SUPPORTERS
Rum River Name-Change Supporters:
Letters of support from the following list of supporters can be found by clicking
Mission and then
scrolling down to a section of the webpage titled: CURRENT SUPPORT STATUS.
* Upper Sioux, a Mdewakanton Dakota Community. This community is one of
five Minnesota Mdewakanton Dakota Communities.
* Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community, a non-federally recognized 250-member
Mdewakanton Dakota
Community
* Leonard Wabasha, a hereditary chief of the Mdewakanton Dakota
people and, both, a prominent member of the Lower Sioux Mdewakanton Community
as well as the Director of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community Cultural Resource
Department.
* Joe Day, the Executive Director of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council
as well as President of the U.S. Governors' Interstate Indian Council.
* Minnesota Historical Society's Indian Advisory Committee
* Rep. Mike Jaros , a (DFL) Minnesota State Legislator
* Griff Wigley , Project Leader, Sesquicentennial Advisory Committee for
Native American Partnering (SACNAP)
* Cambridge, Minnesota (population 5,520), a city located on the Rum River corridor
In an article published in Minnesota's best-selling state-wide daily newspaper, the Star Tribune, there are the words: Last month, the Cambridge
City Council took its own stand in Dahlheimer’s crusade, voting to rename "West Rum River Drive to Spirit River Drive. Along with the Cambridge
campus of Anoka-Ramsey Community College and the Isanti County Active Living by Design, the city also has named a part of a new community trail
system Spirit River Nature Area." "We understand we can't rename the river on our own, but we wanted to at least recognize the Native American
history of this area," said Stoney Hiljus, Cambridge's city administrator.
* Cankdeska Cikana Community College, a Dakota college established to bring higher education
opportunities to the people of the Spirit Lake Tribe.
* C. D. Floro, the editor of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe's Lake Traverse Reservation newspaper, a
newspaper named
Sota. 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.
* Tony Castanha (Taino), the internationally renowned leader
of the movement to influence the Roman Catholic hierarchy to revoke the 15th century Papal bull,
Inter Caetera. A bull/document which called for the "new world's" Indigenous Nations and Peoples
to be subjugated so the Christian Empire and its doctrines would be propagated. It resulted in
the genocide, colonization and dispossession of the indigenous peoples of the ''new world.'' Mr.
Castanha is also on the forefront of the movement to put an end to the glorification of the
colonial pirate Christopher Columbus. Castanha is working with a our director to rectify
these injustices.
* Alfred Bone Shirt (Sicangu), a nationally renowned Native American activist. Mr. Shirt is the contact person
for the Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Human Rights Advocacy Coalition.
* Tekakwitha Conference, an international Catholic Native American organization. 172 tribes
were represented at this organization's 2003 annual conference. And Tekakwitha Conference prayer
circles, called Kateri Prayer Circles, have been formed on nearly all U.S. Reservations.
* Rev. Stan Maudlin, abbot of Blue Cloud Abbey and founder and Executive
Director of BCA's American Indian Research Center. Rev. Maudlin has been a
prominent leader of the Tekakwitha Conference since its origins and he is in
constant correspondence with the Vatican Commission on Traditional Religions.
During the 1983 Tekakwitha Conference, Rev Maudlin addressed a large group of
conference participants and said "there is a whole world view behind the word wakan".
And in 2003, Rev. Maudlin won the South Dakota Hall of Fame reward.
* Unided Native America, a national organization with a membership of 30,000.
On this organization's list of causes it supports the Rum River name-change cause is on the every top of the list.
* Division of Indian Work (DIW) , an organization that is in partnership with
the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches (GMCC). The Board of Directors and staff of GMCC and
DIW are committed to continuing their evolution into an anti-racist, multi-cultural organization
that works for racial justice in the Minneapolis area.
* Native Earthworks Preservation Group, a group born out of the need to preserve
the heritage and culture of the indigenous people of North America.
* Alliance for Native American Indian Rights, an intertribal organization dedicated to
preserving and protecting Native American burial grounds and other culturally significant
places.
* STAR (Students and Teachers Against Racism) This organization seeks to bring the image
of Native Americans into the present, to support the well being of Native children in schools
through the accurate depiction of history and by raising awareness of the need for sensitivity
to Native culture as well as bringing recognition to the ongoing contributions of Native Peoples
today, and to celebrate the varied and rich cultural traditions of all Native people in the United
States.
* Christine Rose, the editor and occasional writer for STAR's editorial material.
"Understanding The Mascot Issue" which contains important writings, essays, studies, surveys,
law issues, articles and personal writings by Native people regarding the mascot and has been
used extensively by school boards and State Departments of Education as well as by many individual
schools in determining the removal of Native-based mascots
* Dr. Peggy McIntosh , a world-renowned lecturer, she consults with higher education institutions
throughout the United States and the world on creating multi-cultural and gender-fair curricula. Author of many influential articles on curriculum
change, women's studies and systems of unearned privilege, she has taught at Harvard University, Trinity College (Washington, DC) and the
University of Durham (England), among other institutions.
