- 2 days ago
Dakota 38 2012
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:00Let's all pray. We came this far. We told some beautiful people. And they prayed. So let's all pray together as a family.
00:00:28Oh, to Barstow.
00:00:30To Barstow.
00:00:32To Barstow.
00:00:34To Barstow.
00:00:38These riders, they come from all over. Canada, Montana, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota. There's even a guy here from Austria. It's from all over the world. These riders come.
00:01:04And that's the point. That's what we're trying to do here is we're trying to reconcile, unite, make peace with everyone. Because that's what it means to be Dakota.
00:01:16To be Dakota means to walk in peace and harmony with every living thing. That is our way.
00:01:26This ride came through a vision of a man by the name of Jim Miller. And in that vision, he saw riders going east. We're going home. That's what we're doing. We're going home.
00:01:38In 2005, when I received this dream as any recovered alcoholic, I made believe that I didn't get it. I tried to put it out of my mind, but it's one of them dreams that bothers you night and day.
00:01:57We're going home.
00:01:59We're going home.
00:02:13Here you are!
00:02:15Who's at this direct 여자ésk city?
00:02:16We're going home.
00:02:17We're going home.
00:02:18We're going home.
00:02:20We're going home.
00:02:22You're going home.
00:02:24It's been a very57 life priest.
00:02:26We are going home.
00:02:29We're going home.
00:02:30I lived a day's Eve survivor.
00:02:33We're going home.
00:02:37You square and I were coming.
00:02:40St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1863.
00:03:02Good news for Indian hunters.
00:03:05The Indian hunting trade, if the game be at all plenty,
00:03:08is likely to prove a profitable investment during the present fall and winter
00:03:13for our hunters and scouts in the big woods,
00:03:15having increased the bounty for each topknot of a bloody heathen to $200.
00:03:20There is likely to be considerable competition in the trade,
00:03:24and the best shots will carry off the most prizes.
00:03:34Christmas is a great day.
00:03:38electronic music plays
00:04:02Woo!
00:04:04Go, go, go!
00:04:06With settlers encroaching on us, they pushed us onto a little bitty strip of land along
00:04:14the river.
00:04:15All of our people were put there and were not allowed to leave or hunt.
00:04:18The Indians could not leave the reservation.
00:04:24If they left without permission, they would be considered hostile and could be shot on
00:04:32site.
00:04:34They were supposed to be given rations, given the treaty, but people get greedy.
00:04:39That's how they call them washichu.
00:04:41They started skimming off the rations and pretty soon they were starving them.
00:04:45When they were starving them, that's when this trader said, well, let them eat grass.
00:04:50And so they revolted when the fight occurred and many were killed.
00:04:55It was a very short war.
00:04:57It only lasted a few months.
00:04:59When it was over, President Abraham Lincoln hung 38 of our leaders at one time.
00:05:10One pull of the lever, which is today the largest max execution the government's ever carried
00:05:14out.
00:05:19My great-great-grandfather, who walks without a tail, was hung that day.
00:05:38Those of us that are on this ride descend from them 38 that were hanged.
00:05:43The people that are in the country were in the country and the people that were in the country.
00:05:59You know, we'll never be able to feel what he felt, but we understand he was a spiritual
00:06:26man, and he cared a lot about his people, and I think if he was alive, he would have
00:06:32did the same thing to remember.
00:06:34He would have wanted to acknowledge the ancestors in a spiritual way, and when I heard about
00:06:41this dream, Uncle Sheldon Wolfchild, he told me this dream that Jim had, and I wanted to
00:06:48be a part of it.
00:06:49There's something about that ride that pulls you to it, and you want to get on a horse and
00:06:53help out.
00:06:54So, you feel pain in your ribs, your back, your legs, you get cold, we've been through
00:07:00blizzards.
00:07:01A lot of times, if you don't own a horse, you end up on the horse that nobody wants to ride,
00:07:06so that's a sacrifice in itself.
00:07:24I just want to tell everybody here that I love you very much.
00:07:33We don't have to blame the washichos anymore.
00:07:40We're doing it to ourselves.
00:07:41We're selling drugs.
00:07:45We're killing our own people.
00:07:48And that's what this rides the bar.
00:07:50It's healing.
00:07:50We're killing our own people.
00:08:15We're killing our own people.
00:08:16We were exiled from Minnesota by an order of the government which stated to
00:08:45annihilate the Indian race or forever push us from the borders of Minnesota.
00:08:50And that's what happened.
00:08:52Thousands and thousands of our people were slaughtered, froze to death, starved to death.
00:08:57Disease took a lot of our people also.
00:09:01A lot of them were marched on foot, some were brought on cattle trains.
00:09:06We got down to St. Louis, they put us on riverboats,
00:09:10and they were brought up the river to where we presently are now at Crow Creek,
00:09:14which was at that time a prisoner of war camp.
00:09:17From there are people scattered to the four directions.
00:09:23Some of them, you know, would jump off their boats and just drown themselves,
00:09:28and they couldn't deal with the hardships.
00:09:30And so it was a horrible thing.
00:09:33They thought it was the end of their world coming here.
00:09:35They had no more hope.
00:09:37And so for us, this journey back, this ride back, is taking their spirits back,
00:09:43taking it home to the homeland.
00:09:46And we're going to show up in Mankato at the hanging site on December 26th at 10 AM,
00:09:51which is the anniversary of them 38 that were hanged.
00:09:54When you have dreams, you know when they come from the Creator.
00:10:07You just know it.
00:10:09And I always know when it's a significant dream because he says,
00:10:13I've got to tell you this, you know.
00:10:15And so he gets up and he says, I've got to tell you this.
