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August 21, 2012

Dakota 38 film tonight at Father Hennepin Bluffs Park in Minneapolis

Filed under: Event, Food, History, Native American — Alison Aten @ 1:53 pm

Dakota 38/Smooth Feather Productions

Tonight’s feature at the Indigenous Movies and Music in the Park series at Father Hennepin Bluffs Park in downtown Minneapolis  is a screening at dusk of the film Dakota 38.

Here’s a description from the film’s website:

“In the spring of 2005, Jim Miller, a Native spiritual leader and Vietnam veteran, found himself in a dream riding on horseback across the great plains of South Dakota. Just before he awoke, he arrived at a riverbank in Minnesota and saw 38 of his Dakota ancestors hanged. At the time, Jim knew nothing of the largest mass execution in United States history, ordered by Abraham Lincoln on December 26, 1862. ‘When you have dreams, you know when they come from the creator… As any recovered alcoholic, I made believe that I didn’t get it. I tried to put it out of my mind, yet it’s one of those dreams that bothers you night and day.’

“Now, four years later, embracing the message of the dream, Jim and a group of riders retrace the 330-mile route of his dream on horseback from Lower Brule, South Dakota to Mankato, Minnesota to arrive at the hanging site on the anniversary of the execution. ‘We can’t blame the wasichus anymore. We’re doing it to ourselves. We’re selling drugs. We’re killing our own people. That’s what this ride is about, is healing.’ This is the story of their journey–the blizzards they endure, the Native and Non-Native communities that house and feed them along the way, and the dark history they are beginning to wipe away.”

Music from Maza Kute, a traditional singing group from the Santee Reservation in Nebraska, with the Mankato Symphony Orchestra begins at 7:00 p.m.

Arrive early to check out the food and produce market stand from Dream of Wild Health. Delicious traditional foods and fresh-from-the-farm produce will be available for purchase. Dream of Wild Health is a ten-acre organic farm in Hugo that connects Native people with indigenous foods and medicines.  The farm’s executive director is Diane Wilson, author of  Spirit Car and Beloved Child.  Spirit Car is this year’s One Minneapolis One Read selection.

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