Native American Minnesota

The Duluth News Tribune ran an article on Sunday titled, Highway 23 bridge at St. Louis River renamed to honor American Indian veterans. (The full-text is no longer available on their site but there is a Google cached version here. Thumbail photo above links to a page of photos of the Fond du Lac Bridge, its previous name. See this Google Map for location details.)

American Indians who have served in every American war received overdue recognition Saturday from the city of Duluth and the state of Minnesota.

A dedication ceremony took place Saturday morning on Biauswah Bridge, which spans the St. Louis River on Minnesota Highway 23. The bridge was named for an Ojibwe chief this spring, and two small signs now stand at the ends of the bridge to let motorists know they are traveling over a bridge dedicated to the memory of American Indian war veterans.

“It took a long time to get to this point where we can say this bridge is in memory of all Native American veterans, past, present and future,” said Rick Defoe, a member of the Fond du Lac band who helps preserve the tribe’s cultural practices. “This is a historic time, and I am honored to be here at this intertribal ceremony.”

See the Wikipedia entry on Chief Biauswah for more.

Back in April, I blogged about the terrific Dakota Concentration Camp display at Fort Snelling St. Park. (The MN Department of Natural Resources (DNR) operates all state parks. They do not operate Historic Fort Snelling, the site of the fort. It’s operated by the MN Historical Society.)

This exhibit, according to one of the display books on the site, "… was written with the advice and contributions of many Dakota people."

I was pleased when MN Sesqui Executive Director Jane Leonard mentioned it in her speech on the steps of the State Capitol on May 18, in part because so few people seem to know about it.

It seems, however, that the DNR is missing a huge opportunity by

• Not having anything about the exhibit on its Fort Snelling State Park website; and
• Not even mentioning the existence of the concentration camp on the History section of the park’s website, where the narrative reads:

For hundreds of years before Europeans arrived, generations of Dakota people lived in villages along the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers that meet in Fort Snelling State Park. The river confluence was believed to be the place of origin and center of the earth by the bands of Mde-wa-kan-ton-wan Dakota, the "Dwellers by Mystic Lake." By the late 1600s, Europeans had visited the area. In the 1820s, historic Fort Snelling was built on the bluff above the two historic rivers to control the exploration, trade, and settlement on these waterways. The area was established as a state park in 1961. The swimming beach, added in 1970, remains a popular recreation attraction in the park. In 1997, a new visitor center opened to the public.

To its credit, as part of the MN Sesqui, the Park has scheduled an event titled Bdote - Rivers and People Coming Together for Saturday, July 19 at 10 am. The description of the event includes the phrase "concentration camp:"

The area now known as Fort Snelling State Park has worn many titles in Minnesota history, from Dakota homeland to concentration camp, military post to recreation area. Explore the history of this site and its impact, past and present. Begin at the visitor center.

So what could be done?

1. I’d really like to see a multimedia version of the Dakota Concentration Camp exhibit on the Fort Snelling State Park website, or possibly a separate web site altogether. This would be an inexpensive project for the DNR’s web team and make it much easier for many thousands of Minnesotans to discover the exhibit and learn more about the Concentration Camp.
2. I’d really like to see a mobile version of the Dakota Concentration Camp exhibit that could be easily set up at civic events, classrooms, and other temporary locations around the state. Volunteer interpreters could be trained, a DVD with a narrative could be created, and it could be a significant first step towards getting the full story told in the Minnesota History curriculum of our public schools.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave a speech to Parliament earlier this week in which he formally apologized for the Canadian government’s native residential school program (see excerpts and videos on the Open Anthropology blog; and see the blogosphere reaction to the speech summarized here by the CBC news).

The apology begins a 5-year process led by a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (more at CBC background website) supported with a $60 million budget.

The Canadian government formed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to understand how people were affected by the residential school experience. The commission will allow those who experienced harm at residential schools to share their stories within a safe and culturally appropriate environment.

The purpose of the commission is not to determine guilt or innocence, but to create a historical account of the residential schools, help people to heal, and encourage reconciliation between aboriginals and non-aboriginal Canadians. The commission will also host events across the country to raise awareness about the residential school system and its impact.

