I am a Mdewakanton Dakota rights activist with several
Mille Lacs Lake area initiatives. The Mille Lacs
Lake area of Minnesota is the sacred ancestral homeland of the Mdewakanton Dakota people. In this
booklet I present information about the Mdewakanton Dakota heritage in the Mille Lacs Lake area as
well as detailed information about my activist initiatives.
The original sacred homeland of the ancient Mdewakanton Dakota people is located in North Central
Minnesota in an area near present day Mille Lacs
Lake. One of their many villages was located at or near the confluence of the currently named
"Rum" River and Lake Mille Lacs, with other Dakota
villages
dispersed throughout the area.
The Mdewakanton (mde + lake' + wakan + sacred' + ton + village'), known as the "sacred lake village'
people, are one of the four subdivisions of the
"Santee Sioux". The other three subdivisions of the "Santee Sioux" are the Wakpekutes, Wahpetons
and Sissetons. Santee or Isanti refers to the Knife Lake
and Mille Lacs Lake people of the "Sioux" or Dakota nation.
The Mdewakanton are considered in the oral tradition, one of the most ancient divisions of the Dakota
Nation or
Ocetisakowin 'Seven Council Fires'. In time, the Dakota Nation divided into three groups, the Dakota,
Lakota and Nakota, each moving in different
directions, but still maintaining close ties to one another. The sacred lake (Mille Lacs) figures
prominently in Dakota/Lakota/Nakota creation stories. The lake is considered sacred because the
original Dakota people, who later divided into
three groups as well as seven closely related tribes - including the Mdewakanton, Wakpekute, Wahpeton,
Sisseton, Yankton, Yantonai and Teton tribes
- merged from it as human beings into this world.
On the Kathio
Landmark Trail located in Mille Lacs Kathio
State Park, Leonard E. Wabasha, a member of the Lower Sioux Mdewakanton Community
and employee of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community Cultural Resource Department, has
an interpretive
sign.
On his interpretive sign, Mr. Wabasha is quoted as saying: "My people are the Mdewakanton Oyate.
Mdewakanton means the People of Spirit Lake. Today
that lake is known as Mille Lacs. This landscape is sacred to the Mdewakanton Oyate because one
Otokaheys Woyakapi (creation story) says we were
created here. It is especially pleasing for me to come here and walk these trails, because about
1718 the first
Chief Wapahasa was born here, at the headwaters of the Spirit River. I am the eighth in this
line of hereditary
chiefs."
On his interpretive sign, Mr. Wabasha used the term "Spirit River" instead of the dominate
culture's profane and
derogatory name for the river "Rum". I believe that when he used the term "Spirit River" instead
of "Rum River"
while in the process of making his statement for a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign he was
showing due respect
for his people's heritage in the Mille Lacs Lake area. And I also believe that the Mdewakanton Oyate
have
just recently entered into a very important stage in the evolution of their culture. And the
reason why I believe this
is because there is currently an international movement to revert the profane and derogatory name
of the "Rum" River back to its
ancient and sacred Dakota name (Wakan), translated as Spirit. In respect to explaining the
name-changing legal process, this
movement is being guided by the Minnesota DNR and it is supported by two Mdewakanton Dakota
Communities, Joe Day, the Executive
Director of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council as well as President of
the U.S. Governors' Interstate Indian Council, several national and internationally renowned
American Indian activists, the Minnesota
Historical Society's Indian Advisory Committee, , Mike Jaros (a Minnesota State Legislator),
the United Nation's Secretariat of the Permanent
Forum On Indigenous Issues, Archbishop Harry Flynn, Bishop John Kinney, and by many other
organizations and prominent individuals.
An open letter to Mille Lacs Kathio State Park planners:
Dear park planners,
Greetings from Wahkon, Minnesota, where the headquarters of the international movement to revert the
profane and derogatory name of the
"Rum" River back to its sacred Dakota name (Wakan) are located.
It is a wonderful thing you are doing at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park. The Mdewakanton Oyate must
appreciate
how you are revitalizing their appreciation of their heritage on the headwaters of the
beautiful but badly named "Rum" River.
I am also on a mission to revitalize the Mdewakanton Oyate's appreciation of their heritage on the
headwaters of the
Wakan/"Rum" River. And I am doing this, primarily, by spearheading an international movement
to revert the "Rum" River's current
profane and derogatory name back to its sacred Mdewakanton name (Wakan), or to at least it correct
interpretation (Spirit).
As you probably know, there is a long standing and well documented
derogatory history
associated with how the "Rum" River
is thought to have received its current name; and that it is because of this derogatory history that a lot of people believe
that white explorers performed a "punning" and "perverted" translation for the ancient and sacred
Dakota name for the "Rum"
River, commonly thought to be (Wakan). And it is also commonly thought that they did so, by taking
the ancient and sacred Dakota
name for this river (Wakan), translated Spirit, and then incorrectly translated it to mean an alcohol
spirit, the
alcohol spirit rum; and that they then unfortunately used their
faulty translation
name
"rum" to name this sacred Dakota
river with the profane and derogatory name "Rum".
According to historical documents found in the book, "Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origins and
Historical Significances" by Warren Upham,
published by the Minnesota Historical Society, 1969 (reprint of 1920)...in the late 1700's, white
men gave the "Rum" River its current name by
way of a "punning translation" that "perverted the ancient Sioux name Wakan". Note: The name "Sioux"
is a misnomer.
The "Rum" River flows out of Mille Lacs Lake. And on the Minnesota DNR's website there is an
article about Minnesota's geographic place names that
are mistakes due to incorrect interpretations of non-English names as well as one deliberate
misinterpretations of an
American "Indian" name for a geographic place.
In respect to the deliberate misinterpretation of an American Indian name for a geographic place,
a Minnesota DNR website article states: "Not so
the name for the river flowing out of Mille Lacs. (The "Rum River" name is a deliberate
misinterpretation name not an interpretation mistake name,
as some other MN geographic place names are.) The lake was known to the Dakota as Mde Wakan,
'spirit lake.' They called the river by the same
name. But traders made a pun with the name of the spirituous liquor
that caused such misery and destruction during the
fur trade."
In 2002, I established a non-profit organization to help change this river's profane and
derogatory name. My non-prophet
organization's name is Rum River Name Change Organization, Inc.. And I have also created a
Web site to help change this
river's derogatory name. My Web site is located at: http://www.towahkon.org.
While reading the Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive signs at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park,
I was pleased when I discovered
that both the sacred Dakota name for Mille Lacs Lake (Wakan) as well as the positive history
associated with how
this lake received its Mille Lacs name were displayed on one of the trail's
interpretive signs. But I was disappointed when
I discovered that the ancient and sacred Dakota name for the river that runs through Mille
Lacs Kathio State Park,
the river that "white explorers" unfortunately named "Rum", was not displayed on any of the
trails interpretive signs; and
that neither was the negative or derogatory history associated with how this river received its
current profane and derogatory name.
I find it appalling that all up and down the Wakan/"Rum" River there are Historical Markers
(1.)
(2.)
(3.) that present the derogatory history as to how
this river received its current profane name, but nowhere on any of the Kathio Landmark Trail
interpretive signs
is it presented.
I believe that the negative or derogatory history associated with how the "Rum" River is thought
to have received its current
name should have been displayed on at least one of the trail's interpretive signs, and that it
should have been displayed in
order to show due respect to trail visitors (especially Dakota trail visitors) expecting to
receive both the positive
as well as the negative history when reading the Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive signs about
the history of the Mille Lacs
Kathio State Park, a park located in the Dakota Indians sacred ancestral homeland.
