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Wonderful video of Jim Anderson discussing the desecration of sacred Native Sites including burial mounds. ending with a lone sad flute playing while he reads his poem entitled “Genocide”

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http://www.mendotadakota.com/hoipate/Jim_Anderson_Coldwater.avi

Jim Anderson, (Red Sky) of the Mendota Dakota Mdewakanton Community discusses the importance of the sacred “Cold Water” in Pike Island (big island) Minnesota.  This starts out in native language and then in English.  Very Interesting.

This is a large file, It may take a long time to download, especial if you have a slow connection. RIGHT CLICK HERE and select “SAVE TARGET AS”

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Why not ask the Indians what happens when you don’t control immigration!

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE

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“REZ BLUES 2006″

Recorded live at Ringside Cafe, in St. Pete, Florida. 2006. Sylvia A. Duquet, Videographer/Tam
bourine…..Chaska Denny, Slide Guitar…Curt H. St. Cyr, Harmonica Alvon Griffin,
Percussionist…This was unrehearsed and impromptu, with words and music made up on the spot

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History of Maple Sugar and Maple Syrup

Once a staple of American life, the sweet products of the maple tree are now specialty items. Over the years, the price of cane sugar fell dramatically, and now cane sugar is the variety most Americans use every day. The popularity of maple syrup keeps Vermont sugarhouses going. As anyone who has ever tasted it knows, genuine maple syrup has a taste and texture that the imitations just cannot match. (In Quebec, cheap imitation maple syrup is called "sirop de poteau" or "pole syrup", suggesting that it was made by tapping telephone poles. We couldn’t agree more.)

Here is an interesting article on the making "Zeezibahkwat" or Maple Syrup

also called "Ziinzibaakwad" and "Sinzibukwud"

Please click the photos below to enlarge

 

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The Reservation tribal headquarters is located five miles south of Granite Falls, Minnesota, on the Minnesota River in Yellow Medicine County. The reservation is 115 miles west of Minneapolis.

History

This land we call Pejuhutazizi Kapi (The place where they dig for yellow medicine) has been the homeland for our people, the Dakota Oyate (Nation), for thousands of years. We have always occupied this area bordering the Minnesota River Valley, with the exception of a short period of time in the late 1800’s following the US/Dakota Conflict of 1862. At that time they were either exterminated, forcibly moved to reservation elsewhere, or fled to avoid harm.

Many Dakota died during that difficult time. Some of those who survived the forced removal defied

the State and Federal Governments be not remaining on the assigned reservations located outside of Minnesota, but rather chose to return to our ancient homelands in the Minnesota River Valley.

In 1938, 746 acres of original Dakota lands in Minnesota were returned to our people, and the Upper Sioux Indian Community came into existence. Provisions for governing the Upper Sioux Indian Community were adopted, and a Board of Trustees was elected to carry out the responsibilities identified in these Provisions. In 1995, the Provisions were modified and the governing document in now called the Constitution of the Upper Sioux Community.

Since its formal designation as an Indian community, Upper Sioux has struggled with poverty, substandard housing, inadequate health care, and the subtleties of racism. Tribal leaders continually strived to improve the standard of living and the quality of life on the reservation. The population was small, and Upper Sioux’s share of program monies from the federal government was minimal, yet elected tribal leaders still managed to provide the “bare-bones” programs in housing, health care, and education.  Through the 1970’s and 80’s, conditions improved very little despite many vocal supporters, both Indian and non-Indian, and we continued to struggle for survival on our small tract of land along the Minnesota River.

In the late 1980’s the legal standing of tribes as a sovereign nations had been acknowledged in the highest federal courts. In 1990, following these court decisions, the Upper Sioux Community did as many other tribes had done—we exercised our rights as a sovereign nations to capitalize on a financial opportunity by building and opening Firefly Creek Casino.

In the years since, our business has helped to revitalize and energize the Upper Sioux Community, allowing us an opportunity to obtain economic independence. Through obtaining an additional 654 acres of Dakota ancestral lands, the community can work towards meeting the growing demands of an increasing population, now at 482.  We are finding ways to preserve our dignity, our culture and our traditions, free from the burden of meeting basic survival needs.

