LOWER SIOUX INDIAN COMMUNITY

Woman found dead after house fire in west-central Minnesota

Shelby Lindrud — Sun, 02 Apr 2023 19:34:16 GMT

MORTON, Minn. — A woman was found dead inside a home after firefighters put out a fire at the residence in the Lower Sioux Indian Community. The fire happened at approximately 8:13 p.m. Friday at a home on the 39000 block of Reservation Highway 1.

According to a news release from the Redwood County Sheriff's Office, firefighters were dispatched to the house fire and successfully put it out. Afterward, as they examined the residence, the body of the woman was discovered. No other information, including the woman's identity, has been released.

The fire is under investigation by the Redwood County Sheriff's Office and the Minnesota Fire Marshal's Office.

Also assisting at the scene were the Lower Sioux Tribal Police Department, Morgan Police Department, CentraCare Ambulance Service and the Morton Fire Department.

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'Bring Her Home' documentary tells of tragic reality of missing persons, and those inspiring change

Tom Cherveny — Wed, 25 May 2022 14:59:33 GMT

GRANITE FALLS, Minnesota — A tragic reality is the focus of a documentary that, at its heart, also inspires activism and change.

The inspiration comes from the three women who are the subjects of “Bring Her Home,” a documentary by Leya Hale with Twin Cities Public Television.

Joined by friends in the Lower Sioux and Upper Sioux communities, Hale hosted a screening of the documentary for an audience of more than 60 people at the Pioneer Public Television studio in Granite Falls on May 5.

The documentary brings awareness to the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Minnesota and the nation. Minnesota recently opened an office to address the epidemic, and tapped Juliet Rudie of the Lower Sioux Community to lead it.

While Indigenous women comprise only 1% of the state’s population, they account for 9% of all murdered girls and women in the state during the last decade, according to the Department of Public Safety.

Hale’s documentary follows three women — Mysti Babineau, an activist; Angela Two Stars, an artist; and Ruth Buffalo, a North Dakota legislator — as they work to bring about awareness and change.

In the telling of their works, viewers of the documentary also learn of the harms inflicted on innocent victims. Babineau tells of how she witnessed the killing of her grandmother when she was 12 years old. She also recounts how she was once assaulted and kidnapped, and escaped.

“As they face the lasting effects of historical trauma, each woman searches for healing while navigating the oppressive systems that brought about this very crisis,” stated the documentary.

Hale told her audience before the documentary’s showing that she sought not only to help bring awareness to the issue, but also “to provide tools to help our communities see examples of women taking on this issue and providing awareness to it.”

She said she pursued her career to tell native stories and especially, to create content for native people and audiences. As she explained of the portrayal of native women: “It’s usually about us. It’s never for us.”

Hale is from the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Diné Nations. She is a producer for Twin Cities PBS and lives in St. Paul. She won a 2019 Upper Midwest Emmy award for best cultural documentary for her first feature documentary, "The People’s Protectors."

She said that while growing up, “(I’d) never seen a picture of myself that wasn’t through the lens of a western movie.”

Depictions of native women she knew were those of Pocahontas and Tiger Lily from Peter Pan.

“Indigenous people continue to suffer from the effects of colonization, systemic oppression, and trauma,” Hale said in a statement for the documentary. “Many of the issues we face today, such as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic, are a direct result of U.S. Federal Indian Policies.”

Hale said she deliberately incorporated the stories of indigenous women of all ages — including that of a grandmother — who have been victimized. She wants to refute the “blame the victim” mentality that has been so prevalent in our society towards indigenous women.

After the screening of the documentary, a young girl in the audience asked Hale: “What made you want to make a movie about this?”

Her answer: “I think I wanted to make it specifically for you because I especially wanted young native women to see the power in ourselves — to see how powerful we are when we unite and come together in community; strengthen our identities. Whether that is through art or language, your voice can be strong.”

Hale said her hope is that her documentary helps show the strength and resilience that native women can tap into when facing hard times.

“Turn to the women that are around you as examples and you learn to strengthen your core, your identity as a native woman,” she told the young audience member. "It helps everybody around you.”

“That's why I made that for you,” she said to applause.