…

The truth and reconciliation approach is a form of restorative justice, which differs from the customary adversarial or retributive justice. Retributive justice aims to find fault and punish the guilty. On the other hand, restorative justice aims to heal relationships between offenders, victims, and the community in which an offence takes place.

Those involved in truth and reconciliation commissions seek to uncover facts and distinguish truth from lies. The process allows for acknowledgement, appropriate public mourning, forgiveness and healing.

U.S. Senator Sam Brownback was interviewed by NPR’s Melissa Block on Friday, Apology to American Indians Moves Forward, about the “… resolution making its way through Congress [that] offers an apology to all Native peoples on behalf of the United States.” See Brownback’s Apology Resolution page for more.

Assuming that the US House of Representatives passes their version of Brownback’s apology bill and President Bush signs it, what then? Should Congress then be pressed to launch a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission? No matter who gets elected president this fall, I expect leadership on native issues from both Barack Obama (more) and John McCain (more).

At the state level:

• In April, the Colorado Legislature passed a resolution “… comparing the deaths of millions of American Indians to the Holocaust and other acts of genocide around the world.”
• In May, the MN Sesquicentennial Commission posted a statement on its web site that included this: “Yet we remain either unaware of or unable to look at our own history and acknowledge the painful wounds of ethnocide and genocide right here in Minnesota. We have a very hard time acknowledging that the pain remains and that it has affected much of our history thru to the present day.”
• Last week, Thomas Dahlheimer (Rum River Name Change Movement) had a guest column in the Winona Daily News titled State looks to settle up with the past
• A 2002 study by Sheryl Dowlin and Bruce Dowlin titled Healing History’s Wounds: Reconciliation Communication Efforts to Build Community Between Minnesota Dakota (Sioux) and Non-Dakota Peoples. (See their 2000 paper titled The Dakota Conflict Remembered; Paper prepared for the 35th Annual Northern Great Plains History Conference which includes reconciliation information.)

And last December, Louis Stanley Schoen, a consultant and trainer on racial justice in the Episcopal Church, authored a commentary in the Star Tribune titled We must talk about race, despite the difficult emotions it stirs. (Thanks to Thomas Dahlheimer for alerting me to it.) In it, Schoen suggests the formation of a Commission (links are mine):

The premise of original sin inherently stirs guilt and, sometimes, anger. Nick Coleman’s Dec. 23 reflection on the Dakota wars as Minnesota’s original sin probably stirred such feelings. They also appeared in responses to Waziyatawin Angela Wilson’s “Time to Level” (Dec. 2). Awakening to our own or our ancestors’ sins is painful. Religious teachings suggest a treatment: Repentance and restorative-justice efforts can evoke forgiveness and provide hope for reconciliation. Prayers help most of us, but the process can work for atheists, too, if done sincerely.

…

How might serious, healing racial dialogue occur? A series of thoughtful, sensitive commentary in news media might be a starter. Sermons and study groups on race in churches would help, as would discussions in all kinds of community groups. Official public bodies must get engaged. What if a public commission were to begin to examine the American (and European) history of white supremacy — and, here, how that doctrine shaped the formation of Minnesota and its public and private institutions? What if such a commission learned how to offer leadership and resources to dismantle this evil doctrine?

The results could be transforming for us and for all the world. What a magnificent legacy this might be to our celebration of Minnesota’s sesquicentennial.

It seems to me that it would be most meaningful for each state to debate the need for its own Truth and Reconciliation Commission and then to fund it. In Minnesota, we’re now less than four years away from the Sesquicentennial of the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War. If Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission can get their work done in 5 years, surely Minnesota could do something similar in 4 years.

In the June 11 issue of the Toronto Globe and Mail: Part scholar, part activist: With the Dakota nation’s rich history in mind, Waziyatawin takes on prestigious research chair position at University of Victoria. (Photo is cropped from a screenshot of her appearance on TPT a couple weeks ago, blogged here.)

On July 1, she will leave Minnesota for British Columbia. Waziyatawin (pronounced Wah-ZEE-yah-tah-ween) will be taking up a five-year position as the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples at the University of Victoria. She plans to teach courses on such themes as truth-telling and reparative justice, indigenous women and resistance, and decolonization.

