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Minnesota Native News continues its reporting on legislative , tribal and agency efforts to help women victimized by the sex trade.
February fourteenth is a day dedicated to remembering Missing Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and People. Marches and gatherings happen all around the state, the US, and Canada.
Data reveal the murder rate of American Indian/Alaskan Native women is almost 3 times that of non-Hispanic White women.
And Minnesota is one of the top ten states in the U.S. with the highest case number of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Reporter Leah Lemm attended the solidarity walk in Bemidji.
Marie: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock.
Headlines: February fourteenth is a day dedicated to remembering Missing Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and People. Marches and gatherings happen all around the state, the US, and Canada.
Data reveal the murder rate of American Indian/Alaskan Native women is almost 3 times that of non-Hispanic White women.
And Minnesota is one of the top ten states in the U.S. with the highest case number of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Reporter Leah Lemm attended the solidarity walk in Bemidji.
STORY #1 - MMIW
5 degree temps and snowy, gusting winds didn’t slow down the energy as walkers honored and raised awareness for missing and murdered indigenous relatives in Bemidji.
GOODWIN: This is our third year doing the solidarity March here in Bemidji.
REPORTER: Audrianna Goodwin is one of the co-organizers for the march.
GOODWIN: Since 1492 indigenous women and peoples have been raped, murdered, and kidnapped that astounding rates. About 20, 30 years ago is when these marches first started happening is when indigenous women were like, hey, we're going missing at alarming rates.
So that's when they started organizing on Valentine's Day - to signify the love and to honor the loved ones that are missing and murdered.
REPORTER: Raised above our heads were hand-made signs, red ribbons, and a red dress. We trekked just over half a mile and my winter boots filled with snow.
ANDERSON: It's what we do. It's worth it.
REPORTER: Cindy Anderson worked in the domestic violence and sexual assault field for decades.
ANDERSON: Society tends to not want to spend a lot of time dealing with that. I think it's really important that time and attention is given to the people that lived through that.
REPORTER: And we were there to do just that. After the walk, we collected in the Beaux Arts Ballroom on the Bemidji State University campus. The entire room stood in line to shake the hands, one by one, of those who lost family members.
Among the many being acknowledged was Ramona Dunn.
DUNN: My daughter was murdered in 2011. Kandice Dunn. She was my only daughter, mother of two - little boy and a girl. She used to work for the Leech Lake ambulance. she just started a job there prior.
Her ex boyfriend broke into house, our house and shot. Her kids were in the house.
REPORTER: Kandice was 22 at the time, and Mona was living in Green Bay.
DUNN: When I heard about this, I was almost eight hours away, so that's the longest I ever cried back here.
REPORTER: Mona now cares for and has custody of Kandice’s children.
DUNN: The little boy was just five months old, so I became his mother. But my granddaughter remembers her. She always tells me, Oh, I miss my mom, you know, but she's happy now and she's glad to be with me.
REPORTER: Brian Ibarra moved to Bemidji from Oklahoma in October so this was his first year at the march.
IBARRA: I love it. It's a great way to bring the community together here in Bemidji, which is a great town in a lot of ways. I do find there's a lot of underlying racism in this town, just beneath the surface. And so to have these sorts of gatherings, it's really important to put it all out there.
REPORTER: Brian was also one of the hands I shook that day.
IBARRA: I’m here on behalf of my mother Sandra Henman, who was murdered in 2014 by her boyfriend.
REPORTER: Part of the program was the debut of a new song for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women by Mark R Kingbird Sr. He is a cultural mentor in Red Lake.
[SONG]
KINGBIRD: I was approached to make this song. They wanted a song that was made from someone from our area. I wanted to make a song that lifts people up, and have that powwow style. It gets people in the mood to come out and dance, and to feel good, and to think about these women.
REPORTER: As I leave you with an excerpt of Mark’s composition, I want to thank those who shared their stories with me.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Leah Lemm.
