Ever amazed at the limited view Europeans and Colonialists have regarding American Indians. I met with the new Director of the HCOC yesterday and it was pathetic. We have $10K to develop a new exhibit that would feature the Dakota and Ho-Chunk peoples. Mind you this is just the preliminary stage. We have a great possibility of procuring even more money for the exhibit itself.
Space, space, space. DMC, DMC, DMC. For those who don't know Rochester-ese, DMC = Destination Medical Center. The new Director of the HCOC would rather tell the story of some Indian killer who was run out of town in Wisconsin, who landed in Rochester and strapped a log to his back and made the first street in the colonial town. Whereas, we, the Dakota and Ho-Chunk, would like to tell the story about the trade route that existed from where the sacred pipestone is located, that travels through Indian Heights Park in Rochester, that continues to Jackson County, Wisconsin where the only known source of a particular stone is located that was used by our ancient ancestors to make tools out of that are similar to the tools found in the Schumann Cache housed in HCOC. Perhaps both stories can co-exit at the HCOC, but only one story bespeaks of Rochester's continued importance on the history continuum.
It was my research into the life of GOM that led me to become knowledgeable about my people and the history of both the Dakota and Ho-Chunk peoples. These are my grandparents people. It is at times ironic to possess the limited knowledge that I do have, be able to back that up with funds and not have a place to share this knowledge of our ancestors.
Of a truth, I think DMC has tainted the minds and hearts of these Europeans. They have become befuddled by greed once again. Their eyes have become filled with themselves and their hoped for gain that they can not see the value in the missing narratives of the peoples that will soon outnumber them in just a few short years.
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