UPPER SIOUX COMMUNITY 鈥� It was nearly 19 years ago that Elitta Gouge mentioned to other newly elected members joining her on the Upper Sioux Community鈥檚 tribal board that they should seek the return of the land where her great-great-grandfather Mazomani lies and that she knows as 鈥渁 land of memories and spirit.鈥�
鈥淲ho is crazy enough to do that? Who would dare, and then who would be that courageous?鈥� said Gouge to applause Friday as her question was answered.
ADVERTISEMENT
Tribal chair Kevin Jensvold and members of the Upper Sioux Community鈥檚 board of trustees joined with Gov. Tim Walz , Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and Commissioner Sarah Strommen of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for a formal ceremony on Friday to transfer the ownership of the former Upper Sioux Agency State Park , near Grante Falls in west central Minnesota, to the Upper Sioux Community,
鈥淢ission accomplished,鈥� said Gouge before an audience that filled the community鈥檚 gymnasium-sized, multi-purpose building. The audience included elders from the community of more than 500, as well as its youth, all wearing T-shirts emblazened with the message: 161 years.
It was in reference to the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 and the taking of tribal lands along the Minnesota River following the conflict.
鈥淭he truth of the matter is there is a darkness that created this United States. It came at the expense of somebody and some peoples. The Dakota people are one of them,鈥� Jensvold said.
鈥淣one of us were here to participate in the wrongs that happened. But we are here today, Governor (Walz), to make (this) right,鈥� said the chairman.
It鈥檚 a theme that Walz and the legislators who authored the legislation transferring the approximate 1,300-acre park and historical site would emphasize as well.
鈥淒oing the right thing, correcting the wrong that was done, it鈥檚 important because it changes the narrative,鈥� Walz said.
ADVERTISEMENT
鈥淚t makes me believe at the end of the day that old saying about the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,鈥� added the governor. 鈥淚 would also add that it also takes some people grabbing it and bending it towards justice a little bit and this group of folks did that.鈥�
State Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, of Standing Rock Lakota ancestry, and State Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, authored the legislation in 2023 that called for the transfer.
Stephenson said it 鈥渨as the obvious thing to say yes鈥� when Jensvold asked if he would support legislation for the transfer.
Jensvold said he had made the request to the Department of Natural Resources for about 19 years. A request to the community鈥檚 local representative to author legislation was unsuccessful, he said.
Stephenson said Jensvold had the attention of legislators last year when he testified on behalf of the transfer. The chairman spoke of the starvation and injustices suffered by the Dakota leading up to the War of 1862.
At the signing ceremony, Jensvold said it was important to know that the land that is being returned was not taken in war but by illegal mechanisms that followed.
Kunesh said there is a mind shift occurring in the Legislature and that the times are changing. 鈥淚 think they are changing for the very, very best,鈥� she said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Kunesh said the return of this land to the Upper Sioux Community is just sort of a start. It was not intended to be a start, but 鈥渨hat has happened as a consequence is that the other folks, the other Native communities have an opportunity too, an opportunity to reclaim lost lands that were unjustly stolen from them,鈥� she said.
Lt. Gov. Flanagan, of the White Earth Anishinaabe, said she heard Jensvold and Gouge repeat their call for the return of the land when she met with the community during a listening session just a few weeks after she and Walz were elected to their current terms.
She also laughed that she heard of Gouge鈥檚 claim that the Vikings cannot win a Super Bowl until the land is returned.
鈥淲e can all look forward to the Vikings winning the Super Bowl next year,鈥� she laughed.
Jensvold said he鈥檚 often asked by the media as to what the community plans for the land. He鈥檚 asked himself many times what the community鈥檚 ancestors want for this land, and he said he always comes back to the this: 鈥淛ust wanted us to be Dakota people to live in our home, to be who we were to take care of this land and to take care of each other.鈥�
Jensvold thanked the elected officials and DNR representatives for their courage and support in making the transfer possible, calling them the 鈥渢ip of the spear.鈥� But he also emphasized his belief that the transfer is very much the work of the Creator.
鈥淎gain the Creator is undefeated,鈥� he said, while pointing to a young child in the audience, representing the seventh generation of Mazomani. Mazomani was a leader of the Dakota, who died of injuries he suffered Sept. 23, 1862, at the battle of Wood Lake during the war.
ADVERTISEMENT
DNR Commissioner Strommen signed the official land deed transferring the former park land. It was immediately transported to the Yellow Medicine County courthouse to be recorded as tribal board members and the state representatives signed ceremonial papers for the event.
Gov. Walz told the audience that many previous signing ceremonies involving the U.S. and the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples ended 鈥渋n sorrow and tears for your communities. ... Today is not that day."
The Trust Project