A native film festival has returned to the Walker Art Center for its second year of showcasing film that looks to the past, present and future to tell the stories and truths of native peoples.
MARIE: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock. A native film festival has returned to the Walker Art Center for its second year of showcasing film that looks to
the past, present and future to tell the stories and truths of native peoples.
MISSY WHITEMAN: This year we're, we're picking it up again to continue that legacy and to also acknowledge, you know, that history that native film has here in the twin cities.
MARIE: This week, we sit down with co-curator (and filmmaker) Missy Whiteman to discuss INDI-genesis: GEN2. Here’s reporter Cole Premo.
------
[SCENE SOUND]
It’s an incredibly snowy day, and traffic is picking up outside the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
I meet Missy Whiteman at the art center’s Esker Grove restaurant, set on the first level with large windows facing Loring Park, the entire space glowing from the white snow reflection.
I’m here to talk with Missy Whiteman about the return of a film series that showcases native-made films. But it’s much more than just a film series.
First, an introduction...
MISSY: My name is Missy Whiteman and I belong to the northern Arapaho and Kickapoo nations, northern Arapaho from the wind river reservation in Wyoming. And then kickapoo from Oklahoma.
The 4-week-long INDIgenesis: Gen2 film series begins in mid-February, and features vintage films, like 1923’s The Covered Wagon, as well as new films like 2018’s Falls Around Her, featuring the iconic native actress Tehn-too Cardinal.
I asked her how the films were selected.
MISSY: We don’t necessarily look at the “It” director … We really look at it as, you know, how his film representative of native life and being indigenous and in also like looking at it from a cultural perspective, whether it being a full film like "edge of the knife", which is an entire indigenous language or whether it be, you know, opening night with covered wagon, which you know, is the first western.
Missy Whiteman actually has a deep family connection to The Covered Wagon, which will be presented a bit differently at the film series for the first night.
MISSY: Actually in this film, um, we're weak recontextualizing that film and we're adding a life score to that because that film is closely related to my family. And so I have great grandparents that are in that film that I have direct descendants too. Our family has photographs from that set and so that's going to be a part of the evening.
Aside from powerful feature-length movies, documentaries will play a big part in the film series, including Warrior Women. It tells the story of native mothers and daughters fighting for native rights in the American Indian Movement, also known as AIM.
[FILM SOUND]
The screening is also a chance to honor those Warrior Women.
MISSY: [05:00] It's a large community that's coming to the screening of women and women who are activists and that's an evening for us to have the opportunity to honor them, but to do it in a way that the directors want us to do that. Um, so again, that's a call to our warrior women's to come women's. It's a call to the warrior women of Minnesota to come to the screening and be acknowledged and honored
Minnesota connections abound in the film series, in all categories.
MISSY: We have Levi Corbine, he's actually from the blacks reservation and he produced Shinob 1 and we'll be screening that within native shorts. And then, um, we will also have locally produced films, youth films here we have in progress and we just are adding some of the Little Earth, a youth collective films to the media tech which will run all month long throughout the series in the small little theater next to the main theater near the main lobby.
And while traditional feature-length movies and short films are great, some of the featured projects really push the boundaries of filmmaking. Like, Biidaaban: First Light: An Interactive Virtual Reality Installation.
MISSY: I can't give it away. But it's really about a different realms.
Overall, Missy Whiteman says it’s more than a film series.
It’s about not only teaching native youth the ins-and-outs of filmmaking, but inspiring them to create and tell their own story.
MISSY: It is like everything that I do, everything that I create, whatever it is, it always. This is like the people that came before us, you know, our ancestors and then who's following, you know, those are always what we have in mind and who's going to carry her legacy forward. And that's, you know, our future generations.
The film series begins Feb. 15 and runs for 4 weeks. We couldn’t get to all the projects featured, so check out more on the Walker Art Center’s website. I’m Cole Premo.
