'Warriors, the healing has started': Native Americans ride for 16 days to remember 38 Dakota men killed in largest execution in US history
Warriors wearing feathered headdresses rode for 16 days from South Dakota to commemorate 38 of their ancestors hanged 150 years ago in the largest execution in US history.
Hundreds of other Native Americans joined them at their destination - a new memorial in Mankato, Minnesota - including runners who had travelled 74 miles from Fort Snelling.
The 'Dakota 38' were executed in at the end of 1862's US-Dakota war, one of the bitterest land disputes in American history.
Dakota/Lakota leader Arvol Looking Horse said the vigil marked 'a new beginning of healing'.
Originally, 303 men were sentenced to be hanged, but President Abraham Lincoln granted all but 38 a reprieve. Some Native Americans believe he was wrong to order any hangings, however, and that several of the men were innocent of wrongdoing.
The names of those killed have now been inscribed on the new Reconciliation Park monument, along with a poem and a prayer.
Yesterday, 60 riders, including some tribe members who rode for 16 days from South Dakota, were among around 500 people on hand for the dedication of a new 'Dakota 38' memorial.
A traditional drum group sang a song composed for the 38 Dakota, to the pounding of a large drum.
Mankato Mayor Eric Anderson read a proclamation declaring this the year of 'forgiveness and understanding.'
Dakota/Lakota leader Arvol Looking Horse said: 'Today, being here to witness a great gathering, we have peace in our hearts - a new beginning of healing.'
Sidney Byrd, a Dakota/Lakota elder from Flandreau, S.D., read out the names of the 38 men who were hanged in the native Dakota language, according to The Free Press of Mankato.
'I'm proud to be with you today,' he said. 'My great-grandfather was one of those who paid the supreme price for our freedom.'
Byrd's great-grandfather was among the Dakota originally sentenced to death who were given reprieves by Lincoln. The men were sent from a prison in Mankato to one in Davenport, Iowa, where many died from squalid conditions.
The Dakota behind the new memorial and the 'ride and run' have used the mantra 'forgive everyone everything' to mark the 150th anniversary. Those words will be engraved in stone benches to be placed around the new memorial next summer.
'This is a great day, not only for the Dakota but for the city of Mankato,' said Bud Lawrence of Mankato, who helped start a reconciliation effort in the 1970s.
State Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, who co-chairs a state task force commemorating the Civil War and US-Dakota War, said that while progress has been made through reconciliation and education, there remains a lack of understanding about what led up to the war and the problems that the Dakota suffered long afterward.
'Through understanding comes a healing that is still continuing today,' he said.
Richard Milda, of the Crow Agency in Montana, was among a small group of riders who made the entire trip from Lower Brule, S.D., to Mankato. It is the third year he has taken part in the ride.
He said he 'was attracted to its message of forgiveness and remembrance.'
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Beauty, love, healing & forgiveness to all of us, living and those that have crossed over. I pray this healing will spread to every corner of Indian Country. Today I am thanking the Creator for this opportunity, I thank all of you for your journey and for bringing attention to the need for healing and forgiveness...we are grateful.Love, love. Your Yurok Sister Stand With You
I WAS BORN IN WALES UK BUT FROM A YOUNG CHILD ALWAY,S FELT IN MY HEART AND MIND TO BE AN INDIAN . THE SPIRIT WITHIN ME THE WHITE WOLF. AS ALWAYS IT HAS BEEN IN MY DREAM AND AT MY SIDE TO PROTECT ME, EVEN MORE THE THE FEELINGS I HAVE WHEN I SEE INDIANS OR WOLVES ESPECIALY THE WHITE WOLF PULLS OUT SO MUCH FROM MY HEART .I FEEL LIKE A LOST SPIRIT IN MY COUNTRY OF BIRTH .I WISH WELL IN YOUR ENDEVOUS AND ALL YOUR NATION HAS TO DO.THE GREAT CREATOR IS WITH YOU IN YOUR JUST JOURNEY . DAVID..
What more can one say ? "FORGIVE EVERYONE EVRYTHING." Why can't we find the wisdom & courage in this 'US nation' to proclaim this. Nevertheless,for me,message & blessing recieved,heart opens. Great Blessings to you Teachers and Gatekeepers.You show us much thru word and deed. I am w/you in spirit on your winter journeys each year. O MITAKUYE OSIN!
Forgiveness comes with the recognition of the past..The atrocities continue throughout the world by the same people telling you to forgive.. This government won't recognize the atrocities they commit everyday in the name of terrorism...Finding forgiveness for oneself is important...Not for the murderers and oppressors of humanity...
Onesided forgiveness is lopsided justice. I honor and respect your quest to remember your fallen ancestors. I have no such feelings towards those who committed the murders of your kinsmen for greed and hatred of anyone different.
I ride in Spirit with the horses of Gus High Eagle and all people who follow what he has been doing for over 30 years. The riders will be making a historic ride to New York next year to meet up with the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign, another historic canoe journey down the Hudson River. The Riders will be in the Hudson Valley to join with The Six Nations and their horses as well.
I think there should be remembrance but not forgiveness without the perpetrators expressing remorse. There needs to be justice.
Iam finding out about myself and have found to have Lakota me my past, I have always lived the life of the 'RED MAN' ,and been proud of what I am,and i Honor my people who have went before us,I have showed my children the ways of the people so they may carry on way to help them in this world and to be proud of who and what you are,
The perpetrators of this act are long gone to their maker. Charging their children with the crime goes beyond comprehension. Forgive, and move on creating a future without dwelling on the past.
THE END OF THE MAYAN CALENDER DID NOT MEAN THE END OF THE WORLD. I BELIEVE IT MEANS AN END OF THIS TIME PERIOD AND THE START OF A NEW SPIRITUAL AWAKENING. THE OLD WORLD IS GONE AND FORGIVENESS AND INNER SPIRITUAL STRENGTH BEGINS
While according to government laws I don't have enough Cherokee blood in me to count, my heart is Cherokee. My family did not join the Trail of Tears and tried to deny their heritage. It is heart breaking when we think back to how the Native American's have been treated as 3rd class people not even worthy of citizenship. Stand strong! I believe Antonio Jr. Ponce comment speaks the truth!
I admire you so much, I learn that justice is not made by any man... so I don't worry for justice, it's important to learn to forgive, It's good to know there are so many people with good feellings :)
I have held pain when I see or read anything that has happened to the Native tribes in the US I still cry at the in- justice caused But as horrible as the suffering may have been anger fixes nothing. To forgive is stronger than anything to Love is the ultimate feeling shared. Do not hate all white people for the past of their ancestors nor yours. Do not feel sorry for yourselves in drugs and alcohol or violence, but stand strong and educate yourselves on how to help each other for from knowledge comes the strength to be strong. I compare you to the Jews of Egypt their struggle their sufferings. The great number of Martyrs and I see that only you can change and want to change for your generations to come, this Ride of Reconciliation(Forgivness) is a good thing I am honored to have joined.
May i ask how many stops along the way? Or what day are they suppose ti arrive in mankoto. I would like to possibly join the ride from morton Mn.??