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Videos of the Week

Shoshone-Bannock History in Idaho
PART I OF II: 2008's historic Idaho Democratic Convention, held in Boise, ID, June 12-14, invited Idaho Native American Tribal members from the Shoshone-Bannock/Fort Hall, Shoshone-Paiute/Duck Valley, Nez Perce, and Coeur D'Alene tribal communities to take an active part in the convention activities. On June 12th, the Idaho AFL-CIO hosted a Democratic picnic for convention goers. Mr. Ted Howard, Cultural Resource Director, Duck Valley, spoke to picnic participants about the Shoshone-Paiute-Bannock history in the Boise Valley area. 9:49 minutes.

Part II-Grand Entry, Flag Ceremony and Recessional
All convention tribal members participated in the grand entry at the beginning of the June 13th Idaho Democratic Convention gathering followed by a flag ceremony and presentation by Mr. Lee Juan Tyler, Council Member, Shoshone-Bannock/Fort Hall community. Fort Hall and Duck Valley singers and drummers played songs for the grand entry, flag ceremony and recessional.
9:59 minutes

Native American Prophecy
Narrated by the late Floyd RedCrow Westerman 6:36 minutes

7 Generations
Elder Orin Lyons talks about preparing for the next 7 generations. 8:43 minutes

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Issues->Racism: Healing the painful wounds of a genocide in Minnesota

Posted on Wednesday, June 04 @ 01:58:00 CDT

The Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commissioners have acknowledged that Minnesota committed ethnocide and genocide against Native Americans during its early history.

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"Minnesotans pride themselves today on living in a state that is forward-thinking and compassionate. We have become a haven for refugees from countries where genocide still occurs. We recoil at the holocausts of World War I and II, and the more recent acts of savagery in Eastern Europe and the Middle East."

"Yet we remain either unaware of or unable to look at our own history and acknowledge the painful wounds of ethnocide and genocide right here in Minnesota. We have a very hard time acknowledging that the pain remains and that it has affected much of our history thru to the present day."

"Minnesota is home to 11 Tribal Nations. Tribes from Canada, the Dakotas, and Nebraska and elsewhere, and tribal members here in Minnesota and others are coming together to participate in ceremonies of reconciliation, such as that in Winona in May during Statehood Week, thanks to the efforts of native peoples and non-native peoples working together for many years hosting such gatherings to bring about education and awareness."

When Minnesotans become aware of or able to look at their own history and acknowledge the painful wounds of ethnocide and genocide right in their own state they will be inspired to go through a radical social, political and religious transformation. A peaceful cultural revolution will occur and Minnesotans will be changed for the better. And this will help to heal the Dakota Oyate's painful wounds caused by ethoncide and genocide.

Leonard Wabasha, a hereditary chief of the Dakota and director of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community Cultural Resource Department, invited me to address the Dakota tribal leaders and governmental officials during the May 16th reconciliatory ceremony in Winona.

During the reconciliatory ceremony, I spoke about the 15th century papal bull [Inter Caetera]. A papal bull which was primarily responsible for Minnesota's ethnocide and genocide against the Dakota Oyate.

A movement to revoke the papal bull has been ongoing for a number of years. It was initiated by the Indigenous Law Institute in 1992. At the Parliament of World Religions in 1994 over 60 indigenous delegates drafted a Declaration of Vision.

It reads, in part: "We call upon the people of conscience in the Roman Catholic hierarchy to persuade Pope John II to formally revoke the Inter Caetera Bull of May 4, 1493, which will restore our fundamental human rights. That Papal document called for our Nations and Peoples to be subjugated so the Christian Empire and its doctrines would be propagated. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Johnson v. McIntosh 8 Wheat 543 (in 1823) adopted the same principle of subjugation expressed in the Inter Caetera Bull. This Papal Bull has been, and continues to be, devastating to our religions, our cultures, and the survival of our populations." (ref.2)

I am on a mission to restore the fundamental human rights of Indigenous peoples. (ref. 3) Colorado is the first state to admit genocide against our nation’s indigenous peoples. The Colorado Legislature passed a resolution Wednesday April 30, 2008 comparing the deaths of millions of American Indians to the Holocaust and other acts of genocide around the world.

The resolution says Europeans intentionally caused many American Indian deaths and that early American settlers often treated Indians with "cruelty and inhumanity." Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, a Comanche Indian, said: "Colleagues, this resolution is a recognition that up to 120 million indigenous people have died as a result of European migration to what is now the United States of America." (ref. 4)

References can be found at: http://www.towahkon.org/Minnesotagenocide.html

Thomas Dahlheimer Director of Rum River Name Change Organization, Inc. Wahkon, Minnesota

Wahkon writes 19