Jill Fish is one of the only Native doctoral students in the psychology department at the University of Minnesota. But she doesn’t feel alone, because her work connects her to the Native community. Laurie Stern has more.
This week on Minnesota Native News, we talk to state legislator Mary Kunesh-Podein, who is Dakota, and hear about legislation she introduced to create a task force to address the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Here’s Cole Premo.
INTROS: This week on Minnesota Native News, we talk to state legislator Mary Kunesh-Podein, who is Dakota, and hear about legislation she introduced to create a task force to address the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Here’s Cole Premo.
[VARIOUS NEWS REPORTS]
As awareness of this issue affecting native women and girls continues to grow, so does the support seen in the United States government, particularly here in Minnesota.
The issue is missing and murdered indigenous women. And a new report is calling it a nationwide crisis.
[MORE SOUND]
The report, which was released in late-2018, is from the Urban Indian Health Institute, a Seattle-based tribal epidemiology center.
Some of the staggering figures it highlights is that numbers show murder is the third leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women.
[MUSIC]
There were over 5,700 cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls reported in 2016, but only 116 of them were logged into the Department of Justice database.
In addition to the shocking high numbers of Native women missing or murdered… The study also uncovered great difficulties in accessing data on this type of crime. The UIHI says many records were not provided in a timely manner and law enforcement agencies sometimes provided confusing or incomplete records. Others charged fees the institute did not have the budget to cover.
That means the 506 unique cases it found in its data collection from 71 cities nationwide likely underrepresents the actual figures. And race is often not registered in state crime databases, or it’s misclassified.
Adding to the problem is that many of these stories are not being told in news coverage, the report says only 5 percent of the cases were covered by national or international media.
So, in addition to raising public awareness of the issue, the report makes a plea for fe deral law enforcement to track and report data. And for native people’s voices to be heard.
MARY: [07:52] “it's also very important that the rest of Minnesota and the rest of the country in fact hear these stories ... it's a part of Minnesota and our national history that folks really don't know and don't understand. And it's those personal stories that are going to illustrate the tragedy and the necessity to look at ways to, um, to overcome this whole tragedy of, of what is missing and murdered women.”
That brings us to Minnesota state legislator Mary Kunesh-Podein. She represents District 41B, which includes Columbia Heights, St. Anthony Village and parts of New Brighton. She’s also Dakota and has a personal tie to this issue.
MARY: [07:27] “when I started this, this talking about this task force and people would contact me, mostly women and they tell me their stories and their stories are so heartbreaking and they're generational stories. You know, my grandma, my great grandma, my aunt, my sister, um, and it's really what fuels my fire to do this kind of legislation.”
The task force Kunesh-Podein mentions is a bill she has introduced to the Minnesota legislature. It creates a task force committee that will consist of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
MARY: [13:26] That's part of the task force is to listen to the stories, to listen to what's happening and have an understanding of, of this historical trauma. [13:55] Yeah. And so that's, that's what the listening sessions will be about.
It’s part of a drive, nationwide, to get lawmakers to hear native stories, and native solutions. And it has growing support, including the Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, who is the first Native American woman to serve the position in Minnesota.
MARY: [18:11] I know both she and governor walls mentioned it on their campaign, um, their campaign trail called it out and said how important it is that we study the violations against our indigenous communities. Uh, I know that both of them have personally told me that they support this bill. I will be meeting with the governor, a liaison from the governor later on today to discuss this bill. And so we're, we're very, very optimistic.
Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein hopes to have the senate approve the bill and the bill signed by Feb. 14th, which is the day of the missing and murdered indigenous women's march in Minneapolis.
By the way, there’s much more information in the Urban Indian Health Institute’s study. I only scratched the surface. The study is called “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls, A Snapshot of data from 71 urban cities in the United States.
I’m Cole Premo
American Indian Community Housing Organization hopes to gather community to celebrate spiritual and physical role of nibi – water.