It seems to me that you should add another Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign at Mille Lacs
Kathio State Park,
an interpretive sign that would both mention the ancient and sacred Dakota name for the "Rum" River
(Wakan) as well as the negative or derogatory history associated with how the river is thought to
have received its current
profane and derogatory name. And it also seems to me that you should display on a Kathio Landmark
Trail interpretive
sign that there is an international movement to change this river's profane name. And that this
international movement is
incorporated with the State of Minnesota as a non-profit organization, and that it is being guided
by Minnesota DNR officials,
and that it is supported by the Minnesota Historical Society Indian Advisory Committee, two
Mdewakanton Dakota Communities, Mike Jaros
(a Minnesota State Legislator), the United Nation's Secretariat of the Permanent Forum On
Indigenous Issues, and several national
and internationally renowned American Indian activists and by many other organizations and
prominent individuals.
I believe that if you would have initially displayed both the derogatory history associated with
how the "Rum" River
is thought to have received its current name, as well as displayed information about the
international movement to change this
river's profane and derogatory name, on at least one of the trail's interpretive signs, all of
the Mdewakanton Dakota Communities,
as well as a lot more other American Indian communities, American Indian organizations,
internationally renowned America Indian
activists, Minnesota legislators, human rights organizations, multicultural organizations,
religious leaders and other prominent
people might have already given their support for the effort to change this river's profane and
derogatory name.
Therefore, I believe that if you would have initially displayed the derogatory history associated
with how the "Rum"
River is thought to have received its current name, the river's name might have already been changed.
And, consequently, a
source of racial antagonism might have also been eliminated. By not presenting the derogatory history
about how the "Rum" River
is thought to have received its current name on any of the Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive signs,
I believe that you park
planners who approved the displaying of the present interpretive signs avoided attracting controversy
and activism. And by not
presenting information about the movement to change the "Rum" River's name on any of the Kathio
Landmark Trail interpretive signs,
I believe that you further avoided attracting controversy and activism. But in doing so, I believe
that you also put
a stumbling block in the way of the international movement to change the "Rum" River's name.
Therefore, I believe that both the Upper Sioux Mdewakanton Community and the Mendota Mdewakanton
Dakota Community as well as
organizations and concerned citizens who want the "Rum" River's current profane and derogatory name
changed are being hurt by
your neglect to display interpretive sign information about this negative aspect of Mille Lacs Kathio
State Park
history.
Leonard E. Wabasha, a prominent member of the Lower Sioux Mdewakanton Community and employee of the
Shakopee Mdewakanton
Sioux (Dakota) Community Cultural Resource Department, supports the effort to change the "Rum"
River's profane and derogatory name. And Jim Anderson, the Cultural Chair and Historian for the
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota
Community, not only supports the effort to change the name, he has also helped me to gain support
for the effort to change
the river's profane name, including the support of the internationally renowned American Indian
activist Clyde Bellecourt.
And Christina Morris, Field Representative of Midwest Office for Historical Preservation wrote: "We
recognize the historic
and cultural significance of the Wakan River to the peoples of Minnesota, and we commend you in your
research of its history,
and your efforts to revitalize the Mdewakanton Dakota Community by raising awareness of their
heritage."
About activism at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park's Kathio Landmark
Trail
The Kathio Landmark Trail is becoming an increasingly active location for both Mdewakanton
activists as well as Mdewakanton
rights activists who are on a mission to rectify a number of injustices being perpetrated against
the Mdewakanton
Oyate in their sacred ancestral homeland on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River.
(1.) On a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign, (activist) Tim Blue, the Education Director at
Eci Nompa Woonspe in Morton,
Minnesota is quoted as saying: "The name of this place should be Isanti (E-sawn-tay`) State Park,
because that is correct,
whereas Kathio is incorrect. Isan means 'Knife' and Isanti refers to the Knife Lake and Mille
Lacs Lake people of the Dakota
nation."
(2.) In an article titled: Call it "Spirit", an article published in the July 14, 2004 edition
of Mille Lacs County's official newspaper,
the Mille Lacs Messenger, a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign statement was quoted in order to
inform the Mille Lacs public about
what a prominent member of the Lower Sioux Mdewakanton Community and employee of the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota)
Community Cultural Resource Department (Leonard E. Wabasha) is quoted as saying. In this quote
Mr. Wabasha referred to the badly
named Rum River as "Spirit" River instead of its current derogatory and profane name (Rum). I view
Mr. Wabasha's interpretive sign
term "Spirit" River as a Mdewakanton (activist) statement. This is another example of why I
believe that Kathio Landmark Trail
is becoming an increasingly active location for activists to both express their grievances as well
as offer you park planners solutions
to these problems. Note: The mentioned above article titled "Call it
'Spirit'" can be found by clicking Call
it Spirit.
(3.) On a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign, a statement is displayed that deals with a
controversy between archaeologists,
you park planners, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the Mdewakanton Dakota Oyate. A controversy
associated with the Mille Lacs Band
of Ojibwe oral tradition that tells a gruesome account about why and how the Mdewakanton Oyate left
their sacred Mille Lacs Lake ancestral homeland; an account that some archaeologists and yourselves
are describing as probably incorrect.
Therefore, the Kathio Landmark Trail is a location where a controversy between the Mdewakanton Dakota
Oyate and the Mille Lacs Band
of Ojibwe is being addressed by (activists) archaeologists and yourselves.
(4.) And there is my Mdewakanton rights (activist) initiative to influence you to add an interpretive
sign on the Kathio
Land Mark Trial that displays the sacred Mdewakanton name for the river that runs through Mille Lacs
Kathio State Park.
(5.) And there is my Mdewakanton rights (activist) initiative to influence you to add an interpretive
sign on the
Kathio Land Mark Trial that displays the derogatory history associated with how the "Rum" River is
thought to have received its
current profane name.
(6.) And there is my Mdewakanton rights (activist) initiative to influence you to add an
interpretive sign on the
Kathio Land Mark Trial that displays information about the international movement to revert the
"Rum" River's profane name back
to its sacred Mdewakanton name.
(7.) And there is my Mdewakanton rights (activist) initiative to influence you to add an
interpretive sign on the Kathio
Land Mark Trial that would inform its readers that the name "Nadouesioux", a name displayed on
a Kathio Landmark Trial interpretive
sign, was a derogatory name for the ancient Mdewakanton Dakota people.
(8.) And there is my Mdewakanton rights (activist) initiative to influence you to remove a Kathio
Landmark Trail
interpretive sign with
incorrect historical information on it, information
that misinforms its readers, by stating that the Mdewakanton Oyate left their Mille Lacs Lake
ancestral homeland on their own free will. And in
respect to this activist initiative of mine, I not only ask you to remove this interpretive sign
but also ask you to add an interpretive sign that
would inform its readers that the Mdewakanton Oyate were "forced" or "pressured" to leave their sacred
ancestral
homeland in the Mille Lacs Lake area.
C. D. Floro, the editor of the Sisseton-Wahpeton "Sioux" Tribe's Lake Traverse Reservation newspaper,
a newspaper named Sota, recently gave his support
for the effort to change the name of the "Rum" River to Wakan River, and he also published my latest
Open Letter To The Oyate in the
Sota. In this letter there is a link to this booklet. My Open Letter To The Oyate can
be found by clicking
letter.
Lake Traverse Reservation is located in South Dakota and is home to 10,840 Sisseton-Wahpeton
"Sioux" (Dakota) people. The Sisseton-Wahpeton "Sioux"
Tribe is composed of descendants of the Isanti people. Isan means 'Knife' and Isanti refers to
the Knife Lake and Mille Lacs Lake people of the
Dakota nation. Mille Lacs Lake, the lake that the Wakan/"Rum" River flows out of,
is considered sacred because, according to one
creation story, the Dakota people emerged from it as human beings into this world.