* Professor Christine Sleeter, a nationally and internationally renowned multicultural educator and social activist
who is a winner the National Association for Multicultural Education Research Award.
* Paul Gorski, a nationally and internationally renowned multicultural educator
* Lyn Miller-Lachman, the Editor-in-Chief of MultiCultural Review, "a quarterly trade journal
and book review for educators and librarians
* Barbara Gerner De Garcia, the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the board for the
National Association for Multicultural Education
* Ward Churchill (Creek), a nationally and internationally renowned American Indian activist.
Churchill is one of the United State's foremost experts on indigenous peoples and their struggles in the Americas. He has been heavily
involved in the American Indian Movement and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. And he is the author of many books. Churchill has
actively taken part in numerous movements resisting government repression, fighting for indigenous rights, and he served as a delegate to
the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations.
* Russell Means (Lakota), an internationally renown American Indian activist.
* Clyde Bellecourt (Anishinabe - Ojibwe Nation), an internationally renown American Indian activist.
* Rev. Sequoyah Ade, an internationally regarded essayist
and Indigenist political commentator.
* Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, Ph. D., a nationally and internationally renown
American Indian educator and activist, who has served as a rapporteur for the health and human rights working group during the Indigenous
Peoples International Day at the United Nations, and has been a featured speaker, both nationally and internationally, on topics important
to the well being of Indigenous communities. And he is also the Founder and Director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples' Critical and
Intuitive Thinking and Associate Professor of Indigenous Nations Studies University of Kansas.
* Steve Russell (Cherokee), a Texas state judge, twice past President, Texas Indian Bar Association,
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Indiana University. Steve Russell’s comment: "This campaign is a valuable history lesson!"
*Mike L. Graham, a member of the Oklahoma Cherokee Nation and founder of
United Native
America , a national organization with a membership of 30,000.
* Teresa Kurtzhall, volunteer staff member for United Native America.
* American Indian Genocide Museum, the purpose of this museum is to bring historical truth
to light through the means of education using actual documentation of events that have
transpired in the near extermination, and in some cases, the total extermination of native
tribes and cultures. Racism, discrimination and injustice will be addressed with the
purpose of promoting public awareness that these elements of genocide which existed in the past,
continue to exist today. Note: Russell Means is on this organization's Advisory Board.
* Dr. Tom Pinkson, a psychologist, author, and founder of Wakan, a spiritual community
dedicated to the sacredness of life. Dr. Pinkson has worked with indigenous elders all over the
world.
* Charles E. Trimble (Oglala Lakota), the Interim Director of Institute of American Indian Studies at
the University of South Dakota. He was a principal founder of the American Indian Press, and served
as Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians. And he is President of Red
River Institute and a columnist for Indian Country Today. And he represented U.S. tribes at the
founding of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples.
*Hunter Gray, a nationally renown Native American social justice organizer. He was the University
of North Dakota's American Indian Studies Department Chair. Currently, he is the Chairman
of Native American Commission SPUSA, a national Native advocate organization. And he is also the
Regional Organizer of the Anti-Racist DSA
* Jim Anderson, Cultural Chair and Historian for the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community. Jim
Anderson is helping us to spearheading the movement to change the Rum River's derogatory
name.
* Chuck Benson, of Lakota/Dakota descent and a relative of Petit Corbeau, the original
"Little Crow" (great-grandfather of the famous Little Crow aka Taoyate Duta of 1862
"uprising" fame)
* Ernest Moristo (Tohono O'Odham), when addressing the participants of a United Nation's Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues meeting, he called for an assessment of the status of sacred sites of
indigenous nations. In an e-mail to our director, he wrote: "We are a grassroots org. of Tohono O'odham
Indians in Az. trying to protect our sacred sites. Interested in networking.
* Kristin and Curtis Ryan, the owners of a Web site that helps protect and preserve
sacred Native American sites. It's located
at: www.twilightspirit.com. This Web site
has a gallery that include
pictures of the Wakan/"Rum" River.
* Jeanne Svhiyeyi Aga Chadwick, the publisher/editor/webmaster
of an American Indian/Indigenous online news ezine, called My
Two Beads Worth. It has been visited by over 2 million people from all over the world. And
an article about
our campaign is posted on this website.
*Kathleen Franklin, an on-line teacher of the Lakota language
* National Environmental Coalition of Native Americans
* First Nations Environmental Network
* Kathryn Wild, PhD, CEO (Karuk Tribe of Northern California) - Kathryn Wild is developing
an Environmental Education Retreat for California school teachers, offering university credit to learn gold rush history
from an indigenous perspective.
