http://www.nps.gov/history/nagpra/

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Brad is a amazing man, without him we would have no website. I can call him and he’s there to help. He never hears thank you, because he does everything behind the scenes. So I want to say a BIG Thank You to Brad from the Mendota members, and from all of the people who have come to our site. Sharon

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Respected elder and teacher Ona Kingbird passed away on January 19th, 2010. She was surrounded with family and friends at the time of her passing.

Ona was a respected teacher of Ojibwe language & culture for many years in various Minnesota schools, primarily working with Native youth through her many years at Heart of the Earth Survival School. She always loved working with young people and referred to all of her students as “my kids”.

Visitation will be held at the Mpls. American Indian Center located on 1530 E. Franklin Ave. The wake will begin on Thursday, January 21st at 3pm and will continue until Friday, January 22nd at 8am. She will then be transported back to the Red Lake Reservation village of Ponemah. Wake and burial services will continue at the Ponemah Community Center with funeral services being held on Sunday, January 24th, 2010.

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The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community would like to invite you to become a member.
Whether or not you are Dakota, you can be a vital part of our community. Individual, educational, and corporate memberships are available.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Marie Winona Nordin

Member of the Santee Sioux Nation of Nebraska Age 97 Passed away peacefully on December 31, 2009 with family around her. Preceded in death by her husband, Theodore Nordin; daughter, Clarice Gombold (Jerry); son, Theodore Nordin Jr. (Kathy); and grand-children, Jerry Brunkhorst & Jerry Stanley. Survived by 5 children, Donna Schweitzberger Freeman (Del), Yvonne Taylor (Duane), Roxanne Hop (Bob), Connie Blaisdell (Alvin), & Wayne Nordin (Mary); numerous grandchildren; great-grandchildren; and great-great grandchildren. Marie was a proud and wonderful woman. She was very much loved and respected by friends and family and will be greatly missed. MEMORIAL MASS 11 AM., Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at THE CHURCH OF ST. PETER, 1405 Sibley Mem’l Hwy.; Mendota. GATHERING OF FAMILY & FRIENDS one-hour prior to the Mass at church. Inurnment Resurrection Cemetery. Memorials preferred to the Wilder Foundation. 651-457-6200

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The volunteer treasurer job is still open. The hours are about 2 hours a week. Or you could come in every two weeks. It is really up to you, we will work around your schedule. The last Tuesday of the month is the voting membership meeting at 7:00pm that you need to attend. Maybe 10 or 12 hours a month. You will have a key so you can come when you want. If interested please call the office. 651-452-4141.

Your Tribal Council.

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CROW CREEK RESERVATION, Friday, December 11, 2009—Brandon Sazue’s camper sitting in the middle of the prairie presented a lonely but inspiring image as we drove up Wednesday afternoon.  Despite the bitter cold and wind, the young Crow Creek tribal chairman was taking a stand against the United States theft of any more Dakota lands, telling us “Crow Creek land is not for sale, and it never will be.”

Symbolically placing his camper under a wind data tower, Sazue has committed to remain on this parcel of land as long as it takes to achieve justice.  The land is part of the 7,112 acres recently stolen by the United States government in what amounts to a 21^st century land grab.  Because the land is not currently held in trust, on December 4, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service used that as an opportunity to claim it and auction it off as a means to settle what they assert is a delinquent $3,123,790 tax bill.  Though most of the Crow Creek reservation is situated within the poorest county in the United States, the land under dispute happens to contain world-class sites for the harnessing of wind power.  As the world’s fossil fuels dwindle and alternative energy sources are increasingly sought after, Crow Creek lands also become increasingly more attractive to outside interests.  Whoever develops the site for wind-energy stands to make a fortune.  This connection is not lost on Chairman Sazue.

Anyone who understands the history of the Dakota people since invasion and conquest cannot help but be stunned by this attack on the tribal lands of people who have already suffered so much.  After the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, the U.S. federal government and the State of Minnesota initiated polices of genocide and ethnic cleansing against Dakota people in our beloved homeland.  White Minnesotans hanged thirty-eight Dakota warriors, rounded-up and force-marched our populations to concentration camps in Mankato and Fort Snelling, then forcibly removed us from Minnesota to fulfill Governor Alexander Ramsey’s genocidal call for extermination or forced removal.  Dakota people were loaded onto boats that went down the Mississippi River and then up the Missouri River on a journey that was so horrendous, a missionary at the time compared it to the Middle Passage of the slaves.  Under gun and bayonet, our ancestors were brought to Crow Creek in 1863.  Thus, Crow Creek began as a concentration camp.

The trauma to Dakota people only continued there.  Within the first few months of arrival at Crow Creek, hundreds of Dakota people died from the dreadful conditions.  In fact, the missionary John P. Williamson wrote “Nearly all the small children died in 1863.”  The heartbreak from those events are still felt today.  The people of Crow Creek live with that legacy, as do the rest of us with ancestors who were subjugated on these lands.  After 1862, the United States government left our people with so little.  Now, even what little we have is under attack again.

Sazue’s stand in defense of the land is a rallying cry to the rest of the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) of the Dakota Oyate (Nation).  Though fierce winter weather has so far kept supporters from camping out next to Sazue, a steady stream of allies offering prayers, songs, food, supplies and encouragement continues throughout each day and even more people show their solidarity through phone calls and emails.  We know more of our people will be coming.  Like Chairman Brandon Sazue, we will not allow these lands to be taken.  We will stand with him.

Waziyatawin, Ph.D.

waziyatawin@gmail.com

Crow Creek Supporters:

In addition to your presence and prayers, we need supplies at the encampment site.  The first objective at the site is staying warm.  We need people to help cut, haul or donate wood to keep a fire going, lumber for building windbreaks and shelters, sandbags, blankets, sleeping bags (especially those made for below 0 temperatures), hats, scarves, mittens, boots, tarps and tipis.

Oceti Sakowin and other Indigenous relatives, please bring flags from your communities to show solidarity with the Crow Creek Oyate.  Everyone bring banners—7,100 acres is a lot of ground on which to maintain our presence.

In addition, we need food, flashlights, cookware, tools (shovels, axes, saws), concrete blocks, matches, and water containers.

We also need people who have other gifts to encourage these resistors to U.S. land theft.  Drummers and singers, your presence and support would be most welcome.

Supporters may stay in the tribal hall.  Please bring your own bedding and linens.  Showers will be available at the motel.

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Please go to the website below on highlighted area and sign the petition to support Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, the IRS auctioned off 7100 acres of land to a local rancher, this land belongs to the Hunkpati Crow Creek.  Thank you for your support

“Crow Creek Sioux Land is NOT For Sale” hosted on the web by our free online petition service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CrowCrek/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

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By MATTHEW DALY , Associated Press

Last update: December 8, 2009 – 6:55 PM
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WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed spending more than $3 billion to settle claims dating back more than a century that American Indian tribes were swindled out of royalties for oil, gas, grazing and other leases.

Under an agreement announced Tuesday, the Interior Department would distribute $1.4 billion to more than 300,000 Indian tribe members to compensate them for historical accounting claims, and to resolve future claims. The government also would spend $2 billion to buy back and consolidate tribal land broken up in previous generations. The program would allow individual tribe members to obtain cash payments for land interests divided among numerous family members and return the land to tribal control.

The settlement also would create a scholarship account of up to $60 million for tribal members to attend college or vocational school.

If cleared by Congress and a federal judge, the settlement would be the largest Indian claim ever approved against the U.S. government — exceeding the combined total of all previous settlements of Indian claims.

Last year, a federal judge ruled that the Indian plaintiffs are entitled to $455 million, a fraction of the $47 billion or more the tribes have said they are owed for leases that have been overseen by the Interior Department since 1887.

President Barack Obama said settlement of the case, known as Cobell v. Salazar, was an important step to reconcile decades of acrimony between Indian tribes and the federal government.

“As a candidate, I heard from many in Indian Country that the Cobell suit remained a stain on the nation-to-nation relationship I value so much,” Obama said Tuesday in a written statement. “I pledged my commitment to resolving this issue, and I am proud that my administration has taken this step today.”

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called settlement of the 13-year-old case a top priority for him and Obama and said the administration worked for many months to reach a settlement that is both honorable and responsible.

“This historic step will allow Interior to move forward and address the educational, law enforcement, and economic development challenges we face in Indian Country,” Salazar said.

Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe from Montana who was the lead plaintiff in the case, called the proposed settlement crucial for hundreds of thousand of Native Americans who have suffered for more than a century through mismanagement of the Indian trust.

“Today is a monumental day for all of the people in Indian Country that have waited so long for justice,” said Cobell, who appeared at a news conference Tuesday with Salazar, Attorney General Eric Holder and other U.S. officials.

“Did we get all the money that was due us? Probably not,” Cobell said, but added: “There’s too many individual Indian beneficiaries that are dying every single day without their money.”

The proposed settlement affects tribes across the country, including virtually every recognized tribe west of the Mississippi River. Tribes in North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Montana are especially affected by the breakup of Indian land into small parcels, said Keith Harper, a lawyer who represents the plaintiffs.

The settlement would give every Indian tribe member with an Interior Department account an immediate check for $1,000, with additional payments to be determined later under a complicated formula that takes into account a variety of factors. Many tribe members also would receive payments for parcels of land that are held in some cases by up to 100 family members, in an effort to consolidate tribal land and make it more useful and easier to manage.

The settlement does not include a formal apology for any wrongdoing by the U.S. government, but does contain language in which U.S. officials acknowledge a “breach of trust” on Indian land issues.

An apology “would have been nice,” Cobell said, but was less important than settling the dispute. “Actions are more important to me than apologies,” she said.

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On the Net:

Cobell settlement Web site: http://www.cobellsettlement.com/

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