The following information came from a website about the history of the Flandreau Santee "Sioux"
Tribe. This tribe is comprised primarily of descendents
of "Mdewakantonwan", a member of the Isanti division of the Great Dakota Nation, and refer to
themselves as Dakota, which means friend or ally. The
Flandreau Santee Dakota "Indian" Reservation is 2,500 acres of land located along and near the Big
"Sioux" (Dakota) River in Moody County,
South Dakota."
"In 1656, the Dakotas were living near Mille Lacs, in five villages numbering about 5,000 people.
It is possible the Tetons and Yanktons had at this
piont already begun migrating west, although Hennepin found them above the Falls of St. Anthony on
the Mississippi River in 1680. In 1701, they were
at Lake Traverse. The Yankton and Yantonai left Mille Lacs at about this time. In the battle of
Kathio, which was suppose to have occurred about
1750, the Santee were defeated by the Chippewa; the Mdewakanton band settled at the Falls of St.
Anthony in 1760. The departure of the various bands
of Sioux from the Mille Lacs area began a transition from a woodlands culture to a culture on the
fringes of the Great Plains."
"By 1800, after a hundred and fifty years of sporadic contact with Europeans, the material culture
of the Santee Sioux had
been substantially altered. They were now using steel weapons and tools, brass and metal cookware,
European cloth and blankets. While their religious and social
organization was largely unchanged at the time. They had begun a stage of transition into a new
ulture with their expulsion from their traditional
homeland around Mille Lacs.
The sacred lake (Wakan/Mille Lacs) figures prominently in the Dakota Nation's creation
stories. This lake is considered sacred because the
Dakota, who divided into seven closely related tribes, including the Mdewakanton, Wakpekute,
Wahpeton, Yantonai, Sisseton, Yankton and Teton Tribes,
merged from it as human beings into this world.
I recognize the historic and sacred cultural significance of the Wakan River to the seven tribes of
the Dakota Nation, tribes located within a four
state area, including Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska.
I am on a sacred mission to help revitalize all of the Dakota Nation's tribes - by raising
awareness of the their sacred heritage on the headwaters
of the Wakan/"Rum" River.
Around 1750, a band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, now known as the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, violently
forced - with the help of the "white man's" gun
powder - the last remaining Mille Lacs Dakota Tribe (the Mdewakantons) from their sacred homeland
on the headwaters of the Wakan River. And after
forcing the Mdewakanton Dakota from their sacred homeland the Lake Superior Ojibwe band took up
residence in the Mille Lacs area, where they remain
to this present day. When the Mdewakanton Dakota were forced from their homeland on the headwaters
of the Wakan River all of the Dakota Nation's
tribes lost a sacred connection and relationship with their heritage in the Mille Lacs area. I
am trying to recover the Dakota Nation's
sacred connection and relationship with its original ancestral homeland in the Mille Lacs area.
I am hoping and praying that in the near future there will be a big Dakota Nation reunion pow
wow held on
the sacred land surrounding the mouth of the Wakan River, or, in other words, on
Mdoteminiwakan, the Dakota name for this sacred land. And I am also hoping and praying
that there will be annual Dakota Nation pow pows held
on this same sacred land.
Mille Lacs Kathio State Park's name should be changed:
On a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign there are the words: "The park name is steeped in
plenty of history. 'Mille Lacs,'
a French term used by early explorers and fur traders, means '1,000 lakes,' and referred to the
region. The word 'Kathio' has
a more dubious pedigree. Well-known explorer Daniel Greysolon, Sieur duLhut collectively referred
to the area as 'Izatys,' a
name the Mdewakanton Dakota people gave themselves. Sieur du Lhut's poor handwriting caused a
wrong translation of the word
'Izatys'. The 'Iz' was transcribed as a K, and further error caused the name to be Kathio, a
word that translates to nothing.
'Kathio' became a name so attached to the area that the park bears that name today."
reference
And on another Kathio Landmark Trial interpretive sign the following statement is displayed.
"Izatys was DuLhut's phonetic
spelling of a Dakota word that was also recorded as Issatis, Isanti, and Santee. These spellings
of the same term referred
to a collection of villages along Ogechie Lake, Shakopee Lake and Lake Onamia..."
I believe that in order to show due respect for the Dakota people, Mille Lac "Kathio" State Park
planners
should find a legislator or legislators who would craft and sponsor a state bill to change the
park's name to a
spelling and pronunciation of the Dakota people's choosing. Note: On a Kathio
Landmark Trail interpretive sign, Tim Blue, the Education Director at Eci Nompa Woonspe in Morton,
Minnesota is quoted as
saying: "The name of this place should be Isanti (E-sawn-tay`) State Park, because that is
correct, whereas Kathio is
incorrect. Isan means 'Knife' and Isanti refers to the Knife Lake and Mille Lacs Lake people
of the Dakota nation". Note:
A petition to change the name of Mille Lacs Kathio State Park can be found by clicking
Name Change.
"The Santee Sioux Tribe consists of the members of the Isanti and Ihanktowan divisions of the
Great Sioux Nation.
The Isanti or Dakota people are comprised of four bands that lived on the eastern side of the
Dakota Nation."
reference
An interpretive sign should state that the name "Nadouesioux" is a derogatory
name.
On a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign, there is information displayed that informs its readers
that: "In 1679 duLhut
planted the flag of France at a place he described as the great village of the Nadouesioux, called
'Izatys'." The name
Nadouesioux is a derogatory name. Therefore, I believe that when this derogatory name
was presented
on an interpretive sign,
park planners should have also presented a statement that mentioned that Nadouesioux is a derogatory
name. And I believe that they
should have also explained, on that interpretive sign, why it is a derogatory name. This injustice
could be rectified if park planners would
make a new interpretive sign with this new information on it and then display it on the Kathio
Landmark Trail.
The Web site reference source where I learned that the name Nadouesioux is a derogatory name can
be found by clicking
reference. On this Web
site there are the words: "The name 'Sioux' was
given to all Dakota bands in what is now known as the Mille Lacs area by the French. These
fur-trappers and mapmakers corrupted the name
'Nadowessi,' or 'Natawesiwak,' from the now more northern Chippewa, who referred to the Sioux as
enemies. The word which means 'enemy' or 'snake,'
became 'Sioux' when the French added the plural form ('oux') [and] the first part was dropped."
Another reference source can be found by clicking reference. On
this reference source Web site, a Web site titled: "Where did the Blackfoot Sioux live in the 1700-
1800s?" there are the words: "'Sioux' is the name
given this tribe by the US Govt, who got it from a bastardized version from the French, who shortened
the Algonquin compound, nadowe ('snake') plus
siu ('little'), spelled Nadoussioux, by which a neighboring tribe, the Ojibwa or the Ottawa,
eferred to the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota people. This term
was meant as an insult, but today the Federal Government of the United States has applied this
name to represent this entire group of Siouan
people."
Another reference source can be found by clicking reference.
On this reference source Web site there are the words: "The Santee Sioux are members of the Great
Sioux Nation. The people of the Sioux Nation refer
to themselves as Dakota or Lakota which means friend or ally. The United States government took the
word Sioux from (Nadowesioux), which comes from
a Chippewa (Ojibway) word which means little snake or enemy. The French traders and trappers who
worked with the Chippewa (Ojibway) people shortened
the word to Sioux."
