Healing ride keeps history alive

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This article was published 15/04/2017 (3473 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SOURIS —The Dakota Exile Healing Ride trotted on horseback past Souris on Thursday along their way to Fort Snelling, Minn., where a four-day event will be held to reflect on a dark page of history.

On Dec. 26, 1862, 38 Dakota people were hanged in Minnesota, after which remaining Dakota people, including those imprisoned at Fort Snelling, were forced to relocate outside the state.

Some ended up at Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, where this year’s inaugural 900-km Dakota Exile Healing Ride began on Wednesday.

By beginning the journey at Sioux Valley, participants can take part in the same exile trip as their ancestors did, only in reverse.

Included among those travelling southbound past Souris on Thursday was Wakan McKay, whose great-great-grandfather, Dowansa, was among the 38 people hanged in 1862.

She rode on the back of 12-year-old horse Wamni Omni, which translates to whirlwind.

An annual participant in the Dakota 38+2 Memorial Ride that’s held in recognition of those hanged, she jumped at the chance to participate in the inaugural Dakota Exile Healing Ride.

While most people know about those who were hanged, fewer people recognize the forced removal of Dakota people from Minnesota that happened afterward, she said.

“It’s a part of history that can’t be forgotten,” she said. “They fought for a reason, and that reason is for us to be who we are.”

McKay is a dual Canada/United States citizen who identifies as a member of Standing Rock Fort Yates member whose father comes from Sioux Valley.

Mother Denise McKay, of Standing Rock Fort Yates, is also taking part in the journey, citing her key reason for going as standing up for Mother Earth and the traditional ways of the Dakota people.

“The way this world is going, it’s crazy,” she said, adding; “You don’t know what’s going to happen one day to the next.”

There’s much to learn from traditional ways, and she said that her goal is to bring Mother Earth back to its potential.

“It’s not just for us, it’s not just for the Dakota people, it’s for all walks of life,” she said.

Participant and Sioux Valley Unity Riders member Travis Mazawasicuna said that there’s still much for all people to do in order to allow healing from historical trauma, of which the hangings and forced removal from Minnesota are but one of many.

“There’s a lot of healing from all nations that need to accept everybody; to accept their soul, their accomplishments,” he said. “For us, for our people, we still have that historical trauma that’s hard to grasp … We’re still under the Indian Act, if you believe that!”

Tending to the horses before departing on the day’s ride to Boissevain on Thursday, Sioux Valley member who goes by the name Cowboy Carl said that he was taking part in the ride in protest of today’s consumer culture.

Money has become the top priority of today’s society, he said, citing not just pipelines but “everything” as being symptoms.

At 75 years of age, he said that people half his age aren’t able to do what he currently does because they’re “sitting down too much.”

Many of the Sioux Valley participants in this year’s inaugural ride are unlikely to make it past the Canada-U.S. border due to the expense related to getting horses across.

Instead, they plan on meeting with their relatives at the International Peace Garden during the weekend, at which point the American members will continue on to Fort Snelling for the four-day truth-telling conference.

“We need to really instil into our children that this is where we came from and this is actually Dakota land,” Minnesota-based organizer Michelle Mills explained by phone. “We want to remember our ancestors, because if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be here.”

In Souris on Thursday, participants gathered for a prayer for safety and a coming together of all peoples. They performed a smudging on all participants, circled as a group four times to recognize the four elements, and were on their way.

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PARTICIPANTS HONOUR FALLEN HORSE

When the Unity Riders pulled into Souris on Thursday during the Dakota Exile Healing Ride, they arrived with one horse short.

Charlie, a 16-year-old medicine horse, died the previous day after falling out the back of a trailer whose back gate came open in transit.

Prior to Thursday’s opening prayer, Travis Mazawasicuna of the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Unity Riders offered some opening remarks in honour of Charlie, that he said wasn’t just a horse but was also a family member.

The late horse’s owner offered limited comment about Charlie due to the emotional toll it took to talk about him.

He was a medicine horse, which she said is a special designation given to horses who as such wear a headdress. It’s difficult to pinpoint what, exactly, qualifies a horse for medicine status, she said, explaining; “You have to be connected to them to know.”

Mazawasicuna said that a special feast and giveaway would be held in the near future in honour of Charlie.

» The Brandon Sun