Gabrielle Tateyuskanskan's Unprublished Letter to the Star Tribune, Dec. 9, 2007

Star Tribune PO Box 183
425 Portland Avenue Waubay, SD 57273
Minneapolis, MN 55488 December 9, 2007
FAX: 612/673-435

Letter To The Editor:

It is encouraging the Minneapolis Star Tribune is facilitating the difficult dialogue surrounding the events that occurred in Minnesota during 1862. Patrick Hill in his rebuttal (Rest of the settlement story) has labeled Angela Wilson, a member of the Dakota Oyate (Time to level) a racist. Lori Surdevant Minneapolis StarTribune editorial writer and columnist (A Time when cultures met—and clashed) is not mentioned in his rebuttal.

It is unfortunate that in contemporary main stream America there continues to be ignorance regarding America’s Forced Removal Policy which had disastrous effects on tribal communities in what is today the United States. There is the Tsalagi (Cherokee) Trail of Tears, the Longest Walk of the Dine (Navajo), Chatot (Choctaw) and Sotaaeoo/Tsiststas (Cheyenne) Nations to name a few of the many tribal nations impacted by this policy. The greed Euro-Americans had for tribal land and its resources often culminated in land theft facilitated by treaties written in the English language, not in the written or conducted orally in the tribal language of the nations where the land was purported to have been purchased. Compensation was not at a fair price. If treaty purchases were ever honored at all. Tribal populations were coerced, threatened and murdered by Euro-Americans to gain their land and resources. Euro-Americans continue today to benefit from the vast land and resource theft without apology.

Many contemporary Euro-American citizens like Patrick Hill have the same rigid, narrow minded, uninformed attitudes that prevailed in 1862 that led to the genocide and exile of the Dakota Oyate. As a Dakota person I have often heard throughout my lifetime the phrase “Get over it,” when attempting dialogue about the inhumanity my ancestors endured in 1862. How does one get over the loss of a homeland, the imprisoned, murdered and disappeared of a few generations ago? One way for the Dakota Oyate to heal is to work toward public acknowledgement, reparations and justice.

There are many Dakota writers who have written tribal perspectives regarding history and colonization of tribal people. I can not see how writing from a tribal perspective makes one a racist as Patrick Hill states. Euro-American writers have had their perspective on American history widely published in the main stream press. War often brings out the worst of human nature. A brutal unavoidable result of war is that there are victims of violence, combatants and noncombatants on both sides. A person with sensitivity should feel horrified by the suffering caused by war. It is long over due for the voices of tribal writers to be included in the discussion of America’s history and the terrible truths to be told.

Lori Sturdevant and Angela Wilson have shown courage to take part in the complex discussion regarding a brutal part of Minnesota’s history. It is often vulnerable women and children who are the victims of war. History has shown that violence only escalates to more violence and does not resolve conflict. When will the world learn to settle issues by nonviolent means? It seems woman are most often committed to nation rebuilding as they strive for better education systems, hospitals and societies for their children and grandchildren. The Dakota Oyate will never forget the Diaspora of 1862 or the negative effects left on later generations. There has never been official public acknowledgement of the Dakota history of 1862. It is my hope that Jane Leonard, executive director for the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Committee will show leadership and continue the dialogue of truth telling to educate communities about the history of the Dakota Oyate in Minnesota throughout the coming year.


Gabrielle Tateyuskanskan
Member of the Oak Lake Writers
Co-Coordinator Dakota Commemorative March