00:10:18And I don't know what it means, but, and he started telling, telling me.
00:10:24He was being directed to make these offerings around the horse.
00:10:29The horse would carry these offerings.
00:10:31And that these offerings were for all of the men that were hung in Mankato.
00:10:41Didn't know about Mankato until I had this dream in 2005.
00:10:48In his dream, he, he seen all these, the 38 basically being hung at the same time.
00:10:54And they were all reaching out, holding each other's arms.
00:11:01step round.
00:11:11Our ancestry starts over there in Mankato.
00:11:16So keep that in your heart's, keep that in your minds as we travel.
00:11:23So I love you guys very much.
00:11:25I'm a real easy man to talk to.
00:11:29I'm kind of a quiet guy.
00:11:32I pretty much keep to myself.
00:11:36But any atrocity that happened to you, any of you,
00:11:41it happened to me.
00:11:44I was sexually abused, physically abused, spiritually abused,
00:11:49emotionally abused.
00:11:52I have blood on my hands. I'm a Vietnam veteran.
00:11:57I spent time in Leavenworth.
00:12:00So I've been through the course.
00:12:07Any of you need to talk to me, call me aside.
00:12:11We're all equal in this room.
00:12:14Nobody's higher or better than anybody.
00:12:18We're all equal.
00:12:21So let's have a real beautiful ride.
00:12:25We've got a long haul ahead of us.
00:12:27I never did this before.
00:12:29I don't know what I have to expect in the next 16 days.
00:12:33But you do.
00:12:35You're my family.
00:12:37You're my family.
00:12:39This horse has the six directions that we use in our ceremonies.
00:12:53The two front legs represent the west and the north.
00:12:57The two back legs represent the east and the south.
00:13:01The head points up. The ears point up.
00:13:04It represents wakata ke.
00:13:06Up above, the tail points downwards towards Mother Earth.
00:13:11When you put those six directions together, it creates a sacred center to bring wawaka in.
00:13:19It's a sacredness that you can only have with these six directions.
00:13:22And you can pray while you're on your horse.
00:13:25You can think about a lot of things.
00:13:27Some people can remember things that ancestors went through.
00:13:31It's the horse leading the way because of its healing power.
00:13:52It feels good to walk in their steps and be on the land where they were.
00:14:11It's just a completely different energy around here.
00:14:16I feel it.
00:14:20I feel like a different person now that I came here.
00:14:23Today, we're riding because of the healing that we need to continue.
00:14:38The reservation where I'm from is the poorest county in the United States
00:14:44with an average household income of $5,000 per year.
00:14:48We also have one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
00:14:52There is something that we suffer from.
00:14:54So, basically, I'm riding for my family because they need help.
00:15:09I already lost my oldest brother.
00:15:13He passed away four years ago.
00:15:15And two of my other brothers are sitting in jail.
00:15:20My family is slowly falling apart.
00:15:22And this is why I'm doing this for them.
00:15:27And now my little brother, he's getting sent away.
00:15:34I'm wanting to go see him before he gets sent away next year.
00:15:38But I came here, and I don't regret coming here.
00:15:46So, all I can say is I'm honored to be on this ride.
00:15:51And I thank you for listening to me.
00:16:04It's just not for our Dakota people, but everybody involved.
00:16:07So, if you have horses or you want to be a part of the ride,
00:16:10I mean, come join us.
00:16:12This is our family, and we want you guys to be a part of it.
00:16:15So, thank you.
00:16:20I didn't know Mankato, like, 38 Native Americans were hung there.
00:16:25I had no idea about that.
00:16:26I'm not an American, but my mom's, like, Native Canadian up there.
00:16:30And so, like, just having a little bit of that in me and hearing this,
00:16:35it's, like, really means a lot.
00:16:38So, thank you.
00:16:41And it was pretty good, though, talking to them, you know,
00:16:45letting them know our side of the story
00:16:47and not what just came out of some book that some dude wrote,
00:16:52you know, coming from the real thing
00:16:54and from the people that are experiencing it.
00:16:59Yeah, it was pretty good.
00:17:01It was a pretty good ride, man.
00:17:03In spite of the burnt burger and the doughy pizza.
00:17:07And I really don't associate with Caucasian people.
00:17:16I don't know why.
00:17:16It's just, I don't know, I never really.
00:17:19I used to, like, when I was little,
00:17:20I had, like, different races of friends when I was little.
00:17:25Like, we might as well just put it on the table, too,
00:17:27because it's the truth, and it's the only way
00:17:29that we're going to be able to come together.
00:17:31You know, like, my people and me, and we've talked about this,
00:17:35there's a lot of racism.
00:17:37You know?
00:17:37So I think, and I'm willing to say, yeah, you know,
00:17:40I have some racist moments where I think, oh, okay, you know,
00:17:43like, they just did that because they're a white guy.
00:17:45Or they're not going to get it because they're white.
00:17:48They're just not.
00:17:49I was, like, feeling like I didn't want to be a part of this anymore
00:17:53because I was feeling like everybody was talking to me
00:17:57as, like, Dakota Sarah.
00:17:59Like, oh, well, like, you know, like, you're Dakota first.
00:18:02So I'm going to ask everything,
00:18:05all my questions based on your race.
00:18:08You have to understand there's a certain amount of curiosity
00:18:10coming into a situation.
00:18:12I mean, if someone from Africa came to me,
00:18:15they would have a million questions, I'm sure,
00:18:17about Adam the white guy, the Italian kid from Long Island.
00:18:20So the fact that the questions are getting, you know,
00:18:24directed at me makes me feel like, oh, Adam was the only one
00:18:27who was asking questions, the only one who didn't come from the heart.
00:18:31So the question is, like, oh, Adam was the only one who didn't come from the heart.