More Information

Upper Sioux website: http://www.uppersiouxcommunity-nsn.gov

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The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community, a federally-recognized Native American tribe, issued the following news release:

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has awarded a $1 million grant to the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe for renovation of the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino. The Lodge was first built in 1974. The first phase of the work will include the lodge and its lobby area. The second phase may include renovations to the casino itself.

“The whole community here really appreciates that Shakopee helped us. Some of these projects would not come to be without their assistance. This really fits into our long-term goal of improving Grand Portage into a destination point for travelers,” said Grand Portage Chairman Norman W. Deschampe.

“Our Community supports tribal economic development. The Grand Portage Band has a great project here, and we are pleased to help it along,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks.

The Grand Portage Reservation, established in 1854 by treaty with the United States government, is one of six Ojibwe (Chippewa) reservations that comprise the federally recognized Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. The reservation lies along 18 miles of Lake Superior’s coast and consists of forested mountains, thriving wildlife, the inland sea of Lake Superior, and cliffside corridors. Grand Portage is as close to Canada as it is to the nearest town. The reservation also features the reconstructed Grand Portage National Monument, a fur trade fort of the 1700s. The Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe has 1,198 band members.

In 2003 the SMSC awarded Grand Portage a $1.5 million economic development grant for a new, modern trading post and convenience store on Highway 61 in front of Grand Portage Lodge and Casino in northeastern Minnesota.

Out of cultural and social traditions to assist those in need, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has become a leader in promoting tribal sovereignty through economic development grants and loans. Already in fiscal year 2005, the SMSC has awarded economic development grants of $1 million each to the Yankton Sioux Tribe (South Dakota), the Lower Sioux Community (Minnesota), the Santee Sioux Nation (Nebraska); the Ponca Tribe (Nebraska); the Upper Sioux Community (Minnesota), and the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa (Minnesota).

Other major SMSC donations this fiscal year include: $750,000 to the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation; $500,000 to United Sioux Tribes Technical College; $350,000 to the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe; $250,000 to the Bennett County Activity Center for a district of the Pine Ridge Reservation; $250,000 to the Minneapolis American Indian Center; $250,000 to the Cheyenne River Youth Project; $150,000 to the Yankton Sioux Tribe; and $50,000 to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

In fiscal year 2004, the SMSC donated more than $10.27 million to charitable organizations and Indian Tribes. Over the past six years the SMSC has donated more than $42 million to charitable organizations and Indian Tribes. The SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and nongaming enterprises to pay for all of the internal infrastructure of the Tribe, including but not limited to housing, roads, water and sewer systems, emergency services, and essential services to its Tribal members in education, health, and welfare. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a federally recognized Indian Tribe in Minnesota is the owner and operator of Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Little Six Casino, Playworks, Dakotah! Sport and Fitness, and other enterprises on the reservation south of the Twin Cities.

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Master Sgt.Woodrow Wilson Keeble receives award posthumously
WASHINGTON – A Sioux warrior received overdue recognition from the president of the United States.

On March 3, Army Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson ”Woody” Keeble, who passed away nearly 26 years ago, became one of a select few to receive the Medal of Honor during an overflowing White House ceremony packed with tribal dignitaries, military leaders and proud family members. Keeble is believed to be the first Native person of full Sisseton-Wahpeton ancestry to be given the award.
While American Indians as a group have long been recognized as having an above-average commitment to serving in the American armed services, fewer than 10 individual Indians have received the Medal of Honor, the highest award for valor bestowed by the American government for action against an enemy force.
A pride-filled Russell Hawkins, Keeble’s stepson who is also of Sisseton-Wahpeton descent, was in attendance in the East Room to accept the medal from an apologetic President George W. Bush. Also in attendance were Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, as well as South Dakota Sens. Tim Johnson and John Thune, Democrat and Republican, respectively; Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D.; and former South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow, a Republican.
Bush admitted openly that the recognition of Keeble’s courageous acts during the Korean War should have been bestowed many years ago – long before Keeble’s death in 1982. However, due to a series of bureaucratic blunders, and perhaps racism, the president said the honor did not come until this year.
”On behalf of our grateful nation, I deeply regret that this tribute comes decades too late,” Bush said at the ceremony. ”Woody will never hold this medal in his hands or wear it on his uniform. He will never hear a president thank him for his heroism. He will never stand here to see the pride of his friends and loved ones, as I see in their eyes now.”
Bush described the long time it took the military man to be recognized as a ”terrible injustice,” but added that Keeble ”believed America was the greatest nation on Earth, even when it made mistakes.”
Keeble’s family and friends explained after the ceremony that tribal members and politicians from the Dakota region had long been pushing for Keeble’s strategic military efforts during the Korean War to be properly recognized.
In October 1951, Keeble saved the lives of fellow American soldiers by fending off several Chinese enemies on a steep hill, while he himself was wounded as a result of two rifle shots to the arm and a grenade exploding near his face.
”Soldiers watched in awe as Woody single-handedly took out one machine gun nest, and then another,” Bush recalled during the ceremony. ”When Woody was through, all 16 enemy soldiers were dead, the hill was taken, and the Allies won the day.”
Keeble, who was known by his fellow soldiers as ”Chief,” first saw intense combat during World War II, for which he earned his first Bronze Star and the first of his four Purple Hearts. An athletic man, Keeble was being recruited by the Chicago White Sox before he was first called to duty. Later, with Keeble’s opportunity to play professional baseball having passed, he returned to service as a master sergeant.
”There were terrible moments that encompassed a lifetime, an endlessness, when terror was so strong in me, that I could feel idiocy replace reason,” Keeble once said of his service, according to the Army. ”Yet, I have never left my position, nor have I shirked hazardous duty. Fear did not make a coward out of me.”
Army men twice recommended that Keeble receive the Medal of Honor in the 1950s, but their applications were apparently lost by the military both times. When family members tried to renew the effort to get Keeble his award in the 1970s, they were told by Pentagon officials that the legal deadline had passed. He was instead given the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest commendation.
Later, family members renewed their attempts, but were told that it would take an act of Congress for Keeble to receive the award. After many pleas from tribal members, the four current U.S. senators from North Dakota and South Dakota introduced legislation to award Keeble the medal. President Bush ultimately signed the legislation in 2007, which paved the way for the Department of Defense to recognize Keeble’s bravery.
”Master Sgt. Keeble’s family first contacted me in 2002 and I have been fighting ever since to get him the recognition he deserves,” Johnson said in a statement. ”The Keeble family, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, and all the people of the Dakotas today have reason to celebrate and remember his service and valor.”
Kurt Bluedog, a great-nephew to Keeble, said after the ceremony that he’d like to believe that racism wasn’t involved in his uncle’s slow-to-come recognition, adding, ”I think this kind of thing happens more often than we think.”
Hawkins also discounted racism, saying that he didn’t think Keeble would have said the missing papers were a case of discrimination. ”He didn’t see racial colors,” Hawkins said. ”He didn’t see racial barriers.”
Family members now plan to display the Medal of Honor in a public place, such as a museum or the North Dakota National Guard armory. They hope it will be viewed as a symbol of pride for the Sisseton-Wahpeton people, as well as all American Indians.
Hawkins said he accepted Bush’s word that the ceremony was an attempt to ‘’set things right” and that his stepfather knew that he had ”done right.”
After his service in Korea, Keeble returned to North Dakota, where he worked as a counselor until suffering a series of strokes. Living in poverty in his later years, he was forced to pawn all of his military medals. He died in 1982 at age 65 and is buried in Sisseton, S.D.
During the White House ceremony, a chair decorated with an Army uniform once worn by Keeble was displayed prominently beside a chair bestowing the red shawl of his late wife, Blossom Iris Crawford-Hawkins.

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