An interpretive sign should state that the Mdewakanton Dakota were forced to
leave their sacred
Mille Lacs Lake area homeland.
On a Kathio Landmark Trial interpretive sign there is misinformation displayed where in park planners
imply that there may have been a
little Ojibwe pressure put on the Mdewakanton Dakota to leave their sacred ancestral homeland on the
headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum"
River, but not a lot of Ojibwe pressure as some historians claim. And then park planners went even
further with their misinformation
propaganda and displayed radical misinformation on this interpretive
sign by imply that even if there was a little Ojibwe pressure put on the Mdewakanton Dakota to leave
their sacred Mille Lacs Lake area
homeland they all would have never-the-less eventually left without any Ojibwe and/or white European
pressure at all. Or, in
other words, park planners imply on a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign that the Mdewakanton
Dakota left their Mille
Lacs Lake area homeland on their own free will. And on a combined Minnesota Highway Department and
Minnesota Historical Society plaque
located near the mouth of the Wakan/"Rum" River there is a presentation of a radically
different historical account as to why and
how the Mdewakanton Dakota left their sacred Mille Lacs Lake area homeland.
On the combined Minnesota Highway Department and Minnesota Historical Society plaque there are the words:
"In this vicinity stood the great Sioux village of "Isatys" where Duluth planted the French arms of
July 2, 1679. The settlement was visited by Father
Hennepin in 1680. About 1750 the Chippewa moving westward from lake Superior captured the village,
and by this decisive battle drove
the Sioux permanently into southern Minnesota.
The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe oral tradition tells of a mid-1700s battle between the Band's Lake
Superior ancestors and
the Mdewakanton Dakota who lived in the Mille Lacs Lake area at the time. The Mille Lacs Band of
Ojibwe
oral tradition also tells that, by the end of this battle, their Lake Superior ancestors had violently
forced the Mdewakanton
Dakota from their Mille Lacs Lake area homeland; and that that is how they took possession of the
Mille Lacs Lake area land that they now live on.
On a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign there are the words: "Historic records of the late
1700s show that the inhabitants
of this region to be the Ojibwe rather than Dakota. Why the change? Most historians agree that the
Mdewakanton Dakota moved out
of this area around 1750. There are different stories as to how this came about. The Ojibwe oral
tradition tells of a massive,
three-day battle in about 1745. In this story, the Ojibwe forces defeated the Mdewakanton Dakota in
what has become known as
the "Battle of Kathio". This decisive victory is said to have pushed the Mdewakanton Dakota from
this, their homeland, forever.
Dakota oral history does not address such a battle. University of Minnesota archaeologists report
that after years of study no
evidence has been uncovered at any of the Kathio village sites that would substantiate the claim
that a large battle took place
here. They contend that although there may have been small scale skirmishes between the two nations.
The Mdewakanton Dakota
were a population already in transition by the mid-1700s. Moving more and more permanently to the
proximity of trading posts
to the south and prairies to the southwest."
I find it hard to believe that when archaeologists and park planners wrote and displayed the above
statement on an interpretive
sign that they did not believe that the main reason why some of the Mdewakanton Dakota were in
transition by the mid-1700s was
because of problems they were having with the Ojibwe, including violet attacks or "skirmishes" as
well as concerns about
future terrorist attacks by the Ojibwe, who wanted their land for themselves and did not have a
moral problem
acquiring gun power from the white "settlers" in order to gain an advantage over the Mdewakanton
Dakota.
In the above mentioned Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign statement, University of Minnesota
archaeologists and park planners
seem to be covering up the truth in order to hinder the Mdewakanton Dakota from ever being able to
reclaim their sacred homeland
on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River. Park planners conveniently failed to mention in
the above statement that the
Ojibwe were forced out of their homeland on the East coast by white European colonialists and that
that was why the Ojibwe were in
Mdewakanton Dakota territory causing the Mdewakanton Dakota problems. It does not matter if there
was a large battle or
small skirmishes, the Ojibwe were where they should not have been and they were there because they
were forced out of their East
coast homeland.
And the archaeologists and park planners also failed to mention the historical evidence that
indicates that it was the strategy
of the white European colonialist to use the tribes that they forced out of their homelands to
force other tribes out of their
homelands as they moved westward. And their convenient presumption that because some Mdewakanton
Dakota had left the region they therefore
would not ever have returned to their sacred Mille Lacs Lake area homeland and that the Mdewakanton
Dakota who were still living in their
sacred homeland would have soon moved away from their sacred Mille Lacs Lake area homeland without
any further pressure from the Ojibwe and
Europeans is appalling.
"As Europeans settled the East coast, they displaced eastern tribes who then migrated west to get
away from the White civilization, and
they, in their turn, displaced weaker local tribes they encountered, and pushed many of those
tribes farther west as they took over
their homelands or the original tribes left voluntarily as living conditions became crowded and
territories shrunk."
reference
While migrating west, a displaced Eastern Band of the Ojibwe Tribe, now known as the Mille Lacs
Band of Ojibwe, displaced, with the help of the
white man's gun powder, a local tribe, the Mdewakanton Dakota, also known as the Isanti or Santee
people.
Minnesota DNR information:
"The upper river valley has one of the highest concentration of prehistoric sites in Minnesota. The
area is rich with Indian history, dating
back to more than 3000 years ago. Burial mounds, ricing pits, copper tools and other artifacts have
been found throughout the area. Early
White/Indian intervention played an important role in the settlement of the area by white men. The
French, instigated fights between the
Ojibwe and Dakota so as to ally themselves with the Ojibwe. Furs were the early push for settlement
in the area, and later efforts turned
towards lumbering, which quickly established settlement throughout the area."
Reference:
reference.
And on a website open to the public, the Lower Sioux Mdewakanton state their historical perspective
on this subject.
The following two quotes present the Lower Sioux Mdewakanton perspective on why their ancestors left
their sacred homeland on
the headwaters of the "Rum" River around 1750. (1.) "Long ago, the Mdewakanton Dakota lived around
Mille Lacs Lake in central
Minnesota. Around 1750, our ancestors were displaced by another nation,
the Anishinnabe, and they relocated
throughout the southern portion of the state." (2.) "This was not the last time the Mdewakantons
would be forced
into a new home. Treaties in 1851 and 1858 resulted in nearly 7,000 Dakota people being moved onto
a narrow reservation along the Minnesota
River." reference.
The Mdewakanton Dakota are one of the four subdivisions of the Santee or Isanti people. However,
the original name for all four
subdivisions was Mdewakanton, and this name is sometimes used to refers to all four of the Santee or
Isanti Bands.
On Nebraska's Santee Tribe Web site where is an article with the heading SANTEE SIOUX AGENCY 1918.
In the article, this
former Minnesota Dakota (Santee) Band states that: "The Santee's defeat by the Chippewas at the Battle
of Kathio in the
late 1700s forced them to move to the southern half of the state which
would bring them into
close contact and eventually conflict with the white settlers. From that point on, survival for the
Santee Tribe would become a
daily struggle.
reference
And the Flandearu Santee Sioux Tribe states on a website about their history that the "Santee
Sioux" bands "had begun a stage of
transition into a new culture with their expulsion from their traditional
homeland around Mille Lacs.
Nowhere on any of the Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive signs is it mentioned that the Dakota were
"displaced" or "forced" from their sacred homeland on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River.
Nor is it mentioned on any of
the trail's interpretive signs that the Dakota were "pressured" by hostile Ojibwe migrating into
their
central Minnesota territory to leave their sacred homeland on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum"
River. Here again, I fine it
appalling that some more of the negative or derogatory history of Mille Lacs Kathio State Park is not
mentioned on any of
the Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive signs.