The American Indian Community Housing Organization is hosting the first of a series of events at the new Indigenous Market in Duluth.
Ivy Vainio [VINE-ee-oh] is Art, Climate and Culture Coordinator at AICHO.
She says the Aqua-nibi pop-up on January 31st focuses on the Anishinaabe spiritual and cultural understanding of water.
VAINIO: To put a spotlight on the traditions and the understanding of why Anishinaabe do certain things with ceremony, with songs, with honoring the water will be a part of this. (:11)
There will also be a focus on the physical health benefits of drinking clean water.
AICHO bought the 4th Street Market in the Hillside neighborhood last July.
Over the next two years leaders plan to build an indigenous deli, coffee shop and art gallery in the space.
In the meantime, the organization is hosting a series of pop ups to engage the community.
The events are supported by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Notah Begay [note-uh beg-gay] 3 Foundation.
A cross-cultural group of neighbors talk about the Dakota history of Lake Hiawatha in Minneapolis. How will the conversation impact the redesign of the park?
Lake Hiawatha Park in Minneapolis has a small lake with a beach, a large meadow with trees, and an 18 hole golf course.
The Minneapolis parks board is currently redesigning this space.
And on January 9th, about 60 people - including park officials and community members met to hear about the Dakota history of this land.
NELSON: We started a conversation and we hope to continue it with people and build better relationships with each other and with our environment. (:08)
Denise Nelson is with the Healing Place Collaborative based in the Twin Cities.
And she organized Dakota members of the community to speak at the community meeting.
Ramona Kitto Stately talked about her family’s history here and how it’s often invisible.
Ethan Neerdaels spoke about the history of treaties and Dakota expulsion.
And Samantha Majhor talked about the power of the Dakota language and how it is everywhere — and yet not formally recognized.
The crowed of mostly white neighbors listened and were full of suggestions.
Could park signage be bilingual - in both English and Dakotah?
Could there be landscape elements that are significant to Dakota ways of life?
A representative from the Park Board says this is one of many community meetings that will inform the park board’s plans for the Lake Hiawatha land.
For possibly the first time ever, the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe has convened all 11 Ojibwe and Dakota tribes in Minnesota to protect wild rice in the state. Their three main recommendations are clear – how will state legislators respond?
For possibly the first time ever, the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe has convened all 11 Ojibwe and Dakota tribes in Minnesota to protect wild rice in the state.
Reporter Melissa Townsend has the details.
The coalition came together in response to a statewide wild rice task force Governor Mark Dayton established in 2017.
NORTHBIRD: As a whole, all of the 6 Bands of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe had an issue with it. (:06)
Michael Northbird is the Environmental Program Manager for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
NORTHBIRD: Long story short, it’s because the Governors Task Force on Wild Rice was comprised of industry representatives. And so, those who are meant to be regulated are given influential power over the best interest of the pubic. (:13)
Of the 15 seats on the Governor’s Task Force - 8 were for industry and 3 were for tribes.
So instead of being a part of the Governor’s Task force, Minnestoa Chippewa Tribe leaders created their own.
In their final report released in December, there are a number of recommendations — but three major findings STAND OUT
First, they detail which water quality regulation should be in place?
NORTHBIRD: This law that’s been in place since 1973 should have been enforced all this time and then not only the people of Minnesota but industry themselves would not be at this point. (:11)
That law limits Sulfate to 10 MG/L of water.
It was never enforced and for the past few years there’s been talk of changing the regulation.
The tribes do not want to do that to happen
Another main finding in the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’s report identifies which bodies of water in the state are wild rice waters — where the regulation should be enforced.
It turns out different agencies have different lists.
NORTHBIRD: The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency may not have the same definition or common agreements with the Minnesota DNR as far as what constitutes as a wild rice water. (:23)
The tribal wild rice task force recommends combining all these lists.
The final number of wild rice waters would include more than 2,300 lakes.
The final main point of the tribal report comes from scientific data collected in water throughout the state.
