Minnesota transfers land to Upper Sioux community
2 Video Views·Mar 16, 2024
The land that makes up the Upper Sioux Agency State Park in Granite Falls was returned to the Upper Sioux community on Friday. This is said to be the first time the state of Minnesota has returned a state park to a Native American community.
An historical event today near Granite Falls
where an exchange of sacred land
marks the beginning of a new era.
The land that makes up the Upper Sioux Agency State Park
is now in the hands of the Upper Sioux community.
The land transfer marks an end to a decades-long push
by tribal leaders.
State and community leaders were on hand today
for the signing of the ceremonial deeds.
The land, which holds the secret burial sites
of the Dakota people killed in the largest mass
hanging in US history, spans a little more
than two square miles.
We're in the sacred whirlwind, 161 years
from when this land was stolen by the United
States of America.
It wasn't lost in a war, like a lot of people want to say.
But this land was stolen through legal mechanisms,
illegal mechanisms.
But today is going to be returned
to the caretakers, the responsible people that we are.
The Upper Sioux Agency State Park
permanently closed last month after the US government failed
to fulfill its treaty obligations.
This is said to be the first time
the state of Minnesota has returned a state park
to a Native American community.