Decolonizing the 1862 Death Marches

Abstract

In November of 1862 approximately 2,10o Dakota men, women, and children were forcibly moved in two groups from the Lower Sioux Agency to concentration camps at either Fort Snelling or Mankato, events which marked the first phase of expulsion of our Dakota people from our homeland of Minisota Makoce (Land Where the Waters Reflect the Skies).' These two groups were paying the severest of penalties for the retributive actions of Dakota people who dared to fight the Wasicu (white) invaders, who dared to fight because they could not take any more offenses, who dared to fight because they were pushed to desperation and there appeared to be no other options. This article will examine existing accounts regarding these removals from a critical perspective within the broader framework of colonialism. Furthermore, it will discuss the necessity of truth telling and remembering in our commemoration of the removals to the achievement of healing and restoration of well-being among Dakota people. When examined within a framework of colonization, the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 is just one point on a continuum that carries through to the present day, but it also provides a possibility of change for the future. At the most basic level it challenges the narrative that seeks to justify policies of invasion, forced removal, and genocide. In doing so the narrative immediately shifts from one of white innocence and Dakota guilt to one of white oppression and Dakota subjugation. On the topic of violence and oppression, Brazilian liberationist educator Paulo Freire wrote: