STANDING BEAR WAS ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO GO HOME – THEN HIS CASE FORCED A U.S. COURT TO DECIDE IF A NATIVE MAN WAS A “PERSON”

It means the article should distinguish the traditional account from the judge’s written legal reasoning.

Standing Bear’s declaration became the moral summary of the case because it translated an abstract dispute over jurisdiction and statutory interpretation into a human image no listener could avoid.

His hand was different in color, the account said, but it could feel pain.

His blood was the same color.

He was a man.

For an audience living inside a legal order that allowed officials to discuss whether an Indian was a “person” under a federal statute, the force of that statement is difficult to overstate.