LETTER TO EDITOR RE:
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND 2008,
THE 150TH BIRTHDAY OF MINNESOTA AS A STATE
Hau Mitakuyapi. Owasin cantewasteye nape ciyuzapi do! “Hello my relatives. With a good heart, I greet all of you with a handshake!” Anpetu kin de taku epe wacin. “On this day, I wish to say something.”
As many of you already know, 2008 is the 150th birthday of Minnesota as a state. I can hear the Euro-Minnesotans saying how great Minnesota is and how they and their ancestors made the state great! And, I am not sure what role, if any, the Indigenous Peoples of Minnesota will play in the wasicu (“white man”) telling of the story.
They, certainly, will not be telling the truth about what happened to the Dakota People of Minnesota. They will not talk about the massive land theft, the breaking of Dakota treaties, the genocide of the Dakota People of Mini Sota Makoce, “the land where the waters reflect the skies, or heavens,” the warfare, the suppression of Indigenous spirituality and ceremonies, the suppression of Native languages through their residential boarding schools, the bounties on Dakota People, the mass executions, the two concentration camps, forced marches, and forcible removal, or “ethnic cleansing,” etc.
What I wish to tell you concerns the Minnesota Historical Society and my negative attitude toward the MHS, both professionally and personally. I wish to tell you all about two incidents, specifically. Both incidents involve human remains.
Back in 1987, the 125th anniversary of the 1862 event, my committee, the Dakota Studies Committee, planned, raised funds, organized, and coordinated a series of wonderful events to commemorate the 125th anniversary. At one of the events, the Symposium on Dakota Treaties at the Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota, I was told by the then State Archaeologist that the Minnesota Historical Society had 40 boxes of human remains, 100 of Black Dog’s villagers, in their possession at the Ft. Snelling Historical site. She told me that she would like to see them re-buried. At the time, the MHS top leaders were saying that “we have no human remains in our official inventory.” The operative word was “official.” In other words, in their “unofficial” inventory, they had human remains.
It was my feeling that I, too, wished to see the remains re-buried. The State Archaeologist knew how I would react – that I would call right away to find out if this was indeed true, viz., the MHS having human Dakota remains in their possession.
I was told this bit of information on Saturday of the symposium. The following Monday, I made a telephone call to someone I knew who worked at the Ft. Snelling site. When I mentioned to this person what I had heard, this person said, “Oh no, we have no human remains in our possession.” So, then, I realized that the middle and bottom levels of MHS personnel were parroting what the MHS administration told them to say. Anyway, this person said, “I will check on it.” The next morning, on Tuesday, this person told me that a truck was being loaded with the 40 boxes of the bones of Black Dog’s villagers. The remains were taken to the State Archaeologist’s office. What the state archaeologist conveniently forgot to tell me was the fact that she and her staff wanted to study the remains first before they would be re-buried. The State Archaeologist had used me to accomplish her ends.
I did write a letter to a Mr. Rothchild, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the MHS, and indicated my displeasure and lack of appreciation for their lying about saying they had no human remains, when they did have human remains in their possession. I quoted a verse from the Bible, from the New Testament, to them. The verse (Matthew 23: 27) was a statement from Jesus when he was rebuking the Pharisees, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” I was rather proud of myself for coming up with that Bible verse.
However, I did find out, rather emphatically, that the good Christian white folk do not like a savage quoting scriptures to them, especially when it was so appropriate and so true (viz., “full of dead men’s bones”). Mr. Rothchild wrote a letter to me saying several things. Among them was his statement that he found my rhetoric “inflammatory” and that he had instructed Nina Archabal, the MHS Director, to have no further communication with me. So, since that time, 1987, I have had no communication or dealings with the MHS. I am persona non grata. However, Nina Archabal is, also, still, under orders to not communicate with me.
My present position is that I will have no further dealings or interactions with the MHS until their Chairman of the Board of Trustees instructs and allows the MHS Director and staff to have contact, communication, and a working relationship with me. I do not see that happening in my lifetime.
So, that is one incident.
The second incident involves the remains of Little Crow. As many of you know, Little Crow, the principal leader of the war efforts against the wasicu in 1862, was killed in July of 1863. Little Crow was not buried until 1971, 108 years later. In the meantime, a number of gruesome things happened to the remains. The next day was 4th of July, and the good Christian white folk of Hutchinson, Minnesota placed firecrackers in every orifice of Little Crow’s body and exploded them. In this macabre manner these Euro-Minnesotans celebrated their Independence Day. The MHS continued to act in a morbid manner. They kept Little Crow’s remains, displayed them at the State Capitol, and resisted calls from family members and relatives to return the remains since 1900, and perhaps even before that time.
A number of us Dakota members of the Dakota Studies Committee, along with some non-Dakota allies, signed and sent a letter to the MHS asking them to apologize to the family and relatives of Little Crow and to the Dakota People of Minnesota for the shameful and disrespectful treatment of the remains of Little Crow, and for keeping the remains for 108 years before they were finally re-buried.. In their comfortable, colonialist, and privileged status, the MHS did not apologize. I suspect they felt no need to apologize, that to apologize was beneath them. Instead, they offered “regrets.”
That, then, is the second incident.
The last thing I wish to comment upon is the role of the Minnesota Historical Society as the keeper of the “master narrative” of the history of the state of Minnesota. They decide what should be said and not said. They determine who the heroes are and who the villains are. They control what terms and phrases are appropriate and what are inappropriate. Instead of the point of view of the people whose lands were stolen, they have the point of view of the people stole the lands. Instead of the perspective of the people whose treaties were violated, they represent the point of view of the people who violated the treaties. Instead of speaking from the point of view of the people who were the victims of genocide, they speak from the point of view of the people who perpetrated the genocide.
So, the MHS will determine that Ramsey and Sibley are heroes and great men while the Dakota will say that these men were Genocidaires, the perpetrators of genocide of the Dakota People of Minnesota. Instead of using phrases like “massive land theft,” the MHS will use terms and phrases such as “settlement,” “expansion,” “manifest destiny,” etc. Instead of using phrases/terms like “ethnic cleansing” or “dispossession,” they will emphasize how the Dakota People were in the way of progress and civilization and needed to be removed from the path of God’s chosen people.
In conclusion, these are some of the issues that will be points of contention between the Minnesota Historical Society, along with the Euro-Minnesotan citizenry, and the Dakota People. It is my belief that the truth needs to be told and acknowledged about what really happened not only in the state of Minnesota but also in the country. The Dakota People will need the help of our Indigenous brothers and sisters here in the state of Minnesota as well as the help of our non-Native brothers and sisters in order to accurately recount the history of the past 150 years. May they not continue to be another 150 years of lies, arrogance, hypocrisy, white supremacy, greed, suppression, and corruption.
Chris Mato Nunpa, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Indigenous Nations & Dakota Studies (INDS)
Southwest Minnesota State University
Marshall, Minnesota 56258
507-537-6118 (o)
“ matonunpa@southwestmsu.edu “
“ matonunpa@earthlink.net “
Dakota, Wahpetunwan (“Dwellers In the Leaves”)
Pezihuta Zizi Otunwe (“Yellow Medicine Community”) or
Upper Sioux Community
Granite Falls, Minnesota 56241
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