Therefore, it seems to me that once again park planners are attempting to avoid controversy and
activism by covering
up some more negative or derogatory history associated with Mille Lacs Kathio State Park. But by
attempting to avoid
controversy and activism they, I believe, have been putting a stumbling block in the way of a
righteous movement aimed at
rectifying (not covering up) injustices being perpetrated against the Dakota Nation in the Mille
Lacs Lake
area.
The impression that I receive when reading an interpretive
sign on the Kathio Landmark Trail is
that the Dakota simply moved on their own free will, without any pressure from white explorers/
setters or any other tribe or
band, to a different location. But according to the Lower Sioux Mdewakanton Community, the Flandearu
Santee Sioux Tribe,
the Santee Tribe of Nebraska and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe that is not how the ancient Mille
Lacs Lake area Dakota
left their sacred homeland on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River.
Therefore, I believe that the interpretive signs on the Kathio Landmark Trail do not, in respect
to this subject, give
an accurate and respectable historical account as to why and how the ancient Mille Lacs Lake area
Dakota
left their sacred homeland on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River. And I believe that this is
another injustice that
park planners are committing against the Dakota people.
I do not trust white Euro-American historians to give accurate historical descriptions about what
happened in a
particular area if a truthful description could cause the people of the dominate culture to have to
make restitution
justice to American "Indians" for what happened, as is the case (I believe) with the Kathio Landark
Trail interpretive
sign "history" about of the Mille Lacs Lake area. If the Dakota simply moved on their own free
will
and without any pressure from white explorers/setters or any other tribe or band to a different
location then they would
not be able to justifiably reclaim any rights to their
sacred ancestral homeland on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River. Therefore, I believe
that this could be the real
reason why University of Minnesota archaeologists and park planners have presented a different
historical account than that
of the Lower Sioux Mdewakanton Community, the Flandearu Santee Sioux Tribe and the Santee Tribe of
Nebraska when it comes to answering
the question as to why and how the ancient Mille Lacs area Dakota left their sacred ancestral homeland
on the headwaters
of the Wakan/"Rum" River.
In a Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe book about the Band's heritage, titled: "Against the Tide of American
History: The Story of the
Mille Lacs Anishinabe, there are the words: "As is true of all the Anishinabe or Chippewa who live in
Minnesota, the history of
the Mille Lacs people reaches back into ancient times and other settings in the eastern part of the
United States where their
ancestors lived before they came into the forest and lake country of eastern and northern Minnesota."
"The Anishinabe oral
tradition tells "of a great migration of the Anishinabe from the east to their present location near
the Great Lakes.
And the following statement can also be found in the Mille Lacs Band's book about their heritage:
"The Dakota, according to Warren, occupied the lake (Mille Lacs Lake) at two large villages, one
being located at Cormorant Point
(Nay-Ah-Shing Point) and the other at
the outlet of the lake. A few miles below this last village, they (the Dakota)
possessed another
considerable village on a smaller
lake, connected with Mille Lacs by a portion of the Rum River which runs though it. These villages
consisted mostly of earthen
wigwams...'. At Nay-ah-shing the Chippewa attacked and destroyed the Dakota village. A few
survivors escaped to the next
village at the outlet of the Rum River. At this village, the Chippewa warriors threw bags of
gunpowder into the smoke holes of
the earth lodges. They exploded killing those inside. The few who escaped from this village moved
to the last village on the
smaller lake. Here the Chippewa also drove them out. The last of the Spirit Lake Dakota escaped
south down the Rum River in
their canoes." "After 1750, the Mille Lacs region became a permanent homeland for many Chippewa
families."
Rev. Sequoyah Ade, an internationally regarded essayist and Indigenist political commentator, wrote:
"Throughout the 500-plus years of European colonial presence in the Americas, the practice of heaping
indignities upon those
displaced has served only to solidify the resolve of those so imposed. By naming this sacred body of
water the "Rum" River,
Europeans sought to extinguish the ancestral ties these Aboriginal people have with the land, their
ancestors and the spirit world.
Evidence of this practice has shown itself time and time again throughout the Americas and is now
facing international pressure in
an effort to correct the sins of the present by recognizing and addressing the history of this
nation. I fully support the effort
to rename this special body of water in respect for the people who belong to the river. We will
win."
Evidence indicates that in the mid-1700's, there was a successful conspiracy committed by the
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, together
with the white European ( French) "settlers", to drive the Dakota from their sacred homeland on
the
headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River. And that after they were violently forced from their
acred homeland, another indignity was
laid on them by white men who performed a "perverted" and "punning" translation for the sacred
Mdewakanton name for the "Rum"
River, and did so, by translating the sacred Mdewakanton Dakota name for the river, Wakan
, translated as (Great) Spirit,
to the alcohol spirit "Rum". And after seven years of there being an international movement to
change this river's profane and derogatory name,
the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the County Commissioners of the "Rum" River corridor still have
not given their support for the
effort to change this river's profane name. Therefore, I believe that their lack of support is
another indignity being committed
against the Dakota people.
And I believe that the reason why the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe have not yet given their support
for the effort
to rename the "Rum" River is because the movement to change the name is revitalizing the
Dakota people's appreciation of their heritage in the Mille Lacs area; and therefore the Mille Lacs
Band is concerned that if
this revitalizing effort continues because of the growing support base for the effort to rename the
river, the
Dakota people's increasing appreciation of their heritage in the Mille Lacs area could cause the
Dakota to
return to their sacred ancestral
homeland in the Mille Lacs Lake
area; and do so, by (the first step) making frequent pilgrimages to their sacred ancestral homeland
to have pow wows, participate in spiritual
ceremonies etc.; and that because of this concern, the Mille Lacs Band Assembly has not yet given
its support for the effort to
change this river's profane and derogatory name.
When Don Wedll, the long range planner for the Mille Lacs Band Of Ojibwe, gave me feedback in respect
to what prominent members of the
Mille Lacs Band thought of my effort to revert the "Rum" River's profane and derogatory name back to
its sacred Mdewakanton
Dakota name, I found out that they were opposed; and that the reason why was because, as they stated,
"It is ours now".
A Mille Lacs Messenger letter to the editor of mine presents some Dakota/Ojibwe discussion about the
effort to regain
the sacred Dakota name for the Wakan/"Rum" River. It can be found by clicking
Political Involvement
Many members of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe do not like my effort to revitalize the Dakota people's
appreciation of their heritage in the Mille Lacs area. And as previously mentioned it seems
to me that
the reason
why, is because they selfishly want all of the Mille Lacs Lake region for themselves. But there
are some members of the
Mille Lacs Band who support all of my Mille Lacs area Dakota rights activist initiatives.
Restitution Justice:
If the Dakota were "displaced", "forced", "driven", "pushed", "pressured" or "expelled" by hostile
Ojibwe to leave their
sacred homeland on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River, then they should be able to
justifiably reclaim at
least part of their sacred ancestral homeland in the Mille Lacs Lake region. Therefore, I believe
that this is probably why
the Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive signs do not present the correct history about why and how the
Dakota
left their sacred homeland on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River.
On a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign, it is stated that there is no archaeological evidence
that indicates that the
Mdewakanton Dakota were violently forced out of the Mille Lacs Lake area. But what are the changes of
finding such evidence?
Very little I suspect. And it is also stated on an interpretive sign that there is no Dakota oral
account of such a battle.
But if, in the past, the Dakota would have announced to the public an account of the "Battle of
Kathio" and then asked for
restitution justice they would have been mocked. And this would have hurt them. Hence they probably
decided not to give an oral
account of this battle in their public discourse with non-Indians. And it seems to me that the
Nebraska Santee (Dakota) Tribe,
since 1918 at least, have claimed that the Dakota were forces out of the Mille Lacs Lake area
during the "Battle Of Kathio".