00:19:01It's supposed to be getting stormed here in the next couple days.
00:19:22It'll be real cold.
00:19:25Real cold.
00:19:26Forecast this morning said Saturday, Sunday, Monday, blizzard warnings, so.
00:19:39Not much to say.
00:19:40Well, yeah.
00:19:43I think some of the things that they're doing like this ride
00:19:47are important for their heritage.
00:19:51I think all people should be proud of who they are
00:19:53and their ancestry and their heritage.
00:19:56I'm proud I'm Norwegian.
00:20:00Golden rims.
00:20:03I got pinched out here.
00:20:05Does she know the price in there?
00:20:09How much the tire was?
00:20:11Just, hey, just don't worry about it.
00:20:14Oh, come on now.
00:20:16I got to give you something.
00:20:18Don't worry about it.
00:20:19You sure?
00:20:21Yeah.
00:20:21Appreciate it.
00:20:22I really appreciate it.
00:20:23Yeah.
00:20:24I wouldn't be so generous, but I just watched that movie Pay It Forward, so.
00:20:28I wish more of this country was that way.
00:20:35Yeah.
00:20:36Needs to go back to that.
00:20:37Yeah.
00:20:38Yeah, definitely.
00:20:40We've got too many people that are worried about the dollar
00:20:43instead of helping the human being.
00:20:44Exactly.
00:20:45Exactly.
00:20:47I'm getting back in there.
00:20:48I better go.
00:20:49Yeah.
00:20:49They're yelling at you.
00:20:50Yep.
00:20:51Just fill that up, and I'll come back out and shut that water off.
00:20:54Okay.
00:20:54Okay.
00:20:58I'll come back out and shut that water off.
00:21:12Bye.
00:21:22Bye.
00:21:23Bye.
00:21:26Bye.
00:21:27Bye.
00:21:28Extreme conditions for much of the West as we go through the next several days.
00:21:40Let's get into this bitterly cold Arctic air.
00:21:42Don't forget there'll be a windchill factor up and through here.
00:21:45I'm running in behind you.
00:21:58Some people have loaded their horses here already.
00:22:01This isn't where the horses are supposed to be today.
00:22:04We didn't get permission to do that.
00:22:06They accept us.
00:22:08This Jim... Jim...
00:22:12Krantz is his name.
00:22:14He's the county extension agent that I've been talking to.
00:22:17So he's here?
00:22:18He was here. He gave me this key.
00:22:20Okay, that's good enough.
00:22:22To water and water.
00:22:28Come on. Come on.
00:22:35Okay, I'll get some snacks together and stuff.
00:22:38Oh, that would be so awesome.
00:22:40Yeah.
00:22:41Oh, they would love that.
00:22:42Okay, sure.
00:22:43And it made me feel uncomfortable because, like in the back of my head, I always, you know,
00:22:48look at them, I was like, they're probably uncomfortable with all of us in here.
00:22:52Don't trust us too much or something.
00:22:54You know, I don't know, it's just how I always grew up.
00:22:58How much did you ride today, man?
00:23:00About...
00:23:01I don't know.
00:23:0330, 40 miles?
00:23:05How you feeling?
00:23:06Sore.
00:23:07What do you guys think of the horses?
00:23:10They're nice, but they hurt your butts.
00:23:12They hurt your butts.
00:23:14Yeah?
00:23:15Are you recording it?
00:23:17Yeah, man. You're on tape.
00:23:19Hi.
00:23:20Say hi, Will.
00:23:23Can I ride it?
00:23:26How can you get up there?
00:23:28How can you get up?
00:23:29How can you get up?
00:23:31I sure can't.
00:23:33Sorry.
00:23:34I'm not big enough to go.
00:23:36Yeah, jump on the trailer.
00:23:37Come on.
00:23:38Come on.
00:23:39This is fun!
00:23:40Woo!
00:23:41For me, I love each of you.
00:23:43These little guys here, we're doing that for them.
00:23:45Our culture is one of...
00:23:50Oral.
00:23:51Everything's passed down to us.
00:23:54Riding across there today, I was crying, coming.
00:23:55I wonder what my relatives endured when they came down on the boat.
00:24:01When we were taken off the boat.
00:24:02Our first homeland in 1863, our first home was a stockade.
00:24:06When Sitting Bull heard about that as a young man, he came on horseback.
00:24:09He came on horseback.
00:24:10And we were taken off the boat.
00:24:11When we were taken off the boat, our first homeland in 1863, our first home was a stockade.
00:24:13When Sitting Bull heard about that as a young man, he came on horseback to see how the people
00:24:21were being treated.
00:24:22And they were being treated worse than animals, I said, and that's why we were out there, we
00:24:28His home was a stockade.
00:24:32When Sitting Bull heard about that as a young man, he came on horseback to see how the people
00:24:38were being treated.
00:24:39And they were being treated worse than animals, I said, and that's why he stood his ground
00:24:44like that.
00:24:46These people call me today, there were two ceremonies that were going on back home called
00:24:52the Weepies, they said that crazy horse and Sitting Bull is riding with us.
00:25:01That means a lot to me.
00:25:19I went out with a regular pair of gloves and was out there about 15 minutes and my hands
00:25:24started to get frostbite.
00:25:26I saw the weather report and it said 45 below, 50 mile an hour winds, and it said you're taking
00:25:32your life in your own hands if you're on the road, so...
00:25:38The last time I walked with people, men and women like this, I was in a Marine Corps.
00:25:59Yesterday, you know that bad blizzard, these riders wanted to go.
00:26:06They saddled up, they warmed their horses up, we couldn't even see 50 yards.
00:26:11Cold.
00:26:12They still wanted to ride to make this trip.
00:26:25That's how important this is to us.
00:26:27So, if you don't mind, we're going to just kind of wait this out.
00:26:31Yeah.
00:26:32And then, you know, if it gets really bad, we got that quonset, you know, we can put the
00:26:36horses in there.
00:26:37There's quite a bit of room in there.
00:26:38Can we take a look?
00:26:39Yeah.
00:26:40Okay.
00:26:41Let's go do that.
00:26:42Okay.
00:26:43Let's get some panels and panel this up.
00:26:45Okay.
00:26:46Let's move the water.
00:27:03We got the horses in the Quonset, and so I came back home, and then I'd say it was like
00:27:18four o'clock or something.
00:27:20Yeah, it was late afternoon.
00:27:22Yep, when Jerry called and said, you know, where can we go to buy hay?
00:27:26Because the horses need hay.
00:27:28You know, I don't know where I'd send you.
00:27:29I know a lot of guys that got hay, but I don't think you can get there.
00:27:32But I said, you know, why don't I, I'll try.
00:27:35When he came back to the door, and he was all full of snow, and I said, what happened?
00:27:40He said, we've got to get the tractor going because I'm stuck up here in the ditch.
00:27:45He said, I didn't even make the corner.
00:27:46I thought, oh my God, if it's that bad, why are you even out?
00:27:52She gets me out, and I tell her, you know, you just need to take the tractor, go home.
00:27:57Then I take off west, and it's terrible.
00:28:00So, you know, again, I can't see anything.
00:28:02There's drifts on the road, and all of a sudden, I'm right in a ditch again, and this
00:28:07is over a mile from home.
00:28:09And he called me, and he said, how are you doing?
00:28:12And I said, not very good right now.
00:28:16I said, I'm in a ditch.
00:28:18He said, what?
00:28:19And I said, yep, I ran in a ditch trying to get to town.
00:28:23It's crazy, man.
00:28:24It's like, holy, I never really thought of those people doing something like that, you
00:28:30know?
00:28:31She went out in the tractor and found him somehow in that blizzard.
00:28:36You almost can't top that as far as support or commitment to what we're doing.
00:28:45All the way from Marty, South Dakota, do we have any choktas in the house?
00:28:57Follow me, Mark.
00:28:58Follow me, Ron.
00:29:00Whenever I'm away from you, I always get these lovesick blues.
00:29:06Never leave me.
00:29:08All my brothers.
00:29:38We come with a message of forgiveness and healing, and we all got to share this planet
00:30:00together.
00:30:01Well, that's the purpose of your ride is to, you know, have some reconciliation.
00:30:05You think that's already happening, maybe, in some ways.
00:30:09Oh, no doubt.
00:30:10I had an outpouring of support and love.
00:30:13Wessington Springs, they end at Howard.
00:30:16So I give my blessings to them, and we pray for them.
00:30:19Thank you very much.
00:30:20Yeah.
00:30:21Very well done.
00:30:21Appreciate it.
00:30:22Yeah.
00:30:22That was wonderful.
00:30:23Yeah.
00:30:25We'll get that microphone up here, too, and we'll let you.
00:30:28Thanks a lot.
00:30:29That was good.
00:30:29Do everything else you needed.
00:30:30You did a good job.
00:30:32I love you guys, and you guys have a good day.
00:30:37Oh, you as well.
00:30:38We'll be around.
00:30:39We've got lots of good pictures to get here today.
00:30:41Okay.
00:30:42You bet.
00:30:43Have a safe ride.
00:30:44You bet.
00:30:44I will.
00:30:44Yeah.
00:30:46Yeah, this is awesome.
00:30:48To hear someone who's, you know, not angry at all and says, you know, this is about forgiveness.
00:30:54Wow.
00:30:55It's not what I expected.
00:30:56There's a lot of racism in this state.
00:30:58There are a lot of people that are against state Americans who kind of don't make any bones about it.
00:31:06It's okay to be who you are.
00:31:08You're Native, and you should be proud of it no matter what tribe you're from.
00:31:12Get to know your history because we are an awesome people, and you guys should be so proud of that.
00:31:20And I was in an eight-by-five cell, and it was hard.
00:31:32It was really hard.
00:31:33And I shed some tears in there.
00:31:34They said, men don't cry, but we do.
00:31:38It takes a real man to cry.
00:31:39And, uh, thank you.
00:31:45The reason why I'm doing this journey is so I can maybe help one of you in this room today.
00:31:51Because our people are lost, and it's up to us to keep our language and our culture alive.
00:31:56We have to be the leaders because we're the next generation, and it's up to us.
00:32:01If not, our culture is gone.
00:32:03Our language is gone.
00:32:05And the makaija of the youth, the next generation, they won't.
00:32:07They'll be lost.
00:32:08They'll have nothing to turn to.
00:32:10November 26th, I celebrated a year of drugs and alcohol.
00:32:14And it's just, uh, I ain't gonna lie.
00:32:16Sometimes I feel like using, you know.
00:32:17I get around my old buddies back home and say, oh, come on, have a beer with us.
00:32:22Let's go, let's go get high.
00:32:23And I got this joint, you know.
00:32:25But I choose to pray and go to sweat lodges.
00:32:29During the summertime, we attend sun dances, and it's hard.
00:32:33Growing up where I'm from, you know, Pine Ridge, it's a hard place to live.
00:32:36They call it poverty plains, you know, but we choose to live like that, you know.
00:32:40Now, me riding is to make, hopefully, make a change for our youth so that they won't have to grow up in a society that we grew up in today.
00:32:56Knock, knock.
00:32:57I got caught speeding, and he left me behind.
