Mille Lacs Messenger
December 6, 2008

No more bull

by Thomas Dahlheimer

After MN Representative Mike Jaros received my draft bill to change the name of the Rum River as well as 13 other MN geographic site names that are offensive to Native people, he slightly edited it and then with the consent of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council he introduced it to the MN legislature.

After Tony Castanha, the internationally renowned leader of the movement to influence the Roman Catholic hierarchy to revoke the 15th century Papal Bull [Inter Caetera] read my article "Changing The Racist Name of the Knights of Columbus" and watched my youtube.com video "Protesting The Racist Name Of the Knights of Columbus" he contacted me and gave his support for the work I am doing to change our state's derogatory names, influence the Roman Catholic hierarchy to revoke Inter Caetera, and put an end to the glorification of Christopher Columbus and his knights, who, according to a U.N. World Conference Against Racism document, committed a genocide against the native people they came in contact with, and did so, by following the edicts of 15th century popes, as put forth in their Papal Bulls, including the Papal Bull, Inter Caetera.

Revoking the Papal bull, Inter Caetera, would help restore the fundamental human rights of indigenous peoples. A movement to revoke the papal bull has been ongoing for a number of years. It was initiated by the Indigenous Law Institute in 1992. At the Parliament of World Religions in 1994 over 60 indigenous delegates drafted a Declaration of Vision. It reads, in part:

"We call upon the people of conscience in the Roman Catholic hierarchy to persuade Pope John II to formally revoke the Inter Caetera Bull of May 4, 1493, which will restore our fundamental human rights. That Papal document called for our Nations and Peoples to be subjugated so the Christian Empire and its doctrines would be propagated. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Johnson v. McIntosh 8 Wheat 543 (in 1823) adopted the same principle of subjugation expressed in the Inter Caetera Bull. This Papal Bull has been, and continues to be, devastating to our religions, our cultures, and the survival of our populations."

In recent years, various tribal members and groups around the country have asked the pope to rescind the 15th century Papal Bull, Inter Caetera.

Leonard Wabasha, a hereditary chief of the Mdewakanton Dakota people, manager of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community Cultural Resource Department and adviser of mine, recently contacted me and asked that I ask the City of Anoka to write letters to the Minnesota Dakota Reservation Tribal Councils inviting them to get involved with Anoka’s mission to unite and reconcile with the Dakota people. I recently did what Mr. Wabasha advised me to do.

During my most recent meeting with the mayor of Anoka he told me that there is an Anoka organization that is being led by the president of the Anoka County Historical Society, and that this organization is trying to influence the City of Anoka to change the name of Anoka's "Rum River Nature Area".