by Thomas Ivan Dahlheimer********
I am a 60 year old activist who is spearheading an international movement to revert the derogatory name of Minnesota’s “Rum River” back to its sacred Dakota Indian name Wakan, sometimes spelled Wahkon, and translated as (Great) Spirit. And I am also spearheading a movement to change 11 other MN geographic place names that are offensive to American Indians.
MN Rep. Mike Jaros recently let me know that he was going to order the bill to change these derogatory names. http://www.towahkon.org*********
I am also protesting against the industrial-technological revolution by both exposing what it is doing to our earth’s life-supporting ecosystems as well as by promoting a revival of the hippie – retribalization of the world – revolution.*******
Years before I even knew that the “Rum River” name was a profanation of the Dakota Indians’ name for the river (Wakan) I was telling people, including relatives, friends and several Catholic priests that I had a – worldview around the Dakota Indian word wakan – hippie and Catholic prophetic visionary ministry, and that I believed that my extended kinship family, the Mr. and Mrs. I. C. Rainbow family, would bring about the retribalization of the world, and in doing so, complete the visionary work of the hippie revolution’s – retribalization of the world – mission.********
And years before I knew that the “Rum River” name was a profanation of the Dakota Indians’ name for the river (Wakan), I attended the 1983 Tekakwitha Conference, an indigenous peoples of the Americas Catholic Conference representing hundreds of tribes, and heard Rev. Stan Maudlin, a founder and leader of the conference, tell the conference participants that there was “a worldview around the word wakan”. A couple of years ago Rev. Maudlin gave his support for the effort to change the Rum River name.******
And it was not long after Rev. Maudlin made the above statement that Rev. Matthew Fox, the conference’s key note speaker, and international leader of a – strongly influenced by the indigenous peoples of the Americas – globalization movement, interviewed me for an hour. During that interview I told him about my hippie-Catholic – retribalization of the world – worldview around the word wakan – prophet visionary ministry. He then asked that I stay in touch with him. A couple of years ago he gave his support for my effort to revert the Rum River name back to its Dakota Indian name Wakan.********
The “Sioux” (Dakota) are used to portray all American Indian tribes in Hollywood, anyone wanting to see a “real Indian” wants to see a war bonnet and a tipi. Therefore, I believe that the world psychic views all American Indians as Dakota; and that when people watch the traditional Hollywood movies about American Indians they often hear the Dakota using the word wakan (sacred), or the combined words Wakan-Tonka (Spirit-Great). Hence, a lot of people throughout the world believe that the word wakan and the name Wakan-Tonka are used by all American Indians.*******
Then during the 1983 Mr. and Mrs. I. C. Rainbow family reunion, Don Rainbow, an uncle of mine and vice president of a Christian college (after talking with me about my experiences at the 1983 Tekakwitha Conference) addressed the 17 families attending the reunion and said: “A Rainbow is a sign of God’s salvation plan, and I believe that we may be used to glorify God more than any other family in the
world.”*******
In the 1960s, Richard Carter, a San Francisco leader of the hippie counter-cultural revolution and friend of mine, was meeting and talking with Stephen Gaskin, another leader of the hippie revolution, who now-a-days is the founder and leader of a very successful 200 member hippie commune/tribe with a worldview around the Indian word wakan. Stephen Gaskin wrote: “The word wakan has a strong and universal concept and people all around the world know something about it.”**********
“In the late 1960s, Richard Carter, his wife, and I traveled from the San Francisco bay area to hopefully start a commune/tribe in Wahkon, Minnesota. It did not materialize, however, I continued on with our – retribalization of the word – hippie visionary mission. In the 1970s, I came to believe that we hippies should not have tried to complete our mission by separating from our parents, grandparents and uncles and aunts and forming into communes/tribes, but rather we should have taken our – retribalization of the world – revolution back to them and the Christian Churches, and in the process, tribalized the churches. I am currently trying to do just that. And thanks to Daniel Quinn’s books, some members of my extended kinship family, the Mr. and Mrs. I. C Rainbow family, are finally starting to believe in my vision.********
Daniel Quinn’s books have been translated into several different languages and his website receives 20,000 hit’s a day.******
His latest book is titled: Beyond Civilization. A review on the back cover reads: “Beyond Civilization is the most solid, real, practical, and you-can-really-do-it book you’ll ever find on how to save the world. Daniel Quinn has again proven he is one of our century’s greatest and most insightful thinkers. The re-tribalization of the world: what an extraordinary possibility!”********
On page 182 of “Beyond Civilization” Quinn wrote:*****
WHY THINGS DIDN”T END UP A-CHANGIN’********
“Lots of songs about revolution came out during the hippie era of the 1960s and 1970s, but the revolution itself never materialized, because it didn’t occur to the revolutionaries that they had to come up with a revolutionary way of making a living. Their signature contribution was communalism – a hot news idea from the same folks who gave us powered wigs.”*******
“When the money ran out and parents got fed up, the kids looked around and saw nothing to do but line up for jobs at the quarries. Before long, they were dragging stones up to the same pyramids their parents and grandparents and great grandparents had been working on for centuries.”*******
“This time it’ll be different.” ******
I am protesting against the industrial-technological revolution by both exposing what it is doing to our earth’s life-supporting ecosystems as well as by promoting a revival of the hippie – retribalization of the world – revolution.