Winona LaDuke appeared on The Colbert Report yesterday. The 7-minute segment is a hoot!

"Stephen asks former Green Party vice presidential candidate and Native American activist Winona LaDuke what it’s like to be an oppressed elitist."

MPR reporter Tom Robertson aired a piece yesterday titled: American Indians prefer to reflect on their own history.

Minnesota marks 150 years of statehood this year, but not everyone is celebrating. American Indian tribes in Minnesota were here long before the state was. For many Indians, the history they remember is one of repression, broken promises and loss of culture.

Seventy-four-year-old Peter Strong is an Ojibwe elder from the Red Lake Indian Reservation. Strong says many of his friends and family are indifferent to Minnesota’s sesquicentennial. He’s more interested in reflecting on the history of his tribe and his own family.

I stopped by the headquarters of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community in Mendota yesterday, as I was in the area and had some extra time before my next meeting.

 
I was greeted with a warm hug by Pidamaya Sharon Lennartson (right photo, click to enlarge) who’s listed on their Contact Us page as the administrative assistant for the Council. We’d exchanged email a few times last month after she’d blogged one of my posts and I attached a comment.

I’d initially heard about Sharon from my sister who has visited their headquarters many times in the past. Like us Wigleys, Sharon’s ancestors include Hypolite Dupuis and Angelique Renville.

We didn’t have a lot of time to talk as it was late in the day and she was swamped with phone calls.  I’m hoping to set up another time to visit with her and possibly the Council. 

There’s an article by Rob Capriccioso in the June 6th edition of Indian Country Today titled Minnesota genocide wounds fester: 150th birthday celebration prompts protests, education efforts. It includes quotes from Waziyatawin, Tom Dahlheimer, Leonard Wabasha, and yours truly.

Griff Wigley, project leader of the commission’s Native American outreach component, said the commission has attempted ”to engage the greater citizenry of Minnesota to take a look at these things and to open their eyes.” In that effort, he’s started a blog that notes Native history and news, which is linked to from the commission’s Web site. ”There are a lot of people out there like me who are willing to have their eyes opened,” Wigley said. ”Many more things can be done that will have an impact on the education of the public.”

Audrey Thayer, coordinator of the Greater Minnesota Racial Justice Project of the American Civil Liberties Union-Minnesota, has a commentary in the Bemidji Pioneer this week titled Sesquicentennial missed reconciliation (excerpt only; full-text currently posted to the Mendota Mdewakanton blog here).

… the 150 years Sesquicentennial for me was a strong reminder of the history of destruction and stealing of land from the original people who lived in this state.

I am glad I supported the events that tried to grasp the concepts of the past 150 years but I fear people missed an opportunity for reconciliation with native people and the word exclusion comes to my mind.

MPR’s Tom Robertson did a story about Audrey Thayer back in 2004 when she was hired by the ACLU for the position in Bemidi.

A couple of weeks ago, my sister and I visited the MN150 exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Society.

The exhibit and book, Minnesota 150: The People, Places, and Things that Shape Our State by Kate Roberts, displays and documents "… responses to the following question: What person, place, thing, or event originating in Minnesota do you think has transformed our state, our country, or the world?"  (See the MN150 wiki for nominated answers.)

I took photos of all the exhibit displays that have some relevance to this blogsite and project, i.e., Native American Minnesota.

But rather than writing about my reaction to/detailed opinion of the exhibit all at once here in a blog post, I’d rather do it a little bit at a time in the comment thread attached to this post. And I’d like to invite visitors to this blog to comment here as well.

I’ve created a Native American Minnesota in the MN150 exhibit photo album, and I’ve uploaded the photos so that most are 1600 pixels wide which allows you to use the Picasaweb ‘zoom’ tool to read the text.  (Click the screenshot image on the right to see the red arrow pointing to the zoom icon.)

So when you’re viewing a photo in the album (this one, for example), click the zoom icon to display the larger photo, click and hold your cursor on the enlarged photo, and then drag the image left/right/up/down as desired.

See the album of 42 photos or this slideshow: