SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Members of Minnesota's 11 federally recognized tribal communities gathered at the State Capitol Monday to mark American Indian Day.
The event, sponsored by the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, was a celebration of the growing political clout of Native American Minnesotans. It took place on the 100th anniversary of Indigenous Americans gaining the right to vote through the Indian Citizenship Act.
"I want to acknowledge and give thanks for the ones who paved the way for us, who continually gave us the strength to continue to do this work," said Robert Larsen, the President of the Lower Sioux Indian Community or Cansa’yapi, told the crowd in the Capitol Rotunda.
"The work of protecting tribal sovereignty, tribal people, and Unci Maka, Mother Earth."
Larsen said, considering the traumatic history of the Dakota people in this state, it's worth noting that he was standing in the seat of government.
"It’s truly remarkable that I’m standing here today as a Dakota leader, a common man and a Native American in the People’s House, where our ancestors could not imagine to me. This Capitol is ours."
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe, said Native Americans are still underrepresented in government across the nation. But their numbers are growing.
"We have elected representatives in the House, in the Senate, in the governor’s office. We have Native folks in the judicial branch, in every elected body in the state of Minnesota," Flanagan said.
"And it matters. It matters because we can show up, and we can make decisions about our own futures. And we work in partnership with our tribal leaders in a government-to-government way."
Governor Tim Walz said returning the Upper Sioux Agency State Park to the Upper Sioux Community was the right thing to do. He also applauded replacing the state flag with a new one, pointing to the flag next to him in the Rotunda.
"If you were to come visit next Monday, this flag will no longer stand here! A new flag will take that space," Walz said.
"If Minnesota is truly a place where everybody is welcome, and everybody’s heritage is respected, this flag for too long excluded the very people who are here today, the first Minnesotans."
Secretary of State Steve Simon cited a new law that will, for the first time, require counties upon request from a tribal community to the set up an absentee polling location on tribal ground for at least one day before the election.
He also said he'll host a celebration of the new state flag and seal on Saturday, May 11, which is Statehood Day in Minnesota.
"Symbols matter. They say a lot about who we are and what we believe."
Sen. Mary Kunesh, a descendant of the Standing Rock Community, pointed to progress addressing the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Legislation she authored led first to a statewide task force, and eventually to a permanent Office on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives inside the state Department of Public Safety.
Kunesh said there's been growing awareness of voting rights among Native Americans in Minnesota, recalling visits she made to tribal communities in Northern Minnesota.
"There were elders who told me they never realized they could vote in general elections. They thought they were restricted to tribal elections. They could've been voting all of those years in local elections for school board members, county commissioners, and other offices."
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