Happy 4th of July?

As we celebrate the 4th of July (the day the US declared independence from Britain) here in the United States, it seems a fitting time to remember who’s land this was originally. Minneapolis and Saint Paul is the traditional homeland of the Dakhóta Oyáte (Dakota People), unfairly ceded in the Treaties of 1837 & 1851, who stewarded it for millennia. The Ojibwe and other Indigenous nations have cared for this land as well. Minnesota comes from the Dakota name for the area, Mni Sota Makoce — “the land where the waters reflect the skies.”

It is illegal in the United States for anyone other than Native Americans to be in possession of a bald eagle feather. This feather was lent to me by a young indigenous woman so I could share it on STILL. I show it here with four commonly found feathers so you can get a sense of scale.

feathers: bald eagle, cardinal, blue jay, northern flicker, downy woodpeacker