Members of the Dakota diaspora take back land at Fort Snelling, Congressional Reps Omar and Craig question the lack of detainees at the Whipple Building, and the US Men’s Olympic Hockey team copies the US Women’s team — taking gold over Canada.
Transcript
I’M XAN HOLSTON WITH STATE HEADLINES FROM THE WEEKEND. A NEW PRAYER CAMP AT FORT SNELLING IS PART OF THE GROWING LAND BACK MOVEMENT — WHERE TRIBAL NATIONS ARE DEMANDING THE RETURN OF ANCESTRAL LANDS AND RECOGNITION OF TREATY RIGHTS.
--BDÓTE PRAYER CAMP--
DAKOTA PEOPLE AND ALLIES SAY THEY ARE TAKING BACK SPACE AT MNI OWE SNI — ALSO KNOWN AS COLDWATER SPRING — NEAR FORT SNELLING.
THEY’RE CALLING ON STATE AND FEDERAL OFFICIALS — INCLUDING THE GOVERNOR AND CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATIONS — TO VISIT THE CAMP AND ENGAGE DIRECTLY.
ONE CAMP MEMBER — JOE, A PIIKANI BLACKFOOT — SAYS SO FAR, NONE HAVE.
[JOE: THE FACTS ARE THAT NO REPRESENTATIVE HAS WALKED INTO THIS CAMP YET, THAT NO SENATOR, NO, NO, NOBODY'S WALKED INTO THIS CAMP TO PARLAY AN UNDERSTANDING.]
A GROWING CLUSTER OF YURTS, TENTS AND TIPIS NOW COVERS THE SITE AT BDÓTE — THE PLACE WHERE THE MINNESOTA AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS MEET — LAND SACRED TO DAKOTA HISTORY, SPIRITUALITY AND ORIGIN STORIES.
ORGANIZERS SAY THE CAMP HAS ALSO PUT OUT A CALL TO THE DAKOTA OYATE — OR NATION — INCLUDING LAKOTA AND NAKOTA LEADERS ACROSS THE REGION, TO HELP GUIDE THE GATHERING.
JOE SAYS THAT SETUP REFLECTS TRADITIONAL GOVERNANCE.
[JOE: […] THE WAY THESE TEEPEES ARE SET UP … THERE'S FOUR RIGHT NOW; THERE WILL BE SEVEN. EACH ONE OF THOSE WILL REPRESENT THAT, THAT SEVEN COUNCIL FIRES — THE ORIGINAL GOVERNING BODY.]
THE SEVEN COUNCIL FIRES — OR OCETI SAKOWIN — FORM THE POLITICAL AND SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION OF THE DAKOTA PEOPLE.
[PRONOUNCED: OH-CHEH-TEE SHAWK-OH-WHEEN, WITH A CLIPPED OR NASAL N]
BDÓTE CARRIES DEEP HISTORICAL WEIGHT. BESIDES BEING THE FOUNDATION OF DAKOTA LIFE, FORT SNELLING IS ALSO THE SITE OF ITS ATTEMPTED DESTRUCTION. THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HELD NEARLY TWO-THOUSAND DAKOTA PEOPLE IN A PRISON CAMP AFTER THE U.S.–DAKOTA WAR. MANY DIED THERE OR WERE LATER EXILED FROM THE STATE.
THE FORT, JOE SAYS…
[JOE: IS ONE OF THE WORST PLACES THAT EVER EXISTED FOR AMERICAN INDIAN PEOPLE. THAT WAS A CONCENTRATION CAMP, THAT WAS A PLACE WHERE INDIAN PEOPLE WENT TO DIE. AND WHAT WE SEE NOW IS A PLACE WHERE INDIAN PEOPLE ARE COMING TO LIVE, COMING TO LIVE FREELY, COMING TO LIVE IN ADHERENCE TO THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES AS FREE INDIANS.]
--WHIPPLE BUILDING--
ACROSS THE FREEWAY FROM THE PRAYER CAMP, CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES ILHAN OMAR AND ANGIE CRAIG SAY THEIR VISIT TO THE FEDERAL WHIPPLE BUILDING RAISED MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS.
[ILHAN OMAR: WE WENT INTO THE FACILITY AND THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE DETAINEE THAT WE COULD SEE OR TALK TO. EVERY CELL, EVERY INCH OF IT WAS COMPLETELY EMPTY.]
[ANGIE CRAIG: IT SEEMS VERY CONVENIENT THAT THEY REMOVED ANYONE WHO HAD BEEN ARRESTED FROM THE FACILITY 30 MINUTES BEFORE WE ARRIVED AT THE FACILITY.]
REPRESENTATIVE CRAIG SAYS SHE FINDS THE ABSENCE OF DETAINEES SUSPICIOUS.
LAWMAKERS SAY DETAINEES ARE BEING SENT TO COUNTY JAILS INSTEAD OF WHIPPLE — MAKING IT HARDER TO TRACK WHO IS BEING HELD WHERE AND FOR HOW LONG.
CRAIG SAYS 500 ICE AGENTS REMAIN IN THE STATE, BUT SHE DOES NOT KNOW HOW MANY HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS AGENTS ARE STILL HERE.
--PRETTI MARCH--
HUNDREDS MARCHED IN MINNEAPOLIS SATURDAY TO MARK ONE MONTH SINCE THE KILLING OF ALEX PRETTI.
FEDERAL AGENTS SHOT AND KILLED THE 37-YEAR-OLD I.C.U. NURSE IN LATE JANUARY — SPARKING PROTESTS AND OUTRAGE, ALONG WITH CALLS FOR AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION.
COMMUNITY MEMBERS MARCHED FROM A NEARBY PARK TO THE MEMORIAL SITE WHERE PRETTI DIED.
--NOEM NOT TARGETING NATIVES--
TRIBAL LEADERS AND NATIVE COMMUNITIES RECEIVED A LETTER FROM HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM SAYING ICE DOES NOT TARGET NATIVE AMERICANS. SHE ALSO WROTE THAT ICE HAS NOT PERFORMED ANY OPERATIONS ON TRIBAL LANDS.
BUT TRIBAL LEADERS SAY THEIR CONCERNS ARE BASED ON REAL ENCOUNTERS WITH ICE.
THE RED LAKE NATION AND STANDING ROCK SIOUX TRIBE ISSUED NOTICES SAYING ENROLLED TRIBAL CITIZENS WERE DETAINED BY IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS IN THE MINNEAPOLIS AREA.
--PELTIER FREE ONE YEAR--
NATIVE AMERICAN ACTIVIST LEONARD PELTIER JUST MARKED ONE YEAR SINCE HIS RELEASE FROM FEDERAL PRISON.
PELTIER WAS CONVICTED IN THE 1975 KILLINGS OF TWO FBI AGENTS ON SOUTH DAKOTA’S PINE RIDGE RESERVATION.
PRESIDENT BIDEN COMMUTED THE 80-YEAR-OLD’S SENTENCE TO HOME CONFINEMENT LAST JANUARY.
--DULUTH POLICE STABBING--
A DULUTH POLICE OFFICER IS RECOVERING AFTER A DRUNKEN MAN STABBED HIM DURING AN ARREST EARLY SATURDAY.
POLICE RESPONDED TO A REPORT OF AN INTOXICATED MAN HITTING AN AMBULANCE AND THREATENING THE PARAMEDICS INSIDE. POLICE WERE TRYING TO ARREST THE 22-YEAR-OLD SUSPECT WHEN HE STABBED AN OFFICER IN THE LEG.
THE OFFICER’S INJURIES ARE NOT LIFE-THREATENING. THE SUSPECT IS IN JAIL FACING FIRST-DEGREE ASSAULT CHARGES.
--ROCHESTER RACIAL SLUR TRIAL--
A TRIAL IS SET FOR A ROCHESTER WOMAN ACCUSED OF DIRECTING A RACIAL SLUR AT A YOUNG BLACK CHILD ON A PLAYGROUND LAST YEAR.
THE CONFRONTATION WAS CAPTURED ON VIDEO AND SPREAD WIDELY ONLINE.
PROSECUTORS CHARGED HER WITH MISDEMEANOR DISORDERLY CONDUCT.
THE CASE IS SET TO GO BEFORE A JURY IN MID-APRIL.
--U.S. HOCKEY GOLD--
[NAT: GAME-WINNING GOAL AUDIO]
ANOTHER FINAL — ANOTHER TWO-ONE WIN.
[NAT: MORE GAME AUDIO]
JUST LIKE THE WOMEN BEFORE THEM — THE U.S. MEN’S HOCKEY TEAM TOOK GOLD OVER CANADA IN A HISTORIC DOUBLE.
FOR NORTH STAR STORIES, I’M XAN HOLSTON.