>From Diane Kerr
Dear Friends,
This is going to be a very full newsletter! There is a lot of news to share.
For those of you who may be new, here is a short synopsis. The Mendota
Mdewakanton Dakota people are working around the clock to protect their
ancesteral land and sacred sites from being destroyed by the proposed highway
55. Last week mediation began with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
In the end it was agreed that MnDot will review the evidence of this being a
traditional spiritual property. For more information please see�
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com//dmkerr9/Mendota_Sacred_Sites.html">Mendota
Sacred Sites</A> .
Excerpts from Linda Brown (Linda a sister of the Chief and very active in
helping
��������������������������������������������������� her people save their
land.
"Some days, I feel like this is the only thing happening on earth! Mainly
because we spend so much time working on this. I know that there are the same
kind of fights happening all over the country and the world. I include them in
my prayers as I know all of you do too. We just have to keep fighting,
praying, writing and whatever else it is going to take until there is true
justice in this world. Thanks to all of you for caring so much!
Good news! We have found a Senate author for the bill!� *(This is a bill and
resolution authored by Representative Karen Clark in the Minnesota House of
Representatives, that will bring the State of Minnesota into compliance with
the federal laws already in place that protect Native Americal sacred sites as
"traditional cultural property." It is a basic equal rights bill affording
Native American burial sites the same protection that any other cemetary
receives.) Senator Ellen Anderson of St. Paul graciously consented to be the
Chief Author. Becky Lourey has also agreed to co-author the bill in the Senate
and Pat Piper said that if we can get five costituents to call her in support
of this issue she will also co-author the bill. Numbers provided at bottom.
Friends, we still have much lobbying to do to get this bill passed. We need
everyone to contact your senators and representatives and ask them to support
this legislation. HF711 and HF712. You can call the State Capitol to find out
who your representatives are. We really need to get this done!
Becky Lourey: 651-296-0293 email [EMAIL PROTECTED]�
Ellen Anderson 651-296-5537 email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Pat Piper 651-296-9248 email [EMAIL PROTECTED] zip code
55912
MEDIATION NEWS
Mediation is going well! Mndot has agreed to allow spiritual elders to testify
about the area to Joe Hudak, Chief archaeologist. Also, Mndot did admit that
the natural flow of the spring in now of great concern to them. (No more talk
about piping in city water!) We need as much information about this area as
possible. If you have any information from books, oral history or any other
source that would acknowledge this area as sacred to any Indian tribes, let us
know. Tell us where to find it or how to get to it before the next mediation
which is March 11th and 12th. Also, if there are any geologists,
archeologists, or hydrologists
who could testify at a hearing sometime in the near future, let us know. They
could be a tremedous help. There will be no work done on the area by Mndot
until after the Elders testify, the Feds do a study and they come to a
decision about the area.� If it is found to be a TCP, that doesn't mean that
they won't build the road, only that the Feds may withold funds unless they
change the current plans for the reroute. We may still need to persue this in
the courts and rest assured, we will use every tactic we can.
Thanks to all of you and love and prayers be with you all.
Linda
Trip to the East Recollections by Chief Bob Brown Chief Bob Brown, Jim
Anderson, Leo Ronneng and Mike Haney went out East to visit various tribes and
governmental bodies to raise support for the cause.
We recently travelled to Connecticut to visit our brothers and sisters from
the East. Because of the weekend, we did not make personal contact with the
Mashantucket Pequots but we did meet three of the cultural people of the
Mohegan Tribe. We had the great honor of sitting at their drum and singing
with them.
While in Wahington D.C., for the National Congress of American Indians, we
were gifted with a sweetgrass braid from a friend of the Spokane people. We
used this braid as a talking stick with the Mohegan people to give each other
our thoughts and thanks for being abot to sing together and talk. This
sweetgrass was then gifted to Snow Owl of the Golden Hill Paugusetts who acted
as our guide in the lands of these great Eastern tribes.