Kevin Annett, an internationally renowned Canadian "Indian"
rights activist. Mr. Annett is the author of two books and numerous articles on the genocide of aboriginal peoples in Canada.
He is a regular columnist for the Republic of East Vancouver and The Radical, and hosts a bi-weekly public affairs program on
Vancouver Co-op Radio. His writings have appeared in such international publications as The New Internationalist, Nexus, Against
The Current and Canadian Dimension. Click
hidden from history to view Kevin Annett's Web site.
* Tom Wisner, a singer and song writer who is known nationally for his song "Chesapeake Born".
Mr. Wisner is writing a song in support of renaming the Rum River. "Chesapeake Born" became the
title song for the 1987 National Geographic Special on the Bay region. Wisner's classroom techniques
were filmed by Washington-area NBC-TV and other stations, and he received national,
state, and local awards for excellence in teaching. He was given citations by two governors and
was named a major figure in land-conservation work by President Reagan's Commission on the
Out-of-Doors
*Carole Van Valkenburg, Reporter/Anchor WCCO-TV. WCCO-TV or WCCO 4 is a television station that serves the
Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. It broadcasts on channels 4 (analog) and 32 (digital). Additional TV transmitters in the
north serve Alexandria (KCCO 7, 24 DT.
* Turtle Island Projest, The co-founders and pastors of the Turtle Island Project
call for profound change in Christian thinking; urge faithful to learn from Earth-based cultures like Native Americans, Celts & other Indigenous
Peoples who value environment as sacred.
Turtle Island Project
* Wisdom University , this University's Creation Spirituality movement seeks to
integrate the wisdom of western spirituality and global indigenous cultures with the emerging
scientific understanding of the universe.
* Matthew Fox, an internationally renowned Christian theologian,environmentalist and indigenous peoples rights activist. Fox is also the founder and
president of Wisdom University.
* AymaraNet, a South American organization with the world's only internet site with information on
the Aymaras Natives in Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador.
* KOLA, an international human rights organization that helps indigenous communities throughout the
world to rectify injustices inflicted upon them by non-indigenous people living in their
homelands
* United Nations' Secretariat of the Permanent Forum On Indigenous Issues
* Pax Christi USA
* Pax Christi Minnesota
* Pat Albers, Chair of the University of Minnesota's American Indian Studies Department.
* Colin G. Calloway, Chair of Darmouth College Native American Studies Research Center.
* Jacki Rand (Choctaw), a Professor of History and American Indian and Native Studies at the
University of Iowa.
*LaVonne Brown Ruoff, a Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ruoff
is a specialist in Native American literature.
* Michelene Pesantubee, an assistant professor of Religious Studies and American Indian and Native
Studies at the University of Iowa.
* Angela Cavender Wilson, Ph.D., an Arizona State University Assistant Professor of American Indian
History.
* Devon Abbott Mihesuah (Choctaw), an University of Nebraska professor of Applied Indigenous Studies,
serves as Editor of the award winning journal, the American Indian Quarterly and edits University of
Nebraska Press's book series, "Contemporary Indigenous Issues.
* Don Wedll, an American Indian rights activist who is well known throughout the state of
Minnesota.
* Paul Pierce, President of the Anoka County Historical Society and a former member of Anoka,
Minnesota's City Council.
* Kriste Ericsson, renowned Wakan/"Rum" River Watershed enthusiast
who is deeply involved with educating people about Wakan Wakan (Rum River) environmental concerns, recreational activities and
its history.
* Anne Mari Fitzell, a producer of an American Indian news web page.
* American Indian Cultural Research Center, located at South Dakota's Blue Cloud Abbey
* Father James Notebaart, director of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul archdiocesan Indian Ministries
Office.
* Bishop John F. Kinney of the Diocese of Saint Cloud
* Archbishop Harry Flynn of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and Saint Paul
NEW
Supporters who live in towns located on the Wakpa Wakan (Rum River) corridor.
ANOKA
Reverend Mike Van Sloun, Pastor of Saint Stephen Church
Paul Pierce, President of the Anoka County Historical Society and a former member of the Anoka City Council
Virginia Dahlheimer
Tim Dahlheimer
Christopher Hagen
RAMSEY
SAINT FRANCIS
CAMBRIDGE
PRINCTON
MILACA
ONAMIA
* Our geographic name-change proposal has also received support from thirty pastors of Christian
churches located within the Rum River area. In our effort to change the river's name we have found
that there is almost unanimous support for our efforts to change the Rum River's name by Christian
ministers
* And Christina Morris, Field Representative for the MIDWEST OFFICE NATIONAL TRUST For HISTORIC
PRESERVATION sent our director a letter wherein she 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."
Subjects such as multicultural activism, countercultural activism,
the indigenous cultures' influenced globalization movement, and
Native American culture and spirituality have been written about in
articles about our proposal to change the Rum River's derogatory
name.
