Bill seeks to repeal 1863 federal law ordering Dacotah Indians out of Minnesota, Dakotas
By Fritz Busch Journal Staff WriterST. PAUL -The Minnesota House and Senate are considering companion bills urging the repeal of 1863 federal legislation ordering the removal of Dacotah people from Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Introduced by retired New London-Spicer history teacher and District 18B Rep. Dean Urdahl, R, of Grove City, legislation was co-authored by Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R, New Ulm, directing the Minnesota Secretary of State to prepare memorial copies and send them to President Obama.
The president and secretary of the U.S. Senate, the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and Minnesota's congressional delegation would also receive memorial copies.
The resolution reads "in the aftermath of the events of 1862 - the delay of U.S. treaty payments to the Dakota, the refusal of white traders to sell them, the resulting starvation on the reservation, and the ensuing Dakota Conflict - white sentiment against Indian people was at its height.
"Many were pressing for the execution of 303 Dakota and mixed-blood men.
"Fearing that there would be further violence if he did not act, and to appease public feeling, (President) Abraham Lincoln cooperated with the efforts of Congress to remove Indian people unilaterally, without even the semblance of agreement by treaty, by signing an Act for the Removal of the Sisseton, Wahpeton, Mdeawakanton, and the Wahpakoota bands of Sioux or Dacotah Indians.
"For the Disposition of their lands in Minnesota and Dakota," an action that ultimately ignited the Plains Indian Wars and brought 30 more years of conflict.
"The act remains in federal law to this day, despite the fact that its terms are obsolete and its presence is a continuing offense."
Urdahl said Monday he introduced the bill after he was appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty to head the Minnesota Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
"It's just a plain bad law that should be gotten rid of," said Urdahl.
He added that the resolution doesn't include a financial amount, is largely symbolic, won't solve all related problems, but is a step in the right direction.
Chris Mato Numpa of Granite Falls, a retired associate professor of Indigenous Nations and Dakota Studies at Southwest State University, expressed doubts about resolution being passed by the Legislature.
He voiced particular interest in seeing it being sent to President Obama.
"Obama wants Native Americans recognized by the United Nations (UN), but Minnesota is like the United States," Mato Numpa added. "They don't want to admit they committed genocide on us."
Mato Numpa called U.S. treaties dating back to 1805 that were broken with Native Americans "a massive land theft we haven't been paid for yet."
Mato Numpa said most of the Twin Cities sit on land taken with broken treaties.
"Those issues were in court once but were dismissed due to a legal technicality," said Mato Numpa. "We'd like to take the broken treaties to a World Court hearing because U.S. law protects the U.S."
He added he is helping create an International Indian Treaty Council that could report to the UN.
(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).
|
probst
|
|
|---|---|
|
04-08-09 1:42 PM
|
FREE!!!! Hey, anybody been over to that reservation at Prior Lake? They'll skin ya' alive at the Mystic Lake Casino. So, maybe that 1863 law ain't so bad afterall. I say, if it's worked for 146 years, don't fix it.
|
|
Hippie
|
|
|
04-08-09 9:32 AM
|
After all this time the Indians still aren't free?
|