00:33:09They turned the lights on him, so I drove around him.
00:33:13With the trees, it's parked.
00:33:19Any suggestions from life here, boss?
00:33:21My main concern is, like, the A-80.
00:33:30And West Asia Canada.
00:33:36Again, for my family from here, you know, it's good to see everybody in.
00:33:40And my main thing was to see you guys laughing, fed, and all that stuff like that, so, you know, I extend my thanks.
00:33:49And you guys are coming over this hill down here, but this little town, Eden, that was, that was what I got afraid of.
00:33:55Man, these semis on 34, you know, they're going to come flying over, and it's cold and icy, so I just stayed up there, you know.
00:34:04And I see the vehicle trying to slow them down.
00:34:14This is a lady right here.
00:34:16This is a step.
00:34:16She has been really great in doing the, uh, coordinating so much of the food, the health, the whole works.
00:34:25She's been fantastic.
00:34:26I had food coming all morning to my house, so my truck was loaded.
00:34:38Yeah, there was not even a question.
00:34:39As soon as we heard about it, we got the email, we responded back right away and said, yeah, count us in.
00:34:43We'll, we'll help out, so.
00:34:45When they marched the 38 to be hung, you know, they marched, um, to Manicato, and then after they hung them, they buried them in a mass grave.
00:34:52And the doctors from the local area, they dug up the bodies and used them for science.
00:35:02So, when we learn that history, then, then it's really hard.
00:35:06I own all the land back here.
00:35:22I'm just curious what is going on.
00:35:24I've seen all the trailers here.
00:35:26I grew up in Minnesota, and I had no idea that there had been a hanging of 38 warriors.
00:35:32And then the boarding schools, of course, to try to turn all the Indians into white people, and their spiritual ceremonies were illegal until 1978.
00:35:44Maybe U.S. White America will reach, or maybe is reaching, the point where they can start acknowledging what really happened in this country.
00:35:58They can acknowledge the massive land theft, 3 billion acres within the continental United States.
00:36:06Maybe they cannot acknowledge the broken treaties, over 400 of them broken and violated by the United States of America and its U.S. Euro-American citizenry.
00:36:17Maybe they can acknowledge the genocide that occurred, 16 million Native people within the continental United States, around 1,500.
00:36:29And by four centuries later, 1,900, the U.S. Bureau of Census said there's 237,000 left in the U.S.
00:36:39What happened?
00:36:40I can feel that there's nothing left to be concealed.
00:36:49I'm moving on, it seems surreal.
00:36:53No, my heart will never, will never be far from here.
00:37:00Sure as I'm breathing, sure as I'm sad,
00:37:04I'll keep this wisdom in my flesh
00:37:08I'll leave here believing more than I had
00:37:13And there's a reason I'll be, a reason I'll be bad
00:37:20As I walk through the hemisphere
00:37:28I got my wish to up and disappear
00:37:32I've been wounded, I've been healed
00:37:38Now for landing, I've been, landing
00:37:42I've been feeling
00:37:43Sure as I'm breathing, sure as I'm...
00:37:48It's like my brother and I, we grew up shaking hands with everybody.
00:37:51Whether you've seen them last night or, you know, stick that old black paw out there.
00:37:56Let somebody shake that thing for you, you shake it back.
00:38:00And when you've got love in your heart, they feel that love.
00:38:04It could be the most bitter SOB there, but, you know, he'll cool off and slow down.
00:38:12Like I said, we don't discriminate against anybody on this ride.
00:38:17Anybody's welcome.
00:38:18I was always scared to tell people that I loved them, and I'm not anymore.
00:38:27So, I just want to tell you guys I love you, and thank you for being here.
00:38:33I know it's hard, but let me know if you need anything.
00:38:36I'm more than willing to help the doc, yes, and...
00:38:40I know something's in there.
00:38:43No, it's her ankle.
00:38:45That one guy said he saw her step in a crack.
00:38:48Yeah, it's her ankle.
00:38:57Well, she ain't gonna make this ride.
00:39:00I am, you may not know it, because I don't tell very many people, but I'm 100% combat-related disabled.
00:39:18I'm 100%
00:39:30Jim knows what I'm talking about.
00:39:31As a Vietnam combat veteran, my PTSD really kicked in today.
00:39:52It's a post-traumatic stress disorder.
00:39:56I'm 100% disabled,
00:39:58and the doctors tell me not to be on the horse.
00:40:05Today, it's really kicking in.
00:40:28I'm glad you guys let me be part of this.
00:40:37Oh, let me talk to you.
00:40:37I'm glad you guys are here.
00:40:39I'm glad you guys are here.
00:40:53I'm glad you guys are here.
00:40:54With that wawaka inside those six directions,
00:40:56you place a man or a woman on a horse,
00:40:59you give it the seventh direction,
00:41:01which is the chokata,
00:41:03the center of all things.
00:41:04It represents mitakaya wass.
00:41:08Everything is related and balanced.
00:41:11And you put that all together,
00:41:13and you move forward,
00:41:14you're able to create power as you go.
00:41:19So that was their justification for going to war.
00:41:23That it was either to defend themselves
00:41:29rather than starve to death.
00:41:33I learned a lot about the 38 plus 2
00:41:37because while I was on that ride,
00:41:39I could really look into the past
00:41:41while you're sitting on that horse,
00:41:44and it makes you realize you have a lot of time to think.
00:41:46I'm glad you didn't realize you not.
00:42:00She was filled with the love of the Lord.
00:42:11She was a man who raised his mind.
00:42:14She was a man who never had a man
00:42:18She was a man who's going to come to meet him.
00:42:22She was a man who lived with the wife.
00:42:26She was a man who lived with the and her life.
