The following is a letter I wrote to the Minnesota Board of Transportation to protest the Highway 52 re-route that is displacing an oak forest and a spring with historical, environmental, and religious significance. If you agree with my sentiments and would like to get involved, let me know and I'll put you in contact with the Mdewekanton tribe in Minneapolis.
July 30, 1999
I'm very disappointed that the State of Minnesota and the City of Minneapolis have decided that a highway re-route project is more important than a historical river-side site with religious significance to local native peoples.
In the 1990s, many major American cities have re-discovered their waterfronts. In many cases, they've torn down ugly highway structures in order to revive these areas, which has contributed to the beauty of these cities and, thus, the pride of their citizens, not to mention the additional tourism and business dollars that these changes have brought about. Yet in supposedly progressive Minneapolis, a beautiful waterfront park --and one with historical and environmental significance at that-- is being sacrificed for nothing more than convenience. What a shame!
Minnehaha Falls Park is a unique place abutting the Mississippi River within the city limits of Minneapolis. Originally a Lakota holy site, it has never been developed. There are so few urban sites of this kind anywhere in the world that it makes sense to preserve this one. State and city officials, however, have determined that a quick and convenient route to the Mall of America is more in the citizens' interest.
Please re-think this plan. Surely a better alternative could be found. Do you not care that your organization is opening itself up to a barrage of law suits which, ultimately, will be financed by Minnesota taxpayers? Virtually no law suit brought by an Indian tribe against a government entity who has usurped their land has ever been lost. And besides, what is wrong with a solution that makes all Minnesotans happy?
Thanks for your time,
-David Harris, Language Analysis Systems
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It is now December 13th 1999, and over the weekend, the trees and the park were destroyed. One more victory in the struggle of developers and other monied interests against everything that makes us human and our lives worth living, I guess. So much for a kinder and gentler nation. So much for America the Beautiful. So much for an enlightened twenty-first century.
The following is a poem one Indian wrote about experiencing the destruction of this unique place:
Mendota Mourning
they said
come soon
our heroes
are falling
and the snowy road
kept me gridlocked
caught up on the culprit
that was bringing
the end to time
The last one fell
before my car
rattled and crunched
to a halt
old and battered
like my feet that stepped
onto barren ground
the festivities of the season
were ripe and overflowing
about town
but the land lay naked
sprawled
like an executed corpse
belly down
she would not get up
they said
she would lie there
waiting to rise
only when a new day
heralded
the great change
it was too late
for one last glimpse
a final vision
they were gone
the heroes
and mourning
would not bring them back
nokwisa
For more information, check out the Mendota Sacred Sites homepage.
Dave
PS Please address questions or comments about this page to my e-mail address: forgetfuljones@oocities.com