News Release
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community
On Tuesday, June 15, 2021, the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community (MMDTC) will declare its sovereignty as a band of Mdewakanton Sioux of Minnesota, and seeks expedited federal recognition, in accordance with President Biden’s encouragement to those bands, tribes, and nations that were originally denied such recognition.
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community Tribal Chairperson, Sharon Lenartson, said, “Federal Recognition will enable our members to have access to services and benefits they’ve been denied for generations, along with someday reclaiming our historic properties. Today is not just a new beginning, but a righteous correction of a miscarriage of justice that started centuries ago.”
Today’s members of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community can trace their ancestors in Mendota back to the mid-1700s. When Lenartson says Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community families can point to specific properties where loved ones grew up for generations, she includes herself. At one time her own family lived in the DuPuis House where the news conference was held. Currently operated by the Minnesota Historical Society, Lenartson and the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community are looking forward to the time when the DuPuis House and the surrounding land is returned to the community.
“While we are a small community with fewer than 200 members, we hold this area as sacred. From Coldwater Springs within the State Park at Ft. Snelling to the land along Hwy 13 as it runs through the town of Mendota, Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community people have kept our Dakota traditions alive for centuries. Today we seek the simple acknowledgement that we exist, we’ve been in Mendota for as long as any people have been here and deserve to be treated accordingly by the governments of the United States and the State of Minnesota.”
For more information, check out the tribe’s website at https://mendotadakota.com/mn/
About Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community is a nonprofit 501C3 organization with more than 125 members in good standing. The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community is dedicated to protecting important and sacred sites and bringing Dakota Oyate (nation) culture back to its birthplace in Minnesota dating back to the mid-1700s. The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community believes they are here to play an important spiritual and cultural role for all people who live here in the land of their ancestors. Follow the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MendotaDakota and Twitter: https://twitter.com/MendotaDakota.
(Image: Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community)