Using this data the report identifies one area where water sulfate levels are the highest -
— it’s around the mines in the northern half of the arrowhead.
Michael Northbird, Environmental Program Manager for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe says he wants this to be clear.
He says there’s been a lot of confusion about whether municipal waste water treatment plants would have to install expensive equipment.
NORTHBIRD: You had a bunch of people that were not going to be affected by any of it. It wasn’t going to cost them or their customers or rate payers any more extra. But they’re showing up at press conferences and making up hypotheticals like who’s to stop someone from saying our little waste pond we built last year is all of a sudden going to grow wild rice and you know what I mean - they did a really good job of building up that fear in people that was just completely unwarranted. (:28)
The report has been delivered to state legislators.
And Michael Northbird the Tribal Wild Rice Task Force hopes they take it seriously.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
A new exhibit of photos provides a look into cultural education programs for Native inmates at Stillwater Prison in the 1960s and 70s.
A new exhibit of photos provides a look into cultural education programs for Native inmates at Stillwater Prison in the 1960s and 70s.
Reporter Melissa Townsend explored the exhibit and has this story.
REPORTER: Well, let’s do an intro of you - do you want to introduce yourself?
BIRD: My name is Eric Bird and I’m archivist and curator at AIM Interpretive Center. (:09)
The center on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis is basically an archive of all things AIM.
BIRD: Yea, the center means to tell the story of the movement from the beginnings from a local anti-police brutality patrol to national and international activism for indigenous people. (:08)
Eric and I are standing in front of a wall of photos - part of the current exhibit called The Great Spirit within “The Hole”.
Each image is from inside Stillwater Prison in the early 1980s where Clyde Bellecourt and Eddie Benton-Banai led a program teaching Native inmates about Ojibwe culture.
They started it in 1962.
BELLECOURT: We had it twice a week, culture program. Every time we had a meeting we started with a drum because that drum was sacred. (:08)
Clyde Bellecourt says many of the men there were hearing these cultural lessons for the very first time.
BELLECOURT: You learn all about the Ojibwe culture and sundances and all that — which we didn’t know nothing about. They don’t teach that in the public and parochial school system. (:10)
Curator Eric Bird describes the photos.
BIRD: Some of the pictures show the walls of the classrooms are full of AIM posters and flyers from the broad so-called Red Power movement and Indian Resistance.
REPORTER: There’s something about it, like - without those pictures, drawings on the walls, they’d be blank right - so it’s a blank space that they then fill with the images that they choose. They are not compromised images right. They’re like, these are drawings we drew, and we are teaching ourselves … like we are creating our image of who we are.
BIRD: mmhmm. (:42)
As a young man in Stillwater prison in the 1960s, - Bellecourt was held in solitary confinement because he wouldn’t follow orders.
For one, he refused to work a prison job.
BELLECOURT: People got their fingers torn off from spinning twine for the state of Minnesota others had their fingers stamped from making license plates. (:11)
But - with the support of the warden — Bellecourt connected with Eddie Benton-Binai.
And the two created a space where they were asked Native inmates to explore their own identities as Native men.
Eric Bird, the curator of the AIM Interpretive Center exhibit says their experience in prison spurred many AIM founders to find power within themselves and a path forward - out of prison.
BIRD: The experience of incarceration is something that’s very important in autobiographies of AIM leaders. I’m thinking of Clyde Bellecourt, Dennis Banks, Eddie Benton-Banai. (:11)
These kinds of cultural education programs are no longer in Minnesota state prisons.
But one man is leading an effort to change that.
John Poupart is lobbying for funding for cultural programs to encourage Native inmates - both men and women - to find the Red Road.
It could ease re-entry into the community and reduce recidivism.
He says he is hopeful that with the first Ojibwe Lieutenant Governor in office — this issue may gain the attention it deserves.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
This week on Minnesota Native News, tribes across the state work together to present a clear path forward to protect wild rice and AICHO in Duluth hosts a pop up event focused on nibi or water.
STORY #1 - WILD RICE REPORT
For possibly the first time ever, the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe has convened all 11 Ojibwe and Dakota tribes in Minnesota to protect wild rice in the state.
Reporter Melissa Townsend has the details.
The coalition came together in response to a statewide wild rice task force Governor Mark Dayton established in 2017.
NORTHBIRD: As a whole, all of the 6 Bands of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe had an issue with it. (:06)
Michael Northbird is the Environmental Program Manager for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
NORTHBIRD: Long story short, it’s because the Governors Task Force on Wild Rice was comprised of industry representatives. And so, those who are meant to be regulated are given influential power over the best interest of the pubic. (:13)
Of the 15 seats on the Governor’s Task Force - 8 were for industry and 3 were for tribes.
So instead of being a part of the Governor’s Task force, Minnestoa Chippewa Tribe leaders created their own.
In their final report released in December, there are a number of recommendations — but three major findings STAND OUT
First, they detail which water quality regulation should be in place?
NORTHBIRD: This law that’s been in place since 1973 should have been enforced all this time and then not only the people of Minnesota but industry themselves would not be at this point. (:11)
That law limits Sulfate to 10 MG/L of water.
It was never enforced and for the past few years there’s been talk of changing the regulation.
The tribes do not want to do that to happen
Another main finding in the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’s report identifies which bodies of water in the state are wild rice waters — where the regulation should be enforced.
It turns out different agencies have different lists.
NORTHBIRD: The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency may not have the same definition or common agreements with the Minnesota DNR as far as what constitutes as a wild rice water. (:23)
The tribal wild rice task force recommends combining all these lists.
The final number of wild rice waters would include more than 2,300 lakes.
The final main point of the tribal report comes from scientific data collected in water throughout the state.
Using this data the report identifies one area where water sulfate levels are the highest -
— it’s around the mines in the northern half of the arrowhead.
Michael Northbird, Environmental Program Manager for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe says he wants this to be clear.
He says there’s been a lot of confusion about whether municipal waste water treatment plants would have to install expensive equipment.
NORTHBIRD: You had a bunch of people that were not going to be affected by any of it. It wasn’t going to cost them or their customers or rate payers any more extra. But they’re showing up at press conferences and making up hypotheticals like who’s to stop someone from saying our little waste pond we built last year is all of a sudden going to grow wild rice and you know what I mean - they did a really good job of building up that fear in people that was just completely unwarranted. (:28)
The report has been delivered to state legislators.
And Michael Northbird the Tribal Wild Rice Task Force hopes they take it seriously.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
?
STORY #2 - Nibi Pop Up in Duluth
The American Indian Community Housing Organization is hosting the first of a series of events at the new Indigenous Market in Duluth.
Ivy Vainio [VINE-ee-oh] is Art, Climate and Culture Coordinator at AICHO.
She says the Aqua-nibi pop-up on January 31st focuses on the Anishinaabe spiritual and cultural understanding of water.
VAINIO: To put a spotlight on the traditions and the understanding of why Anishinaabe do certain things with ceremony, with songs, with honoring the water will be a part of this. (:11)
There will also be a focus on the physical health benefits of drinking clean water.
AICHO bought the 4th Street Market in the Hillside neighborhood last July.
Over the next two years leaders plan to build an indigenous deli, coffee shop and art gallery in the space.
In the meantime, the organization is hosting a series of pop ups to engage the community.
The events are supported by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Notah Begay [note-uh beg-gay] 3 Foundation.
This week on Minnesota Native news we hear about an exhibit that tells the story of how AIM grew out of Stillwater prison, and a cross-cultural group of neighbors talk about the Dakota history of Lake Hiawatha in Minneapolis.
STORY #1 - INCARCERATION EXHIBIT— 3:40
A new exhibit of photos provides a look into cultural education programs for Native inmates at Stillwater Prison in the 1960s and 70s.
