Staff Writer- Evangelyn Hill
Soren Sackreiter
On Tuesday, Feb. 3rd, Gustavus, co-sponsored by the Environmental Action Coalition, will be hosting a film screening and Q&A, featuring the documentary Dakota 38+2 and Gustavus’s Dakota Elder-in-Residence, Wilfrid Keeble. There will be two showings located in the Wallenberg Auditorium, one from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and one from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m..
“The film is the story of how a group of Dakota, who were exiled in 1862 from this place where we live now, have been honoring history and pursuing healing by holding an annual 330-mile horse ride in December. December! The riders begin on their reservation in South Dakota, and end in Mankato, where 38 Dakota men were hanged in the country’s largest mass execution. Their journey takes them through many hardships, but also shows the forgiveness and hope they find as they meet people along the way,” EGE Professor and EAC faculty advisor Laura Triplett explained.
The film screening is free and open to students and the public. Scandinavian studies professor Ursula Lindqvist encourages all students to attend. She is the leader of a college-wide grant project, “Storytelling and Sensemaking at a Settler Institution: Walking a Shared Path with Dakota Neighbors,” and has worked closely with Keeble to set up this film screening and Q&A.
“It’s a very powerful film because it includes interviews with a lot of Dakota youths who have never really had positive experiences interacting with non-native people… and are kind of astounded by some of the kindness and openness that they encounter along the way [during the horse ride]. People who open up their homes to the Dakota riders. It’s a beautiful testimony, but it’s also important to acknowledge the reason for that, the historical and generational trauma that has prevented those kinds of connections in the past, and to really think about how we can try to heal moving forward… especially when most Dakota people live in exile,” Lindqvist described. “I think that’s something people forget… There’s still a federal law on the books—it’s never been rescinded-–that declares that Dakota people are not allowed to live in Minnesota. And no one enforces that law officially… but at the time it was passed, they literally kicked everyone out… so the fact that they’re willing to come back here and tell us their stories, it’s extremely generous, and we need to show up and listen.”
Keeble described the origins of the Dakota 38+2 commemorative ride (now called the Makotah Reconciliation and Healing Horse-Ride).
“It started from a dream of my older brother–of a ride going to Minnesota, from Crow Creek Agency in South Dakota, and going across to Mankato. Dakota people, we believe in dreams–Crazy Horse had a dream… and wouldn’t get touched in battle… So Dakota’s dreams are real. My brother had this dream, so he needed to fulfil it. Before he did the ride, he went around to all the Dakota bands… South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Canada, and here in Minnesota… he went around and talked to people about his dream and doing the ride, so he got Dakota people involved in it before he did anything.”
As Keeble explained, the horse ride (and the subsequent documentary) is deeply tied to the larger Dakota community. The ride also involves non-native people, as Lindqvist pointed out, and seeks to continue involving the greater Minnesota community.
Lindqvist said that Elder Keeble is “very devoted to passing along this ceremony and this knowledge to the next generation–and this means both Dakota and settler descendants.” In other words, “He really cares about young people.”
Triplett echoed that sentiment, saying, “I know many students are curious about the Dakota people. They want to know the history of how the Dakota were displaced, and what their lives are like now… Our Dakota Elder-in-Residence, Wilfred Keeble, really wants students to hear this story. He specifically asked for you! He wants to know you, and he wants you to know him and his people.”
As Keeble explained the purpose of the documentary (and, in extension, the horse ride), he said that the main purpose was simply healing.
“Right now, there’s this thing going on in Indian country… We call it generational trauma, post traumatic stress disorder, historical trauma, assimilation, removal process, all bundled up into behavioral health… Where did we get it? We trace it back to its origin: boarding school, reservation life, westward expansion… What is it? It’s identity theft, brainwashing, and killing. That isn’t us…” Keeble said. “Last spring, we had a circle down there, at the treaty center. I asked them, ‘What’s the topic?’ And the term that came out was decolonization. So decolonization. The whole system is set up on [colonization]… My brother said, regardless, we’re all here together. We’re all in it together. We need to learn how to get along. We need that understanding.”
The documentary hopes to foster that understanding between its Dakota creators and its audience. At Gustavus, the Q&A session with Elder Keeble after the film is also intended to build connection and understanding between Dakota and non-native people. “This film is available on YouTube, so people could watch it in their dorm room… but this is a really rare opportunity to engage with a Dakota elder who has been central to this ride and this ceremony. This is an extremely important opportunity that no one should miss. He’s travelling five hours just to be here with us and to share his experiences and what he knows. We need to show up for that conversation,” Lindqvist explained.