That hand is not the color of yours, but if I prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel pain.
The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a man."
April 1879, Standing Bear sued for a writ of habeas corpus in U.S. District Court in Omaha, Nebraska. Susette LaFlesche acted as an interpreter for Standing Bear. She was educated, bilingual, and mixed race. The case was named United States ex rel. Standing Bear v. Crook. Crook was named as the formal defendant because he was holding the Ponca under color of law. Standing Bear was allowed to make a speech. He said "That hand is not the color of yours, but if I prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel pain. The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a man." On May 12, 1879, Judge Elmer S. Dundy ruled that a Native American is a person. He stated the government failed to show basis under law of Ponca's arrest. This case was a land mark. It determined that a Native American had the same rights as any other person. The law was entitled to protect them and have equal rights. It was the governments and laws responsibility to treat each human with respect and get constitutional rights as every other person in the united states.