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I have to find a way to stay because it's important to the people that are coming after
me that we're still here, that we're not chased out or runned out, that because of profit,
you know, was able to defeat us when nothing else had been able to do that before.
Being here, not being a part of this, that would be like the coup de grace, you know,
taking us out of this place.
That would be the end of our culture, the end of our heritage, the end of life as we
know it.
I've been doing this so long, so that's all I really know.
It's rough.
We enjoy what we do, so it's like a natural thing for us, I mean, that's the way we like
to live, that's the way we want to live too, the only way.
If we're not able to feed ourselves from the environment that has sustained us for so many
centuries, that's new, you know, that's the biggest threat of all.
All of the challenges that came here, you know, from when other people found this place,
you know, outside people, and they looked at this place and they saw all that it had
to offer, you know, and all they saw was profit, you know, we saw life, they saw profit.
They came in and they took things away and they took and took and took, and our parents
had to live with and deal with all of the negative, you know, that resulted from that.
The land sinking, saltwater intrusion, erosion, you know, the trees dying out, but they stayed
and they continued with life here because they knew that we needed a place, we needed
this place.
They endured a lot to be able to pass this legacy on to us, and I'm so glad they did.