00:42:30They say that the spirits are the ones that lead the people there in front of that staff.
00:42:58They're the ones taking us through this cold weather.
00:43:02These elements, they say these elements are a part of life.
00:43:13We didn't realize how inspirational this was going to be.
00:43:17If they would bless us by coming back again some year, we would really welcome them.
00:43:23We hope it's an annual event, but we hope the weather is a little bit more cooperative.
00:43:53We wanted to put welcome to our farm on it, but we didn't know how to spell it or how
00:44:14to say it, so he came up with the word for thank you.
00:44:19We thought we could park all the vehicles, we have lots of land, and we have pasture
00:44:23for the horses and a shop to feed everybody.
00:44:26We just thought it was just a really neat thing you're doing and a good message for the season
00:44:30and something we wanted our kids to experience with all of you.
00:44:35We thought it would be more personal here.
00:44:37So I'm going to sing the song on behalf of my relatives here to honor you today for the
00:44:44grateful thing that you have done for us.
00:44:46I'm going to sing it for you.
00:44:53I'm just going to go for it.
00:45:00Oh, he's going to sing it for you.
00:45:04I'm going to sing it for you.
00:45:38We couldn't even see, like, I mean, the cars couldn't even see, the horses were, like, doing this, like, faces, the wind's coming from this way and everybody's going this. Julian stops, gets out, we're shutting it down, we're shutting it down, everybody gets off their horses, they're not room enough in the car. I look over, there, Gus's, like, truck is, and trailer is in a ditch, over, like, things going terribly wrong, and it didn't need to happen, man. It, like, it just, have a conversation, talk about it.
00:46:08We have two days of rest, the 21st and the 22nd. Today is the 20th, right? You don't ride today. You wait for the storm to pass, Saturday and Sunday, like, you know, the weather report said it was going to be horrible, and then you ride on the day's of rest.
00:46:20He hit the ditch back there.
00:46:23There's no room for our horses.
00:46:25Yeah, you got to make arrangements, you're going to haul horses there, you know, you're going to stop it, you got to haul them back.
00:46:31Shit, man.
00:46:32You just got to stop, stop.
00:46:33Jesse, what are you going to do?
00:46:34I don't know, I got to have my horse safe, not out in the middle of the road.
00:46:40Makes complete sense to me, but since I'm not involved in this, I'm not a leader, I can't...
00:46:44You are a leader, Adam.
00:46:46We are all leaders.
00:46:47Yeah, we're all leaders, come on.
00:46:48That's a great saying, and I'd like to believe that.
00:46:52All we're doing here is a lack of communication.
00:46:56That's all we have.
00:46:57I told you guys, when we first started, I'm only the person that had the dream.
00:47:05So I try to step back, and I try to let these leaders step up.
00:47:18Could have made it easy.
00:47:21Yeah, they do.
00:47:22The thing about that is, you want to save some lives, too.
00:47:24Yeah, yeah.
00:47:27This girl got kicked.
00:47:28I saw that.
00:47:29She got kicked this morning.
00:47:30You see it?
00:47:31The little girl got kicked by Chris's horse.
00:47:35Oh, there he is.
00:47:36Right in the hand.
00:47:37Right across the knuckles.
00:47:42Where I come from, everybody's mostly still mad about what happened, and, you know,
00:47:48that's probably another reason why I don't really get along with Caucasian people.
00:47:56It's because of the 38?
00:47:58Yeah.
00:47:58Yeah.
00:48:18They rose up to defend themselves, starving to death, to protect their land, their way
00:48:31of life, and their people.
00:48:36Was it wrong to defend ourselves?
00:48:42That's the question.
00:48:43Within weeks, 500 whites, settlers, soldiers, and government agents were dead, along with
00:48:53a smaller but unknown number of Indians.
00:48:57There were pretty horrendous deeds done on both parts.
00:49:01I mean, some immigrant from Germany who wasn't privy to the signing of Traverse to Sioux treaty
00:49:07was probably pretty shocked to see his wife's, you know, womb cut open, a baby taken out
00:49:12and brained against a tree, just as later when new-owned people attacked the Indians and killed
00:49:17a woman's child in front of her.
00:49:19You know, there's no heroes here.
00:49:21It was just, it was an ugly situation.
00:49:25When I think about Abraham Lincoln, that's hard to swallow because he freed the slaves,
00:49:32but yet really succumbed to pressure from the people to hang, you know, there were supposed
00:49:40to be 300, over 300 that were supposed to be executed, but he reduced it to 38, you know.
00:49:52We say this is a spiritual right.
00:49:54We say, we're going to be the first ones to ask for forgiveness.
00:50:02We want to say our apologies as the natives.
00:50:07We want to step up and say, hey, you know, we apologize.
00:50:12So we're going to be the first ones to forgive what happened when they hung our ancestors in
00:50:191862.
00:50:20We're going to be the first ones to forgive.
