The funeral for Vine Deloria Jr. is Friday in Golden, Colorado. NewMexiKen has been wondering why this great leader hasn’t seen more national honors since his death Sunday. Someone I read wrote that Deloria was to American Indians as Rosa Parks was to African-Americans. I would say more that Vine Deloria Jr. was to American Indians as Martin Luther King Jr. was to African-Americans — an intellectual and spiritual leader.
I don’t know his wishes, those of his family or his religion, but I believe it would have been fitting if Mr. Deloria had lain in state in the rotunda of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington.