Changing is not Vanishing
by Carlos Montezuma

Who says Indian race is vanishing?
The Indian will not vanish.
The feathers, paint and moccasin will
vanish, but the Indians–never!
Just as long as there is a drop of human
blood in America, the Indian will not
Vanish.
His spirit is everywhere; the American
Indian will not vanish.
He has changed externally, but he has not
Vanished.
Wherever you see an Indian upholding
the standard of his race, there you see
the Indian man–he has not vanished.
The man part of the Indian is here, there
and everywhere.
The Indian race vanishing? No, never!
The race will live on and
prosper forever.

(This poem appeared in Wassaja 1, No 3, June 1916.)
Carlos Montezuma, known as Wassaja, was a Yavapai–
Apache writer and activist. A fading amber of the
society of American Indians, he was the first native
American male to receive a medical degree. He
founded the magazine Wassaja, a platform through
which he published his own writings and political
views. He died on January 31, 1923.