A couple of years ago, Minnesota Rep. Mike Jaros told me that he
would like to introduce a Minnesota apology resolution for the exploitation of Native Americans.
Originally, our only name-changing goal was to revert the derogatory name of the "Rum River" back to
its sacred Mdewakanton
Dakota Indian name Wakan. However, we later decided that in order to make it easier to
accomplish this goal we would need
to add thirteen other offensive Minnesota geographic place names to our proposed state bill list
of names we would like to
see replaced. Therefore, we added those thirteen other offensive names to our proposed bill.
We later learned that the state of Virginia passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and the
exploitation of Native Americans.
Therefore, our director decided to asked Rep. Mike Jaros if he would like to introduce a Minnesota
resolution to apologized for
the exploitation of Native Americans, a resolution that would accompany the bill to replace our
state's offensive names.
In response, Rep. Jaros told our director that he would like to introduce a resolution to apology
for the exploitation of
Native Americans.
Minnesota apology for the exploitation of Indains
draft resolution
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We later learned that the Episcopal Church apologized for ties to slavery. We, therefore, came to
believe that it would also be a
good idea to ask the Minnesota Council of Churches, Minnesota Catholic Conference, Lutheran
Coalition for Public Policy in
Minnesota, Greater Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Councils of Churches, Episcopal Diocese of
Minnesota, Minnesota Baptist Conference
and the Diocese of Saint Cloud (etc.) to apologize for ties to the exploitation of our state's
Native Americans.
Correspondence with Minnesota's Christian Church leaders associated with our requests
for apology letters:
Our director recently sent an e-mail to Chris Leifeld, the Execution Director of the
Minnesota Catholic Conference, wherein he
let him know that Rep. Jaros is planning to introduce a resolution to apologize for the
exploitation of our state's Native Americans. He
also let Mr. Leifeld know that the Episcopal Church has apologized for ties to slavery and that
we would like for the MCC to
apologize for Minnesota's Catholic Church's ties to our state's exploitation of
Native Americans. Note: In a reply e-mail message
Chris Leifeld wrote: "Certainly I intend to consult with the Catholic Bishops of Minnesota
regarding your request. The bishops, as the
board of the Minnesota Catholic Conference do not meet again until June.
Our director also recently sent an e-mail to Reverend Mark Peters, the Execution Director of
the Lutheran Coalition
for Public Policy in Minnesota, wherein he let him know that we would be grateful if
the Lutheran Coalition for Public Policy in Minnesota would write an
apology letter for our state's Lutheran churches' ties to the exploitation of our
state's Native Americans.
Note: Reverend Mark Peters recently informed us that he is going to
send us a, bicentennial of the United States,
Lutheran Church public apology letter for the exploitaion of Native Americans.
Our director also recently sent an e-mail to Reverend Dr, Gary B. Reierson, the Execution
Director of the
Greater Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Councils of Churches,
wherein he let him know that we would be grateful if Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Councils
of Churches
would write an apology letter for the Minneapolis and Saint Paul area churches' ties to
the exploitation of our state's
Native Americans. Note: In a reply e-mail Reverend Dr. Gary B.
Reierson wrote: "Thank you for your e-mail message. I'll
get back to you after consulting with the leadership of our Division of Indian Work."
Our director also recently sent an e-mail to Truett Lawson, the Execution Director of the
Minnesota Baptist
Conference, wherein he let him know that we would be grateful if the Minnesota Baptist
Conference would write an apology letter
for Minnesota's Baptist Churches' ties to the exploitation of our state's
Native Americans.
Our director also recently sent an e-mail to Bishop James L. Jelinek, the
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of
Minnesota, wherein he let him know that we would be grateful if the Episcopal Diocese of
Minnesota would write an apology
letter for Minnesota's Episcopal Churches' ties to the exploitation of our
state's Native Americans.
From Bishop Jelinek April 26, 2007
Dear Mr. Dahlheimer: The Rev. Canon Robert Two Bulls (on my staff) and
I shall discuss your suggestion and request
and then I will take it to some of the elected leadership councils of the diocese. There is
merit to your request, but for an (elected)
bishop to speak on his own has limited value and impact. We have been doing ministry as a
diocese with, for, among and by Native
Americans since 1848 when the first Episcopal priest came here. We are not perfect today nor
have we been, but we work very
hard to heal the wounds of the past and deal with our institutional racism in the present.
With regard to your renaming venture
and concerns: we would be likely to sign onto that if and when a significant majority of
Native American organizations and/or
people do so. We believe it appropriate to support what they "own" as issues and concerns.
I trust you will understand that.
Sincerely yours, The Rt. Rev. James L. Jelinek VIII Bishop, Diocese of Minnesota
Our directors reply email message to Bishop James L. Jelinek:
Dear Bishop James L. Jelinek,
After sending my bishop, Bishop John Kinney, the following on-line articles of mine, articles
that I suggested could help the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Saint Cloud to make a good apology, he in turn sent me a letter supporting my and
Rep. Mike Jaros' effort to change our state's
offensive names and requests for apologies.
Combating White Racism Against Indigenous Peoples
http://www.towahkon.org/SEED.html
Solving The Alcohol Abuse Epidemic
http://www.towahkon.org/sae.html
Regaining the Mdewakanton's Mille Lacs Ancestral Homeland
http://www.towahkon.org/Regaining.html
Mdewakanton Rights Activist Initiatives
http://www.towahkon.org/Dakotarights.html
Sincerely yours,
Thomas Dahlheimer
Director of Rum River Name Change organization, Inc.
Our director also recently sent an e-mail to Bishop Sally Dyck,
Resident Bishop of Minnesota United Methodist
Church, wherein he let her know that we would be grateful if the she would write an apology
letter for Minnesota's United Methodist Churches'
ties to the exploitation of our state's Native Americans. In a
reply e-mail to our director Bishop Sally Dyck wrote:
"I have received your request for an apology from the religious body of the United Methodist
Church. In order to do that in a meaningful way,
it means that we need to work it through a variety of systems so people are actually educated
and committed to such an apology. I could just
write you a letter but it wouldn't be as meaningful as if the annual conference took action
on it. If they do that, it would take a year to
do but it would be something that had some "backing" to it from the people in Minnesota who
are UM. I'm making the assumption that you would
prefer that we work it through appropriate and extensive channels rather than to make it a
formality. Please let me know what you
think.
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Our director also recently sent a letter to Rev. Peg Chemberlin, the Executive Director
of Minnesota Council Of Churches (MCC),
wherein he asked if the MCC would like to apologize for our state's churches'
ties to the exploitation of our state's Native Americans.
Note: In an March 19, 2007 letter Rev. Peg Chemberlin wrote:
"Thank you for your letter of March 6. We can
appreciate
and are discussing your concerns. We will get back to you soon in this regard."
Our director also sent a letter to Archbishop Harry Flynn to
let him know about these new developments.
He mentioned in the letter that if the Minnesota Catholic Conference decides to apologize
for the exploitation of American Indians that
he would like to help write the apology letter.
Our director also recently sent a letter to Bishop John Kinney,
wherein he asked Bishop Kinney if Saint Cloud Diocese would like to
make an official apology for its ties to the exploitation of our state's Native Americans.
Our director mentioned in his letter to
Bishop Kinney that he believed that an apology would serve as a part of the reconciliation
process associated with the effort to
change our state's offensive geographic place names.
April 10, 2007 letter form Bishop John Kinney:
Dear Mr. Dahlheimer:
Thank you for your recent letters and information about your efforts and those of
Representative of Mike Jaros with respect to Indian
names and an apology for exploitation of the Native Americans. Your continuing work on
these issues is admirable.
We will continue to support efforts on behalf of the Native Americans of the Mille Lacs
Band Ojibwe here in Saint Cloud Diocese and
also those beyond the boundaries regards of these sixteen counties.
With kind personal regards, I remain,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
John F. Kinney
Bishop of Saint Cloud
We believe that apology letters from Christian church organizations, letters that would go
along with a MN resolution to apologize
for the exploitation of our state's Native Americans, would give our state's tribes
an understanding that this campaign to change our state's
offensive names will, hopefully, not only replace our state's offensive names but
also bring about significant reconciliatory social
change that will be beneficial to them as well as to all other residents of our state. We
also believe that if the tribes that have
not yet given their support gain this new understanding they will be encouraged to give
their support.
After sending an e-mail to a leader of Minnesota's Mdewakanton Dakota people, an
e-mail wherein our director informed him about
our soliciting apology letters mission he asked our director to called Lyle Rustad, the
Executive Director of the
Diversity
Foundation, and ask for assistance with writing apology letters.
Our director called Lyle Rustad and spoke with him for about 10
minutes. During their conversation Mr. Rustad told our director that during Winona,
Minnesota's Great Dakota Homecoming Gathering,
a reconciliation event sponsored by the Diversity Foundation, Roman Catholic Bishop
Bernard J. Harrington apologized for his diocese's ties
to the exploitation of the indigenous Mdewakanton Dakota people.
Elizabeth Morgan, a Diversity Foundation cultural and elder advisor & Cultural Resource
Management Director for Spirit Lake Reservation
in North Dakota wrote, in her Support & Testimony letter: "Over the past several years,
other ceremonies have been held where
representatives and mayors from Redwood Falls, New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, Mankato, St. Peter
and Mendota attended with each extending
apologies and sorrow for the past and a wish for improved relations between our cultures."
To read more of Morgan's Support &
Testimony letter click
"apologies and sorrow for the past"
Representative Jaros' plan to introduce a resolution to apologize for the
exploitation of Minnesota Indians as well as our mission
to influence Christian church organizations to write apology letters seems to be
helping to influence more of our state's Native Americans
and the Diversity Foundation to get involved with our name-changing reconciliation
campaign.
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