Queering Indigeneity, and Dan Ninham and the Lacrosse Hall of Fame

Transcript

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Marie Rock [ANCHOR]: Welcome to Minnesota Native New. I'm Marie Rock.
This week we take a look at a new art exhibit honoring Two-Spirit individuals, and we hear from one of the inductees for the Minnesota Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

First, Producer Deanna StandingCloud stopped by "Queering Indigeneity" an exhibit at The Minnesota Museum of American Art.

Deanna StandingCloud:
For Indigenous people in Minnesota, Two-Spirit relatives have long been held in high regard. They often served as spiritual healers, community leaders, and carried a great social influence. Across Native communities today, there's a powerful resurgence, and many are reclaiming and celebrating the teachings of the Two-Spirit Society.
Penny Kagigebi:
When Two-Spirit people are standing in their power, and they understand their gifts, and they bring their gifts forward, and they bring that medicine into the community, that's when tribal communities are going to thrive.

Deanna StandingCloud:
Penny Kagagebe is a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and lead curator for the exhibit, Queering Indigeneity, at the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul, also known as The M.

Penny Kagigebi:
I'm a community activist. I'm a longtime queer activist, and that's all kind of just kind of come together in this community collaboration, for Two-Spirit cultural reclamation that grew and became this exhibit, Queering Indigeneity.

Deanna StandingCloud:
Nearly 500 visitors attended that day, including Dr. Kate Bean, Executive Director of The M. From my understanding, I'm one of the first executive directors of an American art museum to be Native.

Dr. Kate Beane:
I unfiltered for the American art museum to be Native Americans. I'm one of the first executive directors of a degree in society.

Deanna StandingCloud:
Dr. Kate Bean is a citizen of the Flandreau-Santee Dakota. She is also a local historian and researcher of Dakota history.

Dr. Kate Beane:
We're an organization that's been around since the 1890s. We actually started as a school, the St. Paul School of Fine Arts, and the organization was started by some neighborhood arts enthusiasts and supporters who, at that point in time, didn't look like us.

Deanna StandingCloud:
For Indigenous people in Minnesota, honoring the Two-Spirit community is vital.

Dr. Kate Beane:
I think the only way to survive right now is to lean into relationships and to remember who we are, and that's where this exhibition is so beautiful to be coming out right now.
Deanna StandingCloud:
The exhibit is free and open to the public through August 2026. For more information, visit mmaa. org. For Minnesota Native News, I'm Deanna Standing Cloud.

Marie Rock: Next, Travis Zimmerman talks to Minnesota Natives News producer Dan Ninham about being inducted into the Minnesota Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Travis Zimmerman:
Oneida Elder Dan Ninham and his wife Susan have been involved with Indigenous games for almost half a century. And lacrosse, known as the Creator's Game, has always been more than just a sport to Dan.

Dan Ninham:
similar connections to a number of Indigenous people throughout North America that believe that the Creator gave us the game to play for his amusement and for other reasons as well, anywhere from honoring people to helping with the healing process as a medicine game. It's all good medicine.

Travis Zimmerman:
Dan has been an athlete most of his life, and he's been playing lacrosse for over 40 years.

Dan Ninham:
I was at Oneida Tribal School, K-8 physical education teacher for about eight years. Soon after getting there in 83 or so, made the career commitment to Indigenous games and implemented that into the curriculum.

Travis Zimmerman:
Dan feels like his greatest contribution has been growing the game and the number of Native children introduced to it.

Dan Ninham:
We continue with that in our country, and in our country we continue to have encouraged a number of other people throughout Minnesota. Ojibwe and Dakota communities, as well as urban communities to play the wooden stick game prior to school with cultural connections to the modern stick game.

Travis Zimmerman:
Earlier this month, there was an awards banquet for the first inductees to the Minnesota Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Dan attended with his wife Susan and was honored for his contributions to reviving a game central to tribal identities in the past.

Dan Ninham:
And it's nice to be recognized by my colleagues. I look at it as being an honor to be where I am the second. And it's not the end. It's just a continuance.

Travis Zimmerman:
For Minnesota Native News, this is Travis Zimmerman.

Marie Rock: That's all we for this week's episode. Join us next time for more voices and stories that inform, uplift, and shape our communities, right here on Minnesota Native News.

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Marie Rock: Minnesota Native News is produced by AMPERS: Diverse Radio for Minnesota's Communities. Made possibly by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.