Decolonizing Ourselves: The True Face Behind Minnesota's History

One of Minnesota’s more overtly colonialist institutions, the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) does not allow the public access to the true history of how our fair cities came to be. In late July, several white people committed to exposing the lies of Minnesota’s official history attended a Civil War/ War of 1862 tour at the MNHS’ flagship attraction – Fort Snelling. The mere act of understanding the real history that we are all very much a part of is an integral part of fostering change within our movements. If what we truly want to accomplish is revolutionary social change, we must begin with these simple actions that foster a true story to be told. But what story was told at Fort Snelling on that day? (continued below)

Related: Saturday: Minnesota Truth-Telling and Justice Listening Circle and Feast | Native people in Minnesota continue to suffer from the devastating effects of 1862. Yet, very little is taught in our schools about what led to the war, or how it resulted in tremendous and ongoing inequities between Native and non-Native people in Minnesota. The Truth-Telling and Listening Circle is a first step towards building a just and safe society for all peoples. | Anpao Duta: Cherusci, Dakota Both Resisted Colonization | Uprooting White Supremacy Workshop, Anti-Nazi Rally Saturday

The lead tour guide, Fort Snelling Program Manager Kevin Maijala, began the white settler narrative by talking about the Dred Scott decision of 1857. Scott fought in the courts for his freedom from slavery under the premise that he had lived at Fort Snelling from 1836-1840. During this time, the stolen land that would later become Minnesota had not yet been incorporated as part of the U.S. Nowhere in the tour guide’s presentation on the case did he condemn slavery, racism or white supremacy inherent in the founding of the state. He referred to Minnesota as the “frontier” and “basically in the middle of nowhere.” Did he forget that this was the homeland of the Dakota people, or did he choose to ignore their history on purpose?

After discussing the Dred Scott decision and, briefly, slavery at the fort (many people at the fort paid to have “servants,” whom he admitted were black people shipped in by the U.S. government) the predominately white tourist group visited the oldest standing structure at the fort, the round tower. Here Maijala told the tale of the brave “Minnesota men” who fought and died for the glory of our country during the Civil War -- at Bull Run, Northern Virgina and Gettysburg. “Think of all the families in, say, Hastings, that would be forced to deal with that even today,” he says. Nowhere during the tour does he make an even vaguely similar statement about the families of Dakota people killed by the U.S. troops during the same time period, many within the walls of Fort Snelling.

Leaving the fort proper, the tour wound down the hill into Fort Snelling State Park, towards a memorial of the “Sioux Uprising” – Sioux being a colonial term given to the Dakota during the beginning of their colonization. Maijala stops halfway to discuss the genocide or as he tended to call it, the “U.S. – Dakota conflict”. The war is a "really complex, painful topic" which is "never easy to talk about," he says.  He calls it the most significant event in Minnesota history and says it seriously affects the Dakota people even today. This is the closest he comes to speaking the truth about the Dakota genocide. Still, he fails to mention yet again the fact that the Dakota were systematically slaughtered in order to fulfill the standards of the state.

Maijala talks in general terms about the first treaties between the U.S. and the Dakota, saying they are "as binding as treaties today with other nations,” and states that the native tribes held the same status as sovereign nations today. The white truth-tellers in the group pointed out the fact that the treaties have never been upheld.  Maijala becomes defensive. "They should have had legal standing," he says, but adds, "I'm talking about how they were established and their purpose."  He admits the U.S. did not live up to its treaty obligations. One of the truth-tellers mentions to the amnesia-stricken Maijala that the purpose of the treaties, which were not actually ratified by a significant representation of the Dakota people, was to control land.  The tour guide deflects the statement, and says that the Dakota used the treaties to "reserve for themselves reservations."

Those reservations, however, comprise less than one tenth of one percent of the total land base of Minnesota. Dismissing the group’s concerns, Maijala grudgingly states, "You come in with some prejudices that aren't necessarily true.  I don't think you understand what the purpose of the program is."

 The tour guide then states that while the men were sent to Davenport, Iowa, the women were held at Fort Snelling. They were continuously “attacked” by whites, Maijala states. After being challenged that what actually occurred was rape, he argues that the word rape is too strong to use in the presence of the children on the tour. Later, when asked about the charges against the thirty-eight Dakota hanged in Mankato, he says they were tried for, among other things, “raping children”. This failure to acknowledge the sexual violence committed by white men against Dakota women at the fort furthers the colonial control between white and American Indian men. The mere fact that the Dakota were tried and murdered under these pretenses but never in one case was a white man found guilty of such a crime reiterates the cultural genocide that occurred during that winter of 1862. This connection was not made by this self-proclaimed “neutral” tour guide.

The tour group then descended down the hill to the memorial for those who had died within the fort’s walls. Currently, the commemoration of the Dakota genocide is centered alongside a parking lot just north of the Mendota Bridge. The Minnesota Historical Society believes the actual location of the camp is underneath the asphalt of the parking lot -- yet another symbolic blow against allowing the Dakota to heal from their traumatic history as a people. The effects of genocide are still prominent amongst the Dakota people in Minnesota. To this day, a large percentage of Dakota remain incarcerated, live below the poverty line, and/or suffer from substance abuse. Compared to any other ethnic group in this state, Dakota people experience shorter life spans. Much like in the late 1800s, Dakota women today live in a world where their experiences with sexual and physical violence are not legitimized; rather, they are used as a tool to further colonialist control over their identities.   

The Dakota language has no word for a white ally. The one word the Dakota have for a white person is Wasicu (taker of the fat). As white people living on Dakota land, we must begin to own this name and recognize that our aim must be to enable the Dakota to find another word that can name us as allies. I am Wasicu and a 4^th generation Swede. I am a perpetrator of denial, apathy and guilt in regards to my own history of this land. I should be held as accountable as the MNHS, the U.S. government and the state of Minnesota in mine and my ancestors’ role in the Dakota genocide. Despite our intentionality as white people in Minnesota, whether we are radicals, activists, or simply just “Minnesotans”, I see myself and other white settlers as part of a larger culture of lies that helps to further feed the thriving bones of this colonialist body.

The genocide that occurred in the 1860’s has expanded well beyond the violent physical realm – it has been integrated into our modern cultural and historical perceptions as well. To this day, there is a war being waged on the Dakota with the appropriation of their culture, language, spirituality and the root that started it all – their land. If we as white settlers wish to foster social change in our home of Minnesota, we must understand that the root of the problem began with the colonization of this land. We have dug up, cultivated, raped and pillaged holy Indian land all around us and it will take more than an afternoon of truth-telling to make reparations for the damage our ancestors and ourselves have caused. We must begin to hold ourselves accountable to those that we have taken so much from. To open lines of communication, to ask what we can do for them. To redress the crimes of genocide on the Dakota, land reparations (of state, federal public and private land) must be made to the Dakota people. If we do not understand this simple concept, giving back what has been stolen, we will never learn to go much farther beyond the actions of those that pulled the lever on the largest mass hanging in U.S. history.