneak out of my sleeping area and find him near the side entrance of the school, where he would pick me up and take me far away to my people. I did what this man asked, and by the next night, we were gone. We rode on horseback for the longest time until I finally saw my people. I was shocked, seeing the beauty of my culture once again made my heart raise, and my eyes tear up. My people held me close as I told them about what the people inside the school were doing to us. The tribe decided on an idea to attack the school and take back their children that were stolen from them. The man Johnny Fieldwalker would lead the tribe into the school in the upcoming week. It was a battle of bloodshed, little did Fieldwalker know the Army would be transporting more kids to the school that day. My people were gunned down and outnumbered. I traveled for years, not knowing where to go only to head West and never look back. The people that traveled with me died from disease or were just too tired to move any longer. It was by 1890 I made it to a reservation somewhere near where my home used to be. My people informed me that we are not safe and will no longer be safe. At this point, I have forgotten most of English language that the school once taught me. I fought alongside my people at a battle called “wounded knee,” where the Army gunned almost everyone down without reason. A few of us made it out safely but with black surrounding our hearts. A man by the name of Black Elk preached to me that “Something else died here in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died here. It was a beautiful dream...The nation’s hope is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.” I do not know where my people are any longer, and I miss them. I am once again traveling and fending for myself. I miss my brothers and sisters and will always feel a pain in my heart for them. I will fight again and again if any man tries to take more people from me. This time I will fight with no remorse for the consequences or death that may occur. I am tired and worn down. I do not blame white people for the killing of my people. I blame the people responsible for telling others to murder and betray us. None of these people know who we are; they do not bother to sit and learn about our culture and what we stand for. No matter what happens, I will always try and convince a man to sit and learn beside my people and me. If one does not respect our culture and attempts to rain terror upon me, I will fight until death.

Present Life 

Upon Napayshni's first arrival he set foot in Valentine where he would hide and attempt to figure out what he was standing in, he did not understand the concept of a town nor it's soul purpose. Until he saw a man of his own skin tone, walking in a white hate. He approached the man and this man happened to be a man by the name of Deerhorn. Napayshni spoke to this man and told him of how he is looking for his Lakota people. Deerhorn told him that there is not many, but if you would like to find some head to Big Valley where the Arikoan lay their heads, you will feel at home there. He showed Napayshni on a map of where to go to arrive in Big Valley, to which he said his thanks and rode off. When Napayshni arrived in Big Valley he was questioned and stared at by Chief Whirling Hawk and the rest of the Arikoan. He was an outside to them, but once he was able to express his story and tell of his tales Chief Whirling Hawk realized Napayshni had fought at the same battles as himself and greeted Napayshni with warm welcomes and a white mask with a yellow sash to indicate his status of being a new blood.

Time went by and the rides began long, Napayshni took all the words he could from the Arikoan and did his best to understand them. He sat for days and weeks improving his english speaking and writing. Chief Whirling Hawk stepped down from his position and abandoned the tribe along with a few other members. For awhile it seemed like the Arikoan were going stagnant but members like Bones and Kai stayed around and held the tribe together for as long as possible and Napayshni attempted to come around as much as possible, but gained a cough that seemed to be tuberculosis and it deteriorate him if he had moved. He was able to fight this sickness off with herbs, remedies, sleep and time with the Arikoan families over the mountain. Over time Kai and Bones began to patrol the valley less and less until one day, Napayshni became healthy once again and approached Bones and rest of the tribe members demanding that there is absolute hope for the Arikoan. Napayshni was able to bring Bones, Little Bison, Black Elk, Red Fish, and Mato Ptecila all together to come back fully into Big Valley. Napayshni lit the fire on Mount Shaan where the tribe would vote on the new chief to which all agreed Bones would become the new Chief of the Arikoan. It was beautiful it was emotional and most of all it brought the brothers and sisters of the Arikoan back together for good.

Affiliations 

+ Arikoan Tribe.
+ Lakota Sioux.

Quotes 

+ "We must become one with the land."

Trivia 

+ Napayshni once spoke almost no English but has developed into speaking English fluently.