00:50:24You know, I have
00:50:54anger in my heart too and i took care of it the best i can and i feel like i i've done pretty
00:51:00good in the last 10 years moved forward pretty good and it's time to let those things go and
00:51:07press forward you know in a positive way
00:51:19you know poncho and i are the ones who are interacting with the family talking with eli
00:51:22talking with taylor the daughter she just facebooked me talking with brady you know
00:51:27because other if we don't if we're not talking with them uh everybody else you know within it
00:51:33within my opinion of the native community is doing their own little thing in in the corners
00:51:38dave said he's never been into a white person's home and he's from system
00:51:42you know and that's where all those guys are from i so it's probably hard for them i know it's hard
00:51:48for them but those people could not have made it easier and i'm not saying they how what they
00:51:52were feeling or but this family like they had won't beat up for peace on their shirts with a horse
00:51:59in rainbow letters it could not have said like welcome with their names on the back i mean they
00:52:03went to a lot of trouble for this yeah i don't know if they normally walk around with that or they did
00:52:07it for this ride but they had you know the whole they had the whole thing going i feel like we let
00:52:13them down a little bit actually yeah as a community i don't know it's just how i was grew up
00:52:20not having them trust us or thinking we're going to steal something or you know something was going
00:52:25to go missing and they're going to blame us so i didn't i didn't really feel comfortable stopping at
00:52:30all those houses i mean it's cool that they did they did that man i like that a lot
00:52:35you know it's pretty crazy how it all worked out for the horses and for us
00:52:55excited yeah you're part of this group now so like don't be afraid to tell them how you feel because
00:53:02they don't know that you know to like do it publicly is a big yeah but it's a big thing but
00:53:09now you're part of the group so but but am i do you know what i'm saying yeah i feel like i am but then
00:53:18it's kind of like you know am i
00:53:33a lot of us uh are getting sore throats and headaches and stuff and it's kind of hard to
00:53:41be in this climate if we're not used to it and i know the canadians they don't care they go around
00:53:44naked i've seen i've seen uh carl walking down the creek with just a blanket on this morning
00:53:53he was going to chop a hole nice and take a bath he said
00:54:00but i think one of our leaders here made a some medicine in that container over there feel free to
00:54:07get some especially now when it's really warm and that's uh us guys take medicine as hard as we can take it
00:54:14i mean i don't want this ride to end
00:54:44our people
00:54:54suffer from something
00:54:55an elderly woman a full-blood dakota from where i'm from in crow creek
00:55:04i was with her one time and uh a lot of bad things were going on a lot of bad things and i had asked
00:55:11her uh why does this always happen to us why do we do these things to each other why does it always happen
00:55:20and she didn't say nothing she was driving a car for a while
00:55:23i looked over and she was crying and she said in her language ioki shicha
00:55:34a deep embedded genetic depression see our people at one time the dakota people are all
00:55:42native americans had a very strong connection with the creator a very strong connection with mother earth
00:55:50a very strong connection with nature the forces of nature all living things on this planet and all
00:55:58this was taken from us like that and we lost this connection with everything that we had
00:56:10that's where this depression comes from a lot of our people are severely depressed they don't even know it
00:56:16that this depression is just now clinically diagnosed as the same thing soldiers suffer from when they
00:56:23return from combat
00:56:46so
00:56:53so
00:56:55so
00:56:57so
00:56:58so
00:56:59In 1967, in 1968, I served in a place called Vietnam.
00:57:25Why you young people don't know where that's at?
00:57:31And at that time, I took 38 lives, had no connection, didn't make no connection with Mankato, didn't
00:57:48know about Mankato until I had this dream in 2005.
00:57:55There was 38 that were hung, and how does that all tie in?
00:58:04I can't say that I know, I mean, I really don't.
00:58:07But he had an experience around the fire, which I'm not going to go into deeply because
00:58:15it's his experience, which clearly showed him some things that he needed to do to release
00:58:23the 38 Vietnamese men that had been killed, you know, killed by him.
00:58:28And all of this was told to him by his mother, and his mother passed away when he was 10.
00:58:39But she came out of the fire and told him he needed to do this.
00:58:43I'm kind of an emotional guy.
00:59:07Those coming down the road, my boarding school days kicked in.
00:59:18My days in Vietnam kicked in, riding into the city.
00:59:23So all my abandonment issues, the hurts and the pains that I went through coming down the
00:59:32highway this morning.
00:59:38I was wondering what our people went through the day before the hanging.
00:59:42What were their thoughts?
00:59:48Their feelings?
00:59:51In the early hours of Friday, the 26th, as the time of the execution approached, some of
00:59:58the Dakota men lay sleeping on the floor.
01:00:02At dawn, many of the condemned men said goodbye to their captors in a display that fascinated
01:00:07the reporters.
01:00:10They shook hands with the officers who came in among them, bidding them goodbye as if they
01:00:14were going on a long and pleasant journey.
01:00:16And they all wanted their medicine man to speak on their behalf.
01:00:24The words are, don't let your heart be sad, we're going to see each other again.
01:00:30And when we see each other again, your heart and my heart is going to be so happy it's going
01:00:34to cry when we come together again.
01:00:35when we come together again.
01:00:36That's what the song says.
01:00:38That's what the song says.
01:01:09It was the day after Christmas when they hung them.
01:01:10You know, that's terrible.
01:01:11That's something very terrible to do during such a sacred time.
01:01:14You know, and those are things that we're slowly trying to wipe away.
01:01:20And it's working.
01:01:21And so, the ceremony continues as we eat tonight.
01:01:27Get up in the morning and get our horses, have our ceremonies, and stuff.
01:01:30And Yoroslaw, who elected Abrahan, would have been exchanged for a day.
01:01:32Just one of those things we've had, we have an Leroy, who have made this task away.
01:01:33It was the day after Christmas, when they hung them.
01:01:34You know, that's terrible.
01:01:35That's something very terrible to do during such a sacred time.
01:01:37You know, and those are things that we're slowly trying to wipe away.
01:01:43And it's working.
01:01:45And so, the ceremony continues as we eat tonight.
01:01:52Get up in the morning and get our horses.
01:01:55and have our ceremonies and start our final ride to the hanging site.
01:02:15For this event, for the memory of the 38 Dakota,
01:02:18not only do we have a horse ride, we also have a run.
01:02:24Not only are we remembering, we're honouring our ancestors
01:02:27and those that have passed and struggled before us.
01:02:37It means a lot to me.