And even if there never was a "Battle of Kathio", the Dakota were never-the-less pressured to
leave their sacred
homeland on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River.
If park planners would acknowledge on a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign that the Dakota
were forced
or pressured to leave the Mille Lacs area by the Ojibwe, and that the Ojibwe were pushed into the
Dakota's
sacred Mille Lacs area homeland by white European explorers/setters, it would help to heal the
Dakota people's wounds.
And if park planners would do this the Dakota would be more likely to try to reclaim at least a
part of their sacred
ancestral homeland at the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River.
And if the Dakota were to ask for the right to return to their sacred ancestral homeland...or, in
other words, to Mille Lacs
Lake and the land surrounding this sacred lake and its outlet river, the sacred land/lake/river that
white European settlers and the Ojibwe
stole from them their request would have even more validity because of the fact that they have a
"creation story" associated with Mille Lacs
Lake. And because the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe claim that their ancestors used the white man's gun
powder to help them violently force
the Dakota out of their sacred homeland on the headwaters of the Wakan/"Rum" River this also
would give added validity
to their request for the right to return to their sacred ancestral homeland on the headwaters of
the Wakan/"Rum" River.
Leonard E. Wabasha, a member of the Lower Sioux Mdewakanton Community and employee of the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota)
Community Cultural Resource Department, has a Kathio Landmark Trail interpretive sign. On his
interpretive sign, Mr. Wabasha
is quoted as saying: "My people are the Mdewakanton Oyate (people). Mdewakanton means the People
of Spirit Lake. Today that lake
is known as Mille Lacs. This landscape is sacred to the Mdewakanton Oyate because one Otokaheys
Woyakapi (creation story) says we were
created here. It is especially pleasing for me to come here and walk these trails, because about
1718 the first
Chief Wapahasa was born here, at the headwaters of the Spirit River. I am the eighth in this line
of hereditary
chiefs."
I also hope to influence the three pastors of Sacred Heart Church, a Roman Catholic Church located in
Wahkon Minnesota, to ask for permission to
offer Dakota orientated Christian religious services at Mille Lacs "Kathio" State Park.
And if they can get permission to do so, I would then ask them to invite Mdewakanton Dakota
Christians to participate
in these religions services. Mille Lacs "Kathio" State Park is a great place, and so is its
"Kathio" Landmark Trail. This
letter is meant to help make the park, and especially its "Kathio" Landmark Trail, a better place to
visit.
In a November 27, 2002 Mille Lacs Messenger letter to the editor of mine, titled: RECOGNITION
INITIATIVE, I asked
that the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe show due respect for the Mdewakanton Dakota Oyate by:
(1.) Supporting the effort to revert the "Rum" River's profane and derogatory name back to its sacred
Mdewakanton Dakota name.
(2.) Make a public apology to the Mdewakanton Dakota Oyate for what their ancestors did to them during
the "Battle of Kathio".
(3.) Give up their non-removable federally granted status that they gained by fighting against the
Mdewakanton Dakota Oyate and other Dakota people in the 1862 Dakota uprising against the radically abusive mid-1800s whites.
(4.) Sponsor and welcome the Mdewakanton Dakota Oyate to a Mille Lacs area reconciliatory Pow Wow.
(5.) Offer the Mdewakanton Dakota Oyate land for both a museum and shrine.
My REGONITION INITIATIVE letter to the editor can be found by clicking
Regonition initiative
A Wahkon, Minnesota Mdewakanton rights activist initiative:
About the effort to change the name of a bar and liquor story in Wahkon, Minnesota
Picture of "Wahkon Inn",
a bar and liquor store in Wahkon, Minnesota with a [punning translation] profane name.
Out of respect for the Mdewakanton Dakota people, the City of Wahkon,
Minnesota, a city located on the south end of Mille Lacs Lake,
was named after the sacred Mdewakanton Dakota [traditional] name for Mille Lacs Lake [Wahkon].
But, unfortunately, a bar and liquor store in Wahkon, Minnesota was given a derogatory and offensive
to the Mdewakanton Dakota name, that name being "Wahkon Inn".
The badly named "Wahkon Inn" received its current name by way of its owner
performing a punning and desecrating misuse of Wahkon, Minnesota's sacred Dakota
name [Wahkon]. And did so, by changing the real meaning
of [Wahkon] (Spirit or Great Spirit) to "walk on".
According to this bar and liquor store's owner, "Wahkon Inn" is, in a "joking" way,
suppose to mean "walk on in". The owner of the so-called "Wahkon Inn" produced advertising
tee shirts and sweaters that display an image of a prospector walking into her
bar and liquor store along with a display of the descriptive words "Wahkon Inn", meaning "walk on in",
to describe what the prospector is doing, he is pictured walking into the so-called
"Wahkon Inn". And then below that image and descriptive words, there is a
display of that same image of the prospector, but he is now pictured drunk and
crawling out of the bar. And then the owner of this bar and liquor store displayed,
on these tee shirts and sweaters, the words describing this despicable scene with
the words "and crawl on out". Hence, the owner of "Wahkon Inn" used Wahkon, Minnesota's sacred
Dakota name [Wahkon] to promote alcohol abuse. And in doing so, she radically
desecrated Wahkon, Minnesota's sacred Dakota name [Wahkon], as well as radically desecrated both
the sacred Mdewakanton Dakota name for Mille Lacs Lake [Wahkon] and the sacred Mdewakanton Dakota
traditional name for their Great Spirit [Wahkon]
The image of a prospector on these tee shirts and sweaters is the same image that
is displayed on an advertising sign located on the front of "Wahkon Inn".
And this advertising sign with the image of a walking prospector displayed on it,
in a "joking" way, changes the real meaning of Wahkon (Spirit or Great Spirit) to mean
"walk on". Hence, this
advertising sign located on "Wahkon Inn" also desecrates both Wahkon, Minnesota's
sacred Dakota name [Wahkon] as well as indirectly desecrates the sacred Mdewakanton Dakota
name for Mille Lacs Lake [Wahkon]. And when this advertising image
of a prospector was used on "Wahkon Inn's" advertising tee shirts and sweaters it
was used as a lead-in to an advertising "joke" that even further desecrated Wahkon,
Minnesota's sacred Dakota name [Wahkon], the sacred Mdewakanton Dakota name
for Mille Lacs Lake (Wahkon) and the Mdewakanton Dakota people's traditional
name for their Great Spirit [Wahkon].
The Rum River Name Change Organization, American Indian Genocide Museum and Archbishop
Harry Flynn of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and Saint Paul want the owner of
"Wahkon Inn" to quit demeaning the real meaning of not only Wahkon, Minnesota's
sacred Dakota Native American name [Wahkon] but also (though in an indirect way) both
the real meaning of the sacred Mdewakanton Dakota name for Mille Lacs Lake [Wahkon] as well
as the sacred Mdewakanton Dakota [traditional] name for their Great Spirit [Wahkon]. And the
only way to do so, is for her to change the offensive and derogatory name of her bar and liquor store.
On October 16, 2001, I received the following letter from Archbishop Harry Flynn. In this letter
Archbishop Flynn gave his support for my effort to inform and then influence the City of Wahkon to
stop demeaning the real meaning of the sacred Mdewakanton Dakota name for Mille Lacs Lake.
Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
October 16, 2001
Mr. Thomas Dahlheimer
485 West Broadway Street
Wahkon, MN 56386
Dear Mr. Dahlheimer
Thank you for your letter of early October in which you described your efforts regarding the Wahkon
Inn. I agree with you that efforts to advertise this establishment through tee shirts and sweaters
that demean the real meaning of Wahkon are at very least distasteful. I am sure that your work to
engage the public through educational efforts will be helpful. It does seem appropriate for the
Tribal Council to take a stand in this regard since it is their culture and their language that is
being demeaned. I encourage you to continue working with them and applaud your request of them to
assist the members of Sacred Heart Church to come to a greater understanding and appreciation of their
culture.
With best wishes in Christ,
Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn, D.D. Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
About a moral responsibility to show due respect for Mdewakanton sensitivities
in the City of Wahkon, Minnesota, a city named
after the sacred Mdewakanton Dakota name for Mille Lacs Lake (Wahkon).
A previous pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Wahkon, Minnesota (Father Ray Steffes) and I, came to
believe that because Sacred Heart Church
is located in a city named after the Mdewakanton's sacred name for Mille Lacs Lake (Wahkon) that,
therefore, there were Mdewakanton sensitivities
that Sacred Heart Church parishioners should be aware of and show due respect toward, and that this
would include the development and practice
of special morals and ethics associated with these sensitivities.
And I believe that Sacred Heart Church parishioners and all the residents of Wahkon, Minnesota,
especially including the City
Council of Wahkon, should be brought to an understanding of what these special Mdewakanton
sensitivities, morals
and ethics are. And I hope that in the near future some Mdewakanton will come to Wahkon,
Minnesota to help get this message across so
that their sacred Mdewakanton name for Mille Lacs Lake will be appropriately respected in
the City of Wahkon, Minnesota.
About my Sacred Heart Church Mdewakanton rights activist initiatives:
In respect to Wahkon, Minnesota's special Mdewakanton sensitivities associated with the moral
responsibility to show due respect for this
city's sacred Mdewakanton name, I have been inspired to develop a number of Sacred Heart Church
Mdewakanton rights activist initiatives. I hope to influence the Roman Catholic hierarchy to bring
revolutionary changes to Wahkon,
Minnesota's Sacred Heart Church. Revolutionary changes that will help deliver the indigenous people
of the Americas from my Roman
Catholic Church's (and other mainline Christian churches') radical oppression, repression and
suppression of their cultures and sacred
ways. These Sacred Heart Church Mdewakanton rights activist initiatives are presented in the
following open letter to Father
Dave Gallus, one of Wahkon, Minnesota's Sacred Heart Church pastors.
Dear Father Dave,
I am in the process of trying to persuade some of my relatives, friends and activist acquaintances
to form into an activist group that
would then stage protests against injustices being perpetrated against "Indians" (Natives) at Sacred
Heart Church in Wahkon, Minnesota.
If this envisioned activist group becomes manifest, we will be gathering near Sacred Heart Church in
Wahkon, Minnesota in order to
protest against our (your and my) Roman Catholic Church's participation in a genocide being
perpetrated against both American Indians as well as
other indigenous people throughout the Western hemisphere. A genocide that, I believe, the vast
majority of Sacred Heart Church
Parishioners are complicit in, including yourself and the other two pastors of Sacred Heart Church.
If this envisioned activist group becomes manifest, we will be standing with protest signs near
Sacred Heart Church before, during,
and after weekend Masses. Some of these protest signs will be similar to the protest signs
displayed on the Web site
www.hiddenfromhistory.org. And we
will also be displaying signs that
protest against both the racist name of the Knights of Columbus as well as the 1493 Papal Bull Inter
Caetera. This Papal Bull
established Christian dominion and subjugation of non-Christian peoples and their lands. And "Inter
Caetera" has not yet been
revoked.
Because of "Inter Caetera", the indigenous peoples of the Western hemisphere and their homelands
are still being dominated and
subjugated by the descendents of white European immigrants.
My youtube.com "Protesting the racist name of the Knights of Columbus video"
This Papal Bull (Inter Caetra) instigated, sanctioned and still promotes the ongoing genocide against
the indigenous people of the Americas.
In addition, we will be holding protest signs that protest the use of a chemical weapon of warfare in
the ongoing
genocide against the indigenous people of the Americas, it being an alcoholic beverage (wine), located
on Sacred Heart Church's
alter during Masses.
Both Kevin Annett, the leader of the Canadian movement to expose and then put an end to the genocide
being perpetrated against the aboriginal people of Canada as well as the Board of Directors and Advisory Board for the American
Indian Genocide Museum, a group of American Indian activists who are leading the movement in our nation to expose and then put
an end to the genocide being perpetrated against the aboriginal people of our nation, have both given their support for the effort
to rename the "Rum" River. And both Kevin Annett as well as the Board of Directors and Advisory Board for the American Indian
Genocide Museum believe that the Papal Bull Inter Caetera instigated, sanctioned and still promotes the ongoing genocide against the
indigenous people of the Western hemisphere, and I also believe this to be true.
Kevin Annett, the American Indian Genocide Museum and twenty-three organizations
at the 2006 Summit of Indigenous Nations at Bear Butte have stated that they want Pope Benedict XVI
to formally revoke the 1493 Papal Bull Inter Caetera. I also want the Pope to revoke this Papal
Bull. And I also want him to come to Wahkon, Minnesota to formally revoke the Inter
Caetera, and do so in the presence of both international renowned Indigenous activists of the Western
Hemisphere as well as internationally renowned Indigenous activists located in other areas of
the world where this Roman Catholic Papal Bull is still hurting Indigenous people.
A delegation of indigenous people of the Americas, a delegation that went to Vatican City in order
to ask the Pope to revoke the Inter Ceatera Bull of May 4, 1493, were received at the
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
And in a statement presented on their Web site reference, they wrote, when referring to the Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace: "This is where we have been sending our appeal to the Vatican." We met with a Monsignor
under the President of the Council. He assured us we were on the track, and that the Council was an
important player along with the Secretariat of State. The issue of the revocation of the Bull "Inter
Caetera" has now been submitted to a commission at the Secretariat of State.
This is a victory indicating for the first time that the Vatican will be seriously considering this
issue. Hopefully, it will not be "studied to death"!
The following two statements were made by the indigenous people's delegation to the Vatican.
(1.) "The recent rehabilitation of Galileo and a papal statement condemning Christian complicity in
the Jewish Holocaust warrants a few questions that have remained unanswered for many descendants of those who endured,
resisted and survived European dominion for over the past 500 years: What has the Roman Catholic hierarchy had to say about
the 60,000,000 to 80,000,000 indigenous inhabitants of the Western hemisphere who had perished by the end of the 16th
century?; What have they had to say about the probable 100,000,000 native peoples who were 'eliminated' in the course of
Europe's ongoing 'civilization' of the Western hemisphere"?
(2.) "The answers to these questions have been touched upon in recent papal statements and in the
Pope's New Year's 2000 message
for peace when he writes that, "There is no true peace without fairness, truth, justice and
solidarity." "Fairness," "truth," "justice" and "solidarity" means overturning
the laws of an inherently corrupt system based on Christian dominion that continues to drain the
spirit of all peoples. The Vatican has acknowledged, in theory, its respect for and the equality among
the many religious traditions of the earth, so where's the beef? in order to promote a culture of
peace! There will never be any hope for "true peace" until this degree is repudiated.
