The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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May 12, 2008

Our View: Reconciling versions of history

It is no surprise that American Indians take a different view as Minnesota kicks off its sesquicentennial celebration.

At events Sunday in St. Paul to mark the state’s 150 years, Indian protesters for a time blocked a commemorative wagon train. They carried signs decrying the history of Fort Snelling, which was used to jail Indians, and they carried a scaffolding with 38 nooses to signify the hanging of 38 Dakota in Mankato in 1862.

The protesters said they wanted to highlight the tragic history of Indians in the forming of the state, including broken treaties, imprisonment and mistreatment before and after statehood.

The Indian story is particularly poignant in this area, where the war between the Dakota and U.S. military and the mass execution marked one of the bloodiest eras of early American history.

Indians have reason for suspicion about how their history is portrayed. Even the state’s seal — for more than a century — showed an Indian, spear pointed down, riding away from a white settler and into the sunset. Not until the 1980s was the seal revised, now showing the Indian carrying the hunting spear proudly, turned up, and riding south.

The Mankato area has for decades worked hard to deal with the inaccuracies of history, thanks in large part to a group of Dakota and Mankato area residents who set out on a years-long reconciliation effort. Older history and textbooks that portrayed a one-sided story of blood-thirsty savages versus valiant settlers have been replaced with books and stories showing a balanced view.

It’s a complex story of broken promises, the clash of incompatible ways of life and atrocities, bravery and honor on both sides.

The Indian history is, of course, only part of the state’s history.

Still, as the state, and particularly southern Minnesota, celebrate 150 years, the history of the relationship between Indians and whites is worthy of fuller understanding. It’s a good time for all of us to take the time to read and talk about the early events that shaped our region.

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