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New SW Minnesota cemetery will let veterans rest closer to home

Hannah Yang / MPR News — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 15:30:00 GMT

REDWOOD FALLS, Minn. — The fourth state veterans cemetery in the state had its groundbreaking ceremony in southern Minnesota on Wednesday, Oct. 13.

Inclement weather didn’t stop state and local representatives, community residents and veterans from huddling underneath white tarp tents as the rain and wind blew across rural prairie land in Redwood Falls. Where the tents stood will eventually be home to an 81-acre resting place for military veterans.

The project was 12 years in the making for many families and veterans in southwest Minnesota, who would sometimes travel hundreds of miles to the closest cemeteries, at Fort Snelling in the Twin Cities or in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to pay their respects to loved ones.

Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Larry Herke said that the state has interred 10,000 veterans at its state cemeteries so far.

“I believe that the cemetery will be important for this community,” Herke said. It’s [the] last stop for many of our veterans as they go through their life. And it’s important those honors are actually given to each one of our veterans as we walk forward.”

Gov. Tim Walz, a veteran of the Army National Guard, said that the bipartisan support to get the veterans cemetery funding, as well as community leaders and officials working together to obtain the property, were critical to the project’s success.

“Veterans stick up for one another, veterans stand side by side,” Walz said. “All the differences we see, especially when you enter this special place, all those differences are gone. We lie in that perfect democracy, where we’re sisters and brothers in service to this nation. This community accepted the responsibility, and I would make the case that there are a few communities more ready than this one to accept it.”

Funding for the cemetery was boosted by an $11.2 million grant from the National Cemetery Administration of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and $4.5 million from this year’s Minnesota Legislature.

During the groundbreaking ceremony, community members acknowledged the importance of having a sacred space for service members to rest. Among them was Navy veteran Lydia Conito, a member of Lower Sioux Indian Community, who has a family history of serving in the military.

“I’m so happy, it feels like the circle is coming close to an end,” Conito said. “Now our veterans will have a safe place to be and when they meet their Creator, they will all be so healthful, happy and they will meet all their relatives right here on this land.”

There are 10 total planning phases, beginning with a development phase of 21.7 acres of land. It will feature burial sites for caskets, in-ground cremation, and above-ground columbarium cremation. The state also plans to hire seven employees to help maintain the cemetery grounds.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, whose father was a Korean War veteran, said that it was important to continue supporting veterans and military service personnel in life and for after.

“We show them when they come home, not with tomatoes like what happened after the Vietnam War,” Klobuchar said. “You can have disagreements with war, but you don’t take it out on the warriors. We owe it to them and their families by giving them a beautiful, dignified place to rest. That’s what this place is.”

A dedication ceremony for the Redwood Falls cemetery is anticipated in spring or early summer of 2023.

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Dakota tribe reclaims its land — and its story

Hannah Yang / MPR News — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 22:00:00 GMT

MORTON, Minn. — Robert Larsen has waited years for the Minnesota Historical Society to return 114 acres of land to the Dakota people of the Lower Sioux Indian Community. When the unanimous vote finally came this year, Larsen was watching on his computer. As soon as it was official, he drove to the spot off of County Highway 2, east of Redwood Falls.

He said a prayer, sang a song and made an offering of tobacco.

“Steps toward healing is what we need,” Larsen, the tribe’s chair, said. “And this is one of those steps.”

This land is part of the Lower Sioux Indian Community’s homeland and, until last month, it was controlled by the state.

The historic site commemorates the start of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.

The conflict began when the United States refused to distribute to the Dakota people the food and supplies stored there, violating its treaty.

The war between Dakota tribes and the U.S. government lasted six weeks. After it ended, President Abraham Lincoln ordered 38 Dakota men hanged in Mankato, the largest single-day execution in the country’s history.

“This land has been paid for over and over and over with the blood and the lives of our ancestors,” Larsen said.

The historical society bought the property from private landowners starting in the 1960s. Its return to Lower Sioux Indian Community was a culmination of talks that began in 2004. Local government officials were skeptical about the change, Larsen said.

The land transfer ultimately required the involvement of the state Legislature, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the federal government and 31 different tribal nations.

“Preserving our state’s history doesn’t always have to mean the Minnesota Historical Society is doing that all by ourselves,” said Ben Leonard, who oversees the historical society’s portfolio of sites outside of the Twin Cities and is pleased the Lower Sioux Community now controls the site. “That is their history. That is their story,”

Larsen’s family was involved throughout the long process of reclaiming the land. His father and great-aunt were there from the start, and he says many community members deserve credit for the achievement.

“If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here,” he said.

In February, tribal citizens accepted the transferred land on behalf of their ancestors.

“By reclaiming some of our traditional homelands, we’re expanding the opportunity for our generations to have a broader connection to their Dakota identity,” said Cheyanne St. John, the community’s historic preservation officer. “It was certainly a milestone within our nation's history.

The Minnesota Historical Society will still help maintain the interpretative trails on the site and for now, the tribe plans to leave the property mostly unchanged. Its goal is to encourage more visitors to visit and learn about Dakota history.

It’s an unusual move for the state to return a historic site to the tribe that once owned it, but Larsen hopes it is only the beginning.

“To get back to that relationship with the land is important to us,” he said.

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Vanessa GoodThunder is revitalizing the Dakota language

Jaida Grey Eagle / MPR News — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 21:00:00 GMT

ST. PAUL — Vanessa GoodThunder, 26, is the director of the Cansayapi Wakanyeza Owayawa Ti, the Lower Sioux Early Head Start and Head Start Dakota language immersion program in Morton, Minn. She is from the Lower Sioux Indian Community, a Dakota community in southwest Minnesota described as "where they paint the trees red."

GoodThunder is Bdewakantuwan Dakota and Tódich'ii'nii Dine Navajo.

Editor's note:

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What does it mean to be an Indigenous Minnesotan right now?

When I thought about that, to be an Indigenous Minnesotan, or even Indigenous Minnesotan winyan (woman) ... It just means, you know my ancestors fought for me to be alive today and fought for me to know my language and my culture today. And so for me, that means that's my fight for the next piece.

And it's not all about fighting. That means we're beautiful. We have awesome practices, and we have awesome ways of life. So I'm very excited about that. And we are going to make some big movements, not for the state, but for the nation. Right now we're really thinking about voting so I think there's a reason why folks don't want Natives to vote because we have that power, and that ability. So, I'm excited about that coming up.

What figures have shaped you?

I always think about the wonderful women that helped to grow me up. We have this horse program called Sunktanka Wicayuhapi and that’s with the nonprofit Dakota Wicohan. There's all these awesome, strong, wonderful women who gave me the tools and resources to figure out who I wanted to be in life and what my mission was in my role. I think about those women a lot who helped shape me, as well as my community of Cansayapi. They helped to tell me that I could do whatever I want. And I believe that so I took that to hopefully help others and empower them to be whatever they want as well.

What's your vision for the future generations of Indigenous people in Minnesota?

My vision is that everybody will have the access and ability to speak their language. Thus, that will help heal them, their community, and thus tribal sovereignty as a whole. And with that, that means we are going to be able to have better health systems, right, because we're remembering, reclaiming, and reconnecting — or recovering, as I heard it recently. Those systems that we've always had — and because of the historical trauma we've had — it disrupted. So with language, I really believe that it can help heal our people. So that's what I see for the future.

Who you see as a changemaker in your community and who inspires you?

I see this little guy. He is 3 years old. His name is Marcus and he attends the school that we work at — Cansayapi Wakanyeza Owayawa Oti, the Lower Sioux Early Head Start and Head Start. We just opened doors so he's been there since he was like 1 years old. And now he's three and he calls me Sna Sna Win, which is my Dakota name and I've never had somebody only call me by my Dakota name. He doesn't even know my name is Vanessa in English.

I see him as being a changemaker because he's already changed my heart and shown everybody that this is what language can do to empower somebody and he doesn’t even know. He just thinks, “This is my culture. This is my language. We've always had it. You’re Sna Sna Win, that's the world, let's keep going.” And I'm like, “Yes Marcus, yes, let's keep going!” So that's one of them.

I also look to the elders and I look to my peers and I look to everybody because it's going to take all of us to make this change. That’s starting from birth all the way to the elders and to our ancestors in the past. We need to look at what they've done and learn from them.

Where are we, and why did you choose this location?

We are at Bdote, which is where the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers meet and that is where the Dakota people came from. This is where our creation stories came from. But we are also at the spot where we had the internment camp or concentration camp during the U.S. and Dakota war [of 1862]. It’s also the place of our genocide.

