Notes on What Does Justice Look Like?

Waziyatawin, Ph. D. 

What Does Justice Look Like? The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland

St. Paul Minn.: Living Justice Press, 2008

I plan to add more substantive notes in the near future, but I at least wanted to post the Table of Contents for Waz's amazing book. Even the chapter headings and subheadings provide a major intervention in the colonialist normalization of ongoing conquest on Turtle Island. —George

Contents

Introduction: Envisioning Justice in Minnesota 3-15

Addressing Harms Internationally 4

The Minnesota Context 6

Initiating an Era of Truth Telling 11

Taking Down the Fort 11

Making Reparations 12

Creating an Oppression-Free Society 13

1. How Minnesotans Wrested the Land 17-70

A Story of Dakota Creation 17

White Accounts Regarding the Dakota Past 21

Anishinabe Invasion 23

Wasicu Invasion 28

Legalized Land Theft 29

1851 Treaties 32

International Standards for Genocide 37

Criterion A 38

Criterion B 50

Criterion C 53

Criterion D 57

Criterion E 59

Consequences of Genocide 60

2. A Call for Truth Telling 71-95

Sesquicentennial Discussion 73

Dakota Responses to This Historical Legacy 79

The Power of Truth 80

A Truth-Telling Forum 82

Denial of Genocide as a Crime 90

Wide-Scale Truth Telling 91

3. Taking Down the Fort 97-118

The Plans to Refortify the Fort 98

The Site of Genesis and Genocide 103

Fort Snelling as a Fun-Filled Tourist Destination 105

Paying Homage to Bdote’s Deep History 109

The Importance of Symbols 112

Metaphorically Dismantling the Fort 113

4. Just Short of Breaking Camp 119-65

Options on the Table 120

Rekindling Colonialism’s Factions 121

Disavowal of Dakota identity as a Pathway to Justice 124

A Broader Vision of Justice for Dakota People 127

The Ute Example 129

Land Reparations 131

Minnesota’s Wealth 135

A Need for Change 142

Recovery of Dakota Lifeways 146

Future Land Return 149

Additional Reparations 151

The Kanatsiohareke Model 155

Rebuilding Our Communal Societies 156

The Cost of Reparations is not Prohibitive 160

5. Developing Peaceful Co-Existence 167-76

Assessing Our Values 167

A Message to Dakota People 171

A Message to Wasicu (White) People 173

Final Thoughts 175

Contemplating this [Earth Community] future requires expansive thinking on the part of all of us. For non-Dakota people, it asks that you challenge, re-examine, and reject the racist and colonialist programming to which you have grown accustomed. It also asks that you rethink the values of domination, consumption, and exploitation that have become a part of American society. For Dakota people, it requires that we awaken our consciousness to the potential for liberation. Most importantly, however, it requires all of us to move beyond a simple re-education and acknowledgement of past harms. It requires action that will serve to ensure justice to the original People of this place we call Minisota. (14)