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In September of 1977, the Non-Governmental Organizations of the United Nations convened a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on "Discrimination Against the Indigenous Populations of the Americas." Among those attending were many Indian delegates from North America, including Oren Lyons of the Iroquois people. His speech to the delegates, reprinted here, exemplifies Native Americans' belief in the equality of all living beings.

Lyons reminds his listeners that diversity exists not just among people, but among all creatures. Disrespect for another creature is the same as disrespect for another human being. By the same token, to think of "rights" as belonging only to human beings is to forget that "we are after all a mere part of the Creation.. . . we stand between the mountain and the ant, somewhere and only there." Lyons's argument is important for understanding opposition to diversity, which has played such a large role...