On October 4, 2007, I sent an e-mail to Tony Castanha, an internationally renowned indigenous
activist who is leading the international campaign to influence the Vatican to revoke a 15th century Papal Bull that was responsible for the
atrocities committed against his descendents when Columbus and his knights invaded his people's homeland in 1492. In my e-mail to
Mr. Castanha I mentioned that my article titled Changing The
Racist Name Of The Knights Of Columbus was recently
posted in Indigenous Peoples Literature. In response to my e-mail, Mr. Castanha wrote: "This is
great work you're doing. Please
keep me updated. Best regards, Tony
Tony Castanha also recently sent me an e-mail wherein he ask me and people all around the world to
participate in the annual Papal Bull burning or ripping protest on October 12. After receiving the e-mail, I contacted Jim Anderson and
mentioned that I would like to get a group of people together and burn a copy of the 15th century papal bull (Inter Caetera) in front of
the Catholic Church of Saint Stephen in Anoka, Minnesota. He said, "WE SHOULD DO IT" but also mentioned that it was a "strong statement".
On October 12, 2007 I decided to rip up a copy of Inter Cartera in front of the Catholic Church of Saint Stephen in Anoka. Anoka is located
at the confluence of
theWakan/"Rum" and Mississippi rivers and is a part of the Dakota people's traditional
homeland as well as a sacred site.
To view a video of me ripping up a copy of the Papal Bull (Inter Cartera) click the arrow in the
following video picture.
Protesting the alcoholic beverage (wine) located in Wahkon, Minnesota's Sacred
Heart Church:
Almost every day, I see alcoholic drunkard American Indians from the Isle reservation going to both
the Isle and Wahkon liquor stores to pick up more alcoholic beverages to keep their health destroying alcoholic binges
going. Over the last thirty years, I have witnessed many alcohol abuse related deaths of local American Indians. Why
can these American Indians go to Isle or Wahkon and buy alcoholic beverages but not cocaine, heroin, meth, or even marijuana?
Answer: There are liquor stores in Isle and Wahkon where alcoholic drunkard American Indians can buy
alcoholic beverages
because the prohibition of alcohol laws came to an end and they have not yet been reestablished. And
I believe that the
primary reason why they came to an end and have not yet been reestablished is because our church was
opposed to prohibition
(it was the only church to oppose prohibition) and it still believes in and promotes the legalization
of alcohol throughout
our nation, where a multitude of American Indians are suffering from a - largely Catholic influenced -
genocidal alcohol
abuse health epidemic. Note: Two published Mille Lacs Messenger letters to the editor of mine about
this issue, along with information
about a state bill to protect Sacred Native American sites by criminalizing bars and liquor stores
near them, can be found
by clicking reference
Our church was opposed to prohibition, a stance that influenced a lot of people to brake the
prohibition laws, which in turn
caused legislators to repeal prohibition. Hence we now have liquor stores in Isle and Wahkon.
(1.) "Speaking in behalf of Blaine (a U.S. Republican Presidential candidate) at a New York City rally, Presbyterian minister Samuel
Burchard denounced the Democrats as the party of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion".
(2.) "Every successful temperance movement of the last century has been merely the instrument-the
machinery and equipment through which the fundamental principles of the Christian religion have
expressed themselves in terms of life and action."
(3.) "The fundamental principles of the Christian religion (with the exception of Roman Catholic
"Christian" fundamental
principles) damned not only rum, but all of the kindred vices, profaneness and gambling and
beseeched members to discourage...by...
example and influence, every kind
of.....immorality."
(4.) "Largely middle class, rural, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant comprised the temperance movement and
they confronted the urban and
industrial communities head-on.
(5.) "Calling itself "The Protestant church in action", the Anti-Saloon League concentrated
single-mindedly and evangelically on
the cause of temperance."
(6.) "The focus of the League's indictments included not simply alcohol, but the saloon itself,
as the purveyor of spirits. The
myriad League publications denounced the saloon for annually sending thousands of our youths to
destruction, for corrupting politics,
dissipating workmen's wages, leading astray 60,000 girls each year into lives of immorality and
banishing children from school."
(7.) The League stated: "Liquor is responsible for 19% of the divorces, 25% of the poverty, 25% of
the insanity, 37% of
the pauperism, 45% of child desertion, and 50% of the crime in this country, the League determined.
And this, it concluded ,
is a very conservative estimate."
(8.) "League posters appeared everywhere depicting the saloon-keeper as a profiteer who feasted on
death and enslavement."
(9.)"...while Jewish and Catholic groups generally opposed their (the AntiSallon League's)
objective.
And during prohibition neither did our Church's hierarchical leaders decide that grape juice be
used instead of an alcoholic beverage
(wine) during the last supper segment of the Mass, as I believe they should have. And I believe
that the longer our Church continues to
both use wine instead of grape juice on the Church's alters during Masses, as well as does not
promote the reestablishment of the
prohibition of alcohol laws, the more it will be stacking up sins for the day of God's judgment.
The hereditary chief of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is quoted, in a Messenger article, as saying -
to a large gathering of band
members; "Alcoholism is not our traditional way. We need to try to pull together and away from
alcohol because it is destroying
our people."
Alcoholism is a disease that is destroying indigenous people throughout the Americas. And the reason
why I believe that they are vulnerable
to this disease is because they have been deeply hurt by the ongoing genocide that our Church
instigated in 1493 and still promotes today.
Our Church sees that Natives are being destroyed by alcohol but continues to promote the legalization
and availability of alcohol near their
homelands, and this is an example of how our Church continues to commit genocide against the indigenous
people of the Western Hemisphere.
And this is why I hope to get an activist group together to protest the use of wine on Sacred Heart
Church's alter during Masses. I am trying
to put an end to the white European "Christian" genocidal system that promotes the legalization and
availability of alcohol within the
homelands of the aboriginal people of the Americas. Catholic leaders can see that alcohol is
destroying these aboriginal people, along with
a lot of other people, but never-the-less continue to support the legalization and availability of
alcohol in the Americas.
And I also believe that our Church's attitude and teachings about alcohol are the primary reason
why there continues to be a multi-racial
health epidemic and related social atrocities associated with the legal use and abuse of alcohol in
not only the Western hemisphere but
also within many other parts of the world where alcohol is still legal and available.
I and my anti-alcohol activist friends are on a mission to (first) establish a dry (alcohol free)
Mille Lacs County, then we'll be
working to establish a dry Isanti County, then a dry Sherburne County, and then a dry Anoka County.
And after these four "Rum" River
corridor counties become dry counties we'll be working to make Minnesota a dry state. And after
Minnesota becomes a dry state we'll be
working to make the U.S. a dry nation. And after the U.S. becomes a dry nation we'll be working
to make all the other nations of the Americas
dry nations. And after all the other nations of the Americas become dry nations we'll be working to
make all the other nations throughout the world
dry nations. The alcohol industry is going down! We are taking the alcohol industry down
Our protesting near Sacred Heart Church will hopefully influence our Holy
Father to come to Wahkon,
Minnesota in order to:
(1.) Apologize for the genocidal system that the Church instigated in 1493. And do so by revoking the
Papal Bull Inter Caetera.
(4.) Make a pronouncement to the world community of nations that the age of multiculturalism, an age
wherein the Church has
been excessively Euro-centric, has, from the Church's view point, come to an end. And that the age
of globalization has
arrived. An age wherein the Church will be seeking to evangelize all nations and tribes into a single
unite global culture,
a culture made up of the best of the past of all the earth's different peoples' traditions and cultures, a culture that will be wahkon
(holy). Or, in other words, a culture predominantly permeated with the traditions and cultures of
the aboriginal people of the Americas, a culture wherein the world will soon be united.
(5.) Make a pronouncement to the world community of nations that the Church believes that the coming
of this new age of
globalization is a prelude to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; and that, therefore, the Church
believes that the (full)
establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth is at hand.