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Preserving, Protecting and Promoting the Dakota Culture for Future Generations

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Hello to those acting in solidarity with the Dakota Nation:

FORWARD ON to networks, listserves, allies, people– local and beyond! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Hello to those acting in solidarity with the Dakota Nation:

I’m writing to ask you for your solidarity in the struggle to return Coldwater Springs to the Dakota Nation.  Please sign the petition linked below, and post a comment on the national park website. These two – minute gestures, if widespread, will help to illustrate the power and support behind Dakota communities as they struggle to have regain this particularly sacred part of their ancestral homelands.

Background and Updates on the Coldwater situation: Coldwater springs is the most sacred place on earth to the Dakota people. It is the site of the Dakota genesis story. It is also the site of the genocidal concentration camp that followed the US – Dakota war of 1862. This land has been fenced off, polluted, scattered with abandoned buildings for many many years, under holding by the Department of the Interior : Bureau of mines. Now, finally, the bureau of mines is going to clean up and transfer the land out of their possession. The National Park Service is trying to take over the land, with interest in turning it into a tourist attraction and “historic site.” Dakota people and their allies see this as a further act of colonization within a long history of genocide and the violent domination of Dakota land, people, culture and history. If the National Park gains control of the land, the Dakota will not have access to the site on their own terms. Dakota people have been denied the ability to hold ceremony on this most sacred site since colonization, and if the Park service takes the land, this denial and colonization will be reaffirmed once again.

On February 23rd, Dakota people took over the “community” meeting set up by the Park Board to marginalize Dakota voice. There is a one-month comment period following this meeting, in which (you!) allies to Dakota people are strongly encouraged to let the NPS hear their opinions.

Here, with our voices, we can send a message to the government that the Dakota Nation stands strong with many allies. There will be future opportunities to continually show solidarity in other ways, but for now, please sign the petition below, and post a comment on the National Park Service website, linked below. On the NPS website, please make sure to mention:

– Restoration of Coldwater Springs means restoration of Dakota rights to the land
– The federal government must clean up the land before returning it to the Dakota

To sign the petition to get the site returned:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/return-coldwater-springs-to-the-dakota

File a public comment with the National Park Service:
http://www.nps.gov/MWR/sendmail.htm?o=11HS%28J%2A%2B%3AH%3BJ%3BFQV%5FZEFLHE%20%20%0A&r=/miss/parkmgmt/bomcurr.htm

Thank You!