So, I think of it a lot because it brings a lot of feelings up for me. It just keeps reminding me you know where I come from. Those are my people who fought so hard for me to be here and breathe today. And simultaneously they fought and so now I need to do my part to continue bringing back our language, thus our culture, thus our tribal sovereignty, thus our peoples’ prosperity. It’s a good place to think about that and really reflect on my purpose and why I’m placed on this earth.

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Minnesota tribal officials back proposed education amendment

Matthew Guerry — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 23:07:55 GMT

ST. PAUL — The push to make quality public education a civil right in Minnesota appears to have the support of state tribal leaders.

Members of the state Indian Affairs Council openly voiced their approval of the proposed constitutional amendment at their meeting in downtown St. Paul on Tuesday, Feb. 18. If ratified, they said, the amendment would signify a long-overdue step toward improving education for the state's Native American youth.

"I believe everyone here is going to support this 100%," said Lower Sioux Indian Community Tribal Council President Robert Larsen, a member of the Indian Affairs council executive board.

Former state Supreme Court Justice Alan Page and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari proposed the amendment last month as a way to bridge some of Minnesota's academic achievement gaps. In pitching the amendment to the council on Tuesday, the two said the state constitution's current mandate for an "adequate" education essentially allows less affluent school districts to languish.

"An adequate educational system is actually good for some students and terrible for other students," Kashkari said. "If you look at it, Minnesota's education system is failing Native children. In vast numbers, it is failing Native children."

According to one Minneapolis Fed report, indigenous students in Minnesota tend to earn lower standardized test scores, graduate less frequently and are less prepared for college compared to some of their peers. Students of color and students from low-income households are similarly affected.

Red Lake Nation Tribal Council Secretary Sam Strong, also a member of the state Indian Affairs Council executive board, said the public schools on his reservation suffer from an abysmal graduation rate. It has improved in recent years, he said, but only from a rate of less than 10% to around 20% today.

Though supportive of the proposal, Strong cautioned that state-run schools can be difficult for tribal governments to work with.

Page, who founded a scholarship foundation that supports young Minnesotans of color, said the state's achievements gaps are "at best unconscionable," and put the success of future generations at risk. To ratify the amendment, he said, could have an effect not unlike that of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. the Board of Education, which struck down racial segregation in public schools as unconstitutional.

While "Brown's promise hasn't been fully met," Page said, "I can tell you that we are in a dramatically different place today than when Brown was decided."

Page and Kashkari urged members of the council to get behind the proposal, which still has a long road ahead of it. It needs to pass by a simple majority in both chambers of the state Legislature, and would then have to be approved at the ballot box by Minnesota voters.

In the proposal's corner are officials from a range of state government agencies, nonprofit organizations and trade groups. But it doesn't lack for critics.

Education Minnesota, for example, the state's largest teachers union, opposes it on the grounds that it could allow voucher schools and litigious parents to siphon funds from the public school system.

State lawmakers on Monday, Feb. 17, were noncommittal about the proposal's prospects in the Legislature but acknowledged disparities in Minnesota's education system.

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Four Minnesota tribes join lawsuits against opioid industry

Barry Amundson — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 22:47:19 GMT

ST. PAUL -- Four tribes in Minnesota sued 24 opioid manufacturers and distributors on Thursday, Aug. 16, accusing them of devastating public health effects on their communities.

The four tribes are Prairie Island Indian Community, Lower Sioux Indian Community, the Upper Sioux Indian Community, and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, all in southern Minnesota.

They join 11 other tribes in lawsuits being filed this year by the national Robins Kaplan LLP law firm. Representing the tribes will be two high-profile attorneys -- former U.S. Attorney for North Dakota Tim Purdon and former U.S. Attorney for South Dakota Brendan Johnson.

The lawsuits accuse the drug companies of marketing prescription opioids in a manner that fraudulently concealed and minimized their addiction risk and failing to comply with federal prescription drug laws intended to prevent the diversion of prescription opioids and prevent their abuse.

They tribe seek relief for the defendants’ alleged violation of federal laws, deceptive trade practices and fraudulent and negligent conduct.

The lawsuit comes as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that nearly 72,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdoses in 2017. Those deaths were driven by an uptick in fatal fentanyl overdoses.