We left the Mohegan people with many of their members practicing dancing to
their drum. These people indeed have had much of thier culture taken from them
and are re-learning many things.
A recent mediation session with Mndot resulted in our having to gather Elders
from Minnesota tribes and Elders from the tribes that lived here many years
ago to testify as to the sacredness of our traditional lands.
Other Eastern notes.
The Federal Highway Department said that they were very concerned about
Federal regulations not being followed on this project. There was also a
meeting with the BIA. They were appalled about the raid on the encampment.
Please continue to write to the Federal Highway Administration, the BIA, and
the US Senators. The letters are working, keep it up! All of your prayers,
efforts and good wishes are helping us win this battle but we have a long way
to go.
Other news
Very soon there will be a meeting between� Gary Cavendar who is a Dakota
spiritual leader and Governor Jesse Ventura. If anyone can reach Jesse this
man will. Please pray for this meeting to go well. Some of you by now may have
heard of Prttyshld or Little Drum. She is my dear spiritual sister and she has
helped spread this cause far and wide.�� Included here is a letter written by
her to Jesse Ventura.
Kwei Brothers and Sisters!� Enclosed for your use a letter that out or staters
may use to voice their opposition to the re-route at the Mendota Sacred Sites.
Send Snail mail...send Email...whatever you prefer.�
Ventura's EMail is:� [EMAIL PROTECTED]��� KEEP THE DRUM BEATING!!
In Unity
PrttyShLd4
Jesse Ventura
B5 Capitol Building
75 Constitution Ave.
St. Paul MN 55155
Dear Governor Ventura,
As governor, it is your responsibility to protect the interests of the people
you serve. Therefore, I would like to urge you to examine the issue of the
reroute of Highway 55 through Minnehaha Park.
There are pressing environmental, social, and legal reasons to halt the
reroute. Building a new highway there would eradicate an oak savannah
ecosystem that is facing extinction, as well as have unpredictable and
potentially fatal consequences to Camp Coldwater -- the highest-volume
limestone bedrock spring in the area, and the birthplace of European
immigration in Minnesota. The construction work would also destroy a site
sacred to the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Indians.
Additionally, the current administration's actions, such as the 600-man police
raid to arrest 36 nonviolent protesters Dec. 20, are highly questionable. If
they are in the right and the reroute is completely legal and aboveboard, then
why were press denied access to the site during the raid? Why was at least one
journalist arrested and his equipment confiscated? Why were the police allowed
to set numerous bonfires if the raid allegedly took place because of safety
concerns over illegal gas lines? Such violations of the safety and civil
liberties of residents and protesters must be stopped, even if the reroute
project is allowed to continue.
I know that I am not in your constituency, but perhaps it's an indication of
the urgency of the problem that the Highway 55 issue is gathering national
attention.
Thank you for your time.
In Unity
In closing,
Friends, I know this is a long newletter like I said and maybe you will choose
to read it in parts. Before we close there are a couple of other comments I
would like to make. As you can tell by the news above, a lot of effort and
work is being expended every day to save these precious sites. All of it takes
money. Lawyers take money, travelling takes money, staying home from work to
do important things takes money. No one here is rich. Far from it! It is so
hard to ask for financial help as you can well imagine if you were in this
situation but we have no choice. We have to hang in here no matter what and
the coffers are literally empty. Please find it in your heart to help us. Any
contribution will be cherished and used in this good fight. Contributions can
be sent to MMDC 420 Belle Aire Drive, Champlin, MN., 55316.
Finally, Mendota has another friend I would like to tell you about. Her handle
is DevHawkWi and she writes a wonderful newsletter called The Hawks Cry
reporting all of the Native news from across the land where she highlights
Mendota.� Because of her love for Mendota, I dedicate the attached song.
Before I go, please check out the pictures on the website of the Unity Ride.
They take awhile to download but they are so beautiful, they are worth it.
Thank you so much everyone of you.
Peace,
Diane
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ =20
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