July 15, 2026

No One Commands The Weather

Indians are like the weather. Everyone knows all about the weather, but no one can change it.

Vine Deloria Jr. opens Custer Died for Your Sins (1969) with this line, comparing public opinion about Indians to weather: something everyone has views on but no one can command to change. He wrote it while serving as executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, in the middle of decades-long fights over termination policy, treaty rights, and tribal sovereignty that moved at a pace no single person could speed up. Deloria kept writing, organizing, and arguing case by case for the rest of his life, whether or not the weather ever seemed to break in his favor. His point still holds for anyone waiting on something bigger than themselves: some forces will not bend to your urgency, so the only real question is what you do while you wait.