Minnesota has seen a similar uptick, with opioid-related deaths rising from 395 in 2016 to 401 in 2017, according to preliminary data from the state Department of Health. Synthetic opioid deaths rose 71 percent over that time with fentanyl playing a role in almost all the fatalities.

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Super Bowl committee hands out additional funds to Minn. communities

Forum News Service — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 15:18:56 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS-The final grants, coming from the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee's legacy fund of almost $77,000, were awarded to 52 organizations.

The Legacy Fund invested more than $5.5 million to communities across the state in the 52 weeks leading up to Super Bowl LII last February at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

The final dividend grants, at $1,475 each, will be used to supplement previous grants to those 52 organizations by the host committee.

"52 Weeks of Giving is just one of the many ways we ensured that Super Bowl LII had a positive impact on our entire state," Maureen Bausch, CEO of the host committee, said in a statement. "We are happy to surprise these 52 recipients with an additional grant so support their wonderful work. We hope the Super Bowl helped inspire a healthier, more active generation of Minnesota kids. With more than $5.5 million invested in community organizations statewide, kids will enjoy the benefits of the Super Bowl for years to come."

The 52 grant recipients and their communities are:

• The Loppet Foundation, Minneapolis

• Olmstead County Public Health Services, Mobile Playgrounds, Rochester

• City of St. Paul, St. Paul Parks and Recreation Sepak Tekraw Courts, St. Paul

• Rice County Public Health Nursing Service, Cannon River Mobile Home Park Playground, Faribault

• Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Year-round Greenhouses, Onamia

• Moorhead Public ��s, Imagination Playgrounds, Moorhead

• Nobles County Community Service-Public Health, Buss Field, Worthington

• Crow Wing County, Crow Wing Energized, Bicycle Fleet, Brainerd

• Springboard for the Arts, Play Sculpture, Fergus Falls

• Second Harvest North Central Food Bank Inc., Grand Rapids

• Twin Cities Native American Lacrosse, Minneapolis

• Backus Community Center Pennies for Play Program, International Falls

• Anoka County Community Health & Environmental Services, Accessible Playground, Anoka County

• Dayton's Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. Rivoli Orchards, St. Paul

• Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Playground, Grand Portage

• Windom Area Hospital, Community Walking Path, Windom

• Alexandria Area YMCA, Mobile Bike Fleet, Alexandria

• The Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth, Brooklyn Park

• Bemidji Community Food Shelf, Bemidji

• Willmar Area Community Foundation Area Community Foundation, Destination Playground, Willmar

• City of Duluth, Playgrounds, Duluth

• Polk County, Playgrounds, Crookston

• Dream of Wild Health, Hugo

• White Earth Reservation Tribal Council, Skate Parks, White Earth

• Boys & Girls Club of Central Minnesota, St. Cloud

• Blue Earth County, Bike Fleets, Mankato

• Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Cass Lake

• Project Success, Minneapolis

• Frogtown Gardens, Frogtown Farm, St. Paul

• Youth Determined to Succeed, Inc. Brooklyn Park

• Red Lake Comprehensive Health Services, Red Lake

• City of Virginia, Playground, Virginia

• Boys and Girls Club of Detroit Lakes, Inc. Detroit Lakes

• Goodhue County Health & Human Services and Independent �� District #256, Red Wing

• Best of Waseca, Inc., Tink Larson Field, Waseca

• Minneapolis Public ��s Culinary & Wellness Services, Minneapolis

• Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Cloquet

• Southwest Health and Human Services, High �� Sports Fields, Marshall

• City of Roseau, South Riverview Park Project, Roseau

• Bois Forte Reservation Tribal Council, Basketball Courts, Bois Forte

• Upper Sioux Community, Zani Woyute Project, Upper Sioux

• Prairie Island Community, Prairie Island

• Appetite for Change, Minneapolis

• Bolder Options, Minneapolis

• Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio, Inc. (CLUES), St. Paul

• Juxtaposition Arts, Minneapolis

• Lower Sioux Indian Community, Recreation Center, Lower Sioux

• Second Harvest Heartland, Greater Twin Cities

• Sanneh Foundation, St. Paul

• Peoples' Center for Health, Minneapolis

• Pillsbury United Communities, Minneapolis

• Minneapolis Public ��s, Anwatin Middle �� field, Minneapolis

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