01:02:39We're kind of tracing through the footsteps of the 38 Dakota
01:02:44plus two that had to go through this,
01:02:46so we're kind of, I don't know how to explain it,
01:02:49but we're kind of going back through that experience again.
01:02:54I've always believed in, you know, that they're watching over us.
01:03:02You know, like, you know, it's not just us out there running.
01:03:05So that's just kind of the way I see it.
01:03:08We know our history and it hurts, but we're no longer in that prison no more.
01:03:13Reconciliation means something to everybody.
01:03:16I think it's a collective.
01:03:18And we actually also had the opportunity to catch the run.
01:03:22We ran for two miles at about 3 a.m.
01:03:25So it's been quite an adventure for the five of us who were there last night.
01:03:29So thank you to the riders.
01:03:31Thank you to the runners.
01:03:32Thank you, Jake.
01:03:33Thank you, brother.
01:03:34Yeah!
01:03:35Hey, sister!
01:03:36Thank you, sister!
01:03:37On that fateful day, they were let out of the prison compound.
01:03:58They were shackled and chained together.
01:04:01They had hoods on them.
01:04:04The women began waiting and weeping.
01:04:10One of the prisoners in a loud voice said,
01:04:13hear me, my people.
01:04:16Today is not a day of defeat.
01:04:22It is a day of victory.
01:04:24For we have made our peace with our Creator
01:04:27and now go to be with Him forever.
01:04:30Remember this day to tell our children so they can tell their children
01:04:35that we are people who die in over death.
01:04:40Do not mourn for us.
01:04:43Rejoice with us.
01:04:44It's a good day to God.
01:04:55And then he lifted up his voice and began singing.
01:05:00Let's pray for all the people who die in the country,
01:05:07and lookin' in.
01:05:08To the people who die in the country.
01:05:14In!
01:05:17In!
01:05:19In!
01:05:24Help me! Help me! Help me!
01:05:54This is your research.
01:06:12I just want to tell all of you that I love you.
01:06:34We're doing this for our children, our grandchildren, and I want to thank all of you that helped
01:06:45me fulfill this dream.
01:06:48It's been a blessing for our people.
01:06:54Fifty-three years ago, I entered first grade, and I was taught nothing but misinformation
01:07:03about the people that preceded me on this land.
01:07:06And it wasn't until the 1980s, when I walked into my first powwow at the Land of Memories,
01:07:13when I realized that I didn't know anything except lies, for the most part.
01:07:19And so I started that day to listen.
01:07:23Whereas the Dakota people lived in unity with the land for many years long before the European
01:07:27people came, and whereas the Dakota people have suffered unimaginable hardship over a
01:07:33long period of time as the land and riches they once had were gradually removed from
01:07:38their control.
01:07:40And whereas the Dakota people have many times been forcibly relocated at the whim of the
01:07:45United States government, and whereas one outcome of their trials was the largest mass
01:07:50execution ever recorded in U.S. history, during which 38 Dakota were hanged.
01:07:55And whereas the Dakota people have put forth tremendous effort in an attempt to continue
01:08:00to heal from their suffering over all these years.
01:08:04And whereas the people of this community welcome the Dakota people to be part of our community
01:08:11today and always.
01:08:14And whereas the people of this community recognize the responsibility we must bear in this healing
01:08:19process.
01:08:21And whereas the people of this community wish to be part of the healing process as the wounds
01:08:26begin to close.
01:08:29Now therefore, in recognition of the tremendous contribution made by the Dakota people toward
01:08:33that healing process to our community and communities in the region, I, John D. Brady,
01:08:38Mayor of the City of Mankato, Minnesota, do hereby proclaim December 26, 2008 to be Dakota
01:08:43Reconciliation Wokiksuyei Day.
01:08:48And in the sense of true reconciliation, I just want to say, welcome back to your home.
01:08:56I have just one little thing and then I'll let you go.
01:09:13Just a little symbolism of that welcoming.
01:09:14I'm going to also offer Jim a key to the city of Mankato.
01:09:24It's a key that opens no locks, it only opens hearts.
01:09:29Thank you very much.
01:09:36I think each and every one of you here in this room, I think the city of Mankato hope this
01:09:45opens a jail cell or two.
01:09:46I'm going to pass this staff on, I have two extra feathers for the two Dakota that were
01:10:10hung two years later and I want to present them to him also.
01:10:17We are going to keep this going from here, forever, we're going to keep this ride going.
01:10:28There's a bald eagle just after he started singing, it was soaring just above us there.
01:10:36To see that, to see something like that would, you know, would make you cry.
01:10:45Make any man cry to see something like that, you know, happening because this is real.
01:10:51You know, it's not going to end for me, I'm just going to keep the happiness with me, you
01:10:57know.
01:10:58I'm not going to like, once this ride ends, I ain't going to leave my emotions right there
01:11:02and just go back home to what I was doing.
01:11:04You know, I'm going to take it with me, it's going to come home with me.
01:11:08We've got to strive for that reconciliation.
01:11:14Let's go home and reconcile our families, our differences.
01:11:19Let's go home and hug our children, tell them that we love them.
01:11:40Let's go home.
01:11:47We'll go home, let's go.
01:12:02Let's go home.
01:12:05Oh, oh, oh, oh.
01:12:35Oh, oh, oh, oh.
01:13:05Oh, oh, oh, oh.
01:13:35Oh, oh, oh.
01:14:05Oh, oh, oh.
01:14:35Oh, oh, oh.
01:15:05Oh, oh, oh.
01:15:35Oh, oh, oh, oh.
01:16:05Oh, oh, oh.
01:16:35Oh, oh, oh, oh.
01:17:05Oh, oh, oh, oh.
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