https://vimeo.com/336183575
Clifford Canku, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate
https://vimeo.com/317303151
Seth Eastman, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate
https://vimeo.com/336186772
Clifford Canku, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate
Syd Beane, Flandreau Santee Sioux
https://vimeo.com/336173142
Guthrie Caposella, Standing Rock Sioux
https://vimeo.com/317132602
Seth Eastman, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate
Haŋ Mitákuyepi, Sarah Weston, wašíču iá emákiyapi ye.
I’m a Mdewakanton Dakota, enrolled in the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe in Flandreau, SD. I am Direct Descendant of the original Dakota families that made their home there, before they were forced out.
My Great-Great Grandfather is Maȟpíya Wičhášta. His son is David Weston, who had Samuel Weston, who had my grandpa Andrew Weston, who had my Dad, who had me.
There are many siblings in each of these generations. From my Grandpa Andrew Weston’s generation all the way back, I consider their siblings all my grandmas and grandpas. We don’t call them ancestors, or great aunts or uncles or anything removed. The english concept would call it Dakota kinship. I’d call them my family (Tiwahe) and those grandmas and grandpas would call us thewáȟiŋda. They’d treasure me and all of their grandchildren as life itself. That is a Dakota Value of kinship, love and take care of your family to such great lengths. You are consciously responsible for how your energy affects your grandchildren and your grandkids that come from your grandkids and the continuous line of your grandchildren. I write this way to illustrate an understanding of the line that will always be your grandkids, because that’s how they saw us. In turn, we as their “descendants,” only know them as grandparents. It is an energy of unimaginable love that goes forward into the future. Presently we carry that love for them, as we look back on their lives. This the basis of living for the next seven generations. We are only human and can never be perfect, so this was the value strived for. There are other equal Dakota cultural values that were and are held in high regard among our Dakota people. When I look back on Maȟpíya Wičhášta, I see how he made his decisions based this cultural value of Dakota kinship. It makes me proud of him and all of our relatives as human beings, who cherished their families in the best way they knew how to at that time. Because of them, I am still here. We are still here and we will remain here for the generations to come.
Sarah Weston, Flandreau Santee Sioux
One of the greatest nations in the history of our continent originated in the place that is today called Minnesota: the Seven Council Fires (Očhéthi Šakówiŋ) of the “Great Sioux Nation.” Four of the Council Fires –the Mdewakanton, Wahpekute, Sisseton and Wahpeton – are known collectively as the Dakota. While their compatriots (the Yankton, Yanktonai and Lakota) migrated west, the Dakota have maintained their connection to this place for centuries and centuries.
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