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Traditional
jingle dancers participate in the Native American Day parade
on Monday, Oct. 14, 2019. This years theme was "Celebrating
Our History: Inspiring the Future." (Photo: Abigail Dollins
/ Argus Leader)
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Tribes in South Dakota are trying again to gain support from state
lawmakers to repeal the 1863 federal law banning them from Minnesota.
The legislative State-Tribal Relations Committee moved in a 6-3
vote on Wednesday to introduce a resolution during the 2020 legislative
session requesting Congress repeal the federal Dakota Removal Act,
which forced the tribe onto South Dakota reservations following
the 1862 conflict that included the mass hanging of 38 Dakota men.
The resolution includes a provision that repealing the act wouldn't
change any property rights or tribal land originally established
by the law. Minnesota passed a resolution supporting its repeal
in 2009.
The Senate State Affairs Committee squashed the same resolution
during the 2019 session without any discussion or questions about
the resolution. The defeat sparked the tribes' discontent with the
state that grew with the Legislature's passage of Gov. Kristi Noem's
riot booster legislation aimed at Keystone XL pipeline protesters.
Sen. Troy Heinert, D-Mission, said he was never able to find out
why legislators opposed it last session. He said they're not trying
to change history and it's an attempt to right a wrong.
"There's lots of things that have happened in the history
of our country and the history of our state that we can address
and we can address it in a proper fashion that isn't meant to poke
anybody in the eye or cause controversy," he said.
This time around, tribal leaders are providing information to legislators
about the law's history and historical trauma. They also changed
a line in the resolution about reconciliation that some legislators
found to be controversial during the 2019 session. The action of
repealing the law is a form of reconciliation in itself, according
to Ross Garelick Bell, a lobbyist for the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe.
Republican Rep. Tamara St. John, who is a historian for the Sisseton-Wahpeton
Sioux Tribe, said she appreciates the resolution's intent, but she's
concerned that repealing it could impact legal precedents based
on the act, specifically a lawsuit involving Mdewakanton Sioux members
in Minnesota.
"I think that there's things that are not yet resolved with
it," she said.
House Speaker Steven Haugaard, R-Sioux Falls, said he would likely
support it during session because the resolution says the repeal
is a symbolic act and doesn't impact property rights.
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