Reporter Melissa Townsend explored the exhibit and has this story.
REPORTER: Well, let’s do an intro of you - do you want to introduce yourself?
BIRD: My name is Eric Bird and I’m archivist and curator at AIM Interpretive Center. (:09)
The center on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis is basically an archive of all things AIM.
BIRD: Yea, the center means to tell the story of the movement from the beginnings from a local anti-police brutality patrol to national and international activism for indigenous people. (:08)
Eric and I are standing in front of a wall of photos - part of the current exhibit called The Great Spirit within “The Hole”.
Each image is from inside Stillwater Prison in the early 1980s where Clyde Bellecourt and Eddie Benton-Banai led a program teaching Native inmates about Ojibwe culture.
They started it in 1962.
BELLECOURT: We had it twice a week, culture program. Every time we had a meeting we started with a drum because that drum was sacred. (:08)
Clyde Bellecourt says many of the men there were hearing these cultural lessons for the very first time.
BELLECOURT: You learn all about the Ojibwe culture and sundances and all that — which we didn’t know nothing about. They don’t teach that in the public and parochial school system. (:10)
Curator Eric Bird describes the photos.
BIRD: Some of the pictures show the walls of the classrooms are full of AIM posters and flyers from the broad so-called Red Power movement and Indian Resistance.
REPORTER: There’s something about it, like - without those pictures, drawings on the walls, they’d be blank right - so it’s a blank space that they then fill with the images that they choose. They are not compromised images right. They’re like, these are drawings we drew, and we are teaching ourselves … like we are creating our image of who we are.
BIRD: mmhmm. (:42)
As a young man in Stillwater prison in the 1960s, - Bellecourt was held in solitary confinement because he wouldn’t follow orders.
For one, he refused to work a prison job.
BELLECOURT: People got their fingers torn off from spinning twine for the state of Minnesota others had their fingers stamped from making license plates. (:11)
But - with the support of the warden — Bellecourt connected with Eddie Benton-Binai.
And the two created a space where they were asked Native inmates to explore their own identities as Native men.
Eric Bird, the curator of the AIM Interpretive Center exhibit says their experience in prison spurred many AIM founders to find power within themselves and a path forward - out of prison.
BIRD: The experience of incarceration is something that’s very important in autobiographies of AIM leaders. I’m thinking of Clyde Bellecourt, Dennis Banks, Eddie Benton-Banai. (:11)
These kinds of cultural education programs are no longer in Minnesota state prisons.
But one man is leading an effort to change that.
John Poupart is lobbying for funding for cultural programs to encourage Native inmates - both men and women - to find the Red Road.
It could ease re-entry into the community and reduce recidivism.
He says he is hopeful that with the first Ojibwe Lieutenant Governor in office — this issue may gain the attention it deserves.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.
STORY #2 — (1:24)
Lake Hiawatha Park in Minneapolis has a small lake with a beach, a large meadow with trees, and an 18 hole golf course.
The Minneapolis parks board is currently redesigning this space.
And on January 9th, about 60 people - including park officials and community members met to hear about the Dakota history of this land.
NELSON: We started a conversation and we hope to continue it with people and build better relationships with each other and with our environment. (:08)
Denise Nelson is with the Healing Place Collaborative based in the Twin Cities.
And she organized Dakota members of the community to speak at the community meeting.
Ramona Kitto Stately talked about her family’s history here and how it’s often invisible.
Ethan Neerdaels spoke about the history of treaties and Dakota expulsion.
And Samantha Majhor talked about the power of the Dakota language and how it is everywhere — and yet not formally recognized.
The crowed of mostly white neighbors listened and were full of suggestions.
Could park signage be bilingual - in both English and Dakotah?
Could there be landscape elements that are significant to Dakota ways of life?
A representative from the Park Board says this is one of many community meetings that will inform the park board’s plans for the Lake Hiawatha land.
