When the Light of the World Was Subdued Our Songs Came Through
By Joy Harojd
This book is a 450 page collection of poems, by Indian authors. Each author is present in the introduction of their poem. Each author is allocated up to three poems. The bio for each author includes an impressive academic resume. While they have been steeped in our Western structure of words and language, their culture and moral fiber still survives. This makes this read, a tipi dweller happy. Below is a poem that speaks to language while it tells a poignant story about the Dakota 38. The darkest is moment is President Abrham Lincoln ordered the execution of 38 Dakota men by hanging. I made that order in the same week he published the Emancipation Proclamation.
Read the poem below so you can genuinely acquire the feel for this American Indian author, Layli Long Soldier (Ogala Loakota). She is joined by over 100 other poets of the same culture. My posting this keeps that culture alive. By the book, read and enjoy.
38
By Layli Long Soldier
Here the sentence will be respected.
I will compose each sentence with care minding the rules of
writing dictate.
For example, all sentences will begin with capital letters.
Likewise, the history of the sentence will be honored by
ending each one with appropriate punctuation as a period or a question mark,
thus bringing the idea to (momentary0 completion.
You may like to know, I do not consider this a “creative piece.”
I do not regard this as a poem of great imagination or work
of fiction.
Also historical events will not be dramatized for an
interesting read.
Therefore, I feel most responsible to the orderly sentence,
conveyor of thoughts.
That said I will begin.
You may not have heard about the Dakota 38.
If this is the first time you’ve heard of it, you might
consider, “What is the Dakota 38?”
The Dakota 38 refers to the thirty-eight men who were
executed by hanging, under the orders from President Abraham Lincoln.
To date, this is the largest “legal” mass execution in U.S.
history.
The hanging took place on December 26 1862 – the day after
Christmas.
This was the same week that President Lincoln signed
the Emancipation Proclamation.
In the preceding sentence, I italicize “same week” for
emphasis.
There was a movie titled Lincoln about the presidency of
Abraham Lincoln
The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation was in the film
Lincoln; the hanging of the Dakota 38 was not.
In any case, you might be asking, “Why were thirty-eight
Dakota men hanged?”
They were hanged for the Sioux Uprising.
I want to tell you about the Sioux Uprising, but I don’t
know where to begin.
I may jump around and details will not unfold in chronological
order.
Keep in mind I am not a historian.
So I will recount facts as best I can, given limited
resources and understanding.
Before Minnesota was a state the Minnesota region, generally
speaking, was the traditional homeland for Dakota, Anishinaabeg, and Ho-chunk
people.
During the 1800s, when the U.S. expanded territory the “purchased”
land from the Dakota people as well as other tribes.
But another way to understand that sort of “purchase” is:
Dakota leaders ceded land to the U.S. in exchange for money and goods, but most
importantly, the safety of their people.
Some say the Dakota leaders did not understand the terms
they were entering, or thet would have never agreed.
Even others call the entire negotiation, “trickery”
But to make whatever-it-was official and binding, the U.S.
Government drew up an initial treaty.
This treaty was later replaced by another (more convenient)
treaty, and then another.
I’ve had difficulty unraveling the terms of these treaties,
given the legal speak and congressional language.
As traties were abrogated (broken) and new treaties were
drafted, one after another, the new treaties often reference old defunct
treaties and it is a muddy switchback trail to follow.
Although I often feel lost on this trail, I know I am not
alone.
However as best I can put the facts together, in 1851 Dakota
territory was contained by twelve-mile by one-hundred-fifty-mile-long strip
along the Minnesota river.
But just seven years later in 1858, the northern portion was
ceded (taken) and the southern portion was (conveniently) allotted, which
reduced Dakota land to a stark ten-mile tract.
These amended and broken treaties are often referred to as the
Minnesota Treaties.
The word Minnesota comes from mni which means water; and
sota which means turbid
Synonyms for turbid include muddy, cloudy, confused, and
smoky,
Everything is in language we use.
For example, a treaty s, essentially a contract between two sovereign
nations.
The U.S. treaties with Dakota were legal contracts that
promised money.
It could be said, this money was payment for the land the
Dakota ceded, for living within assigned boundaries (a reservation) and for
relinquishing rights to their vast hunting territory which, in turn, made
Dakota people dependent on other means to survive; money.
The previous sentence is circular, which is akin to so many
aspects of history.
As you may have guessed by now, the money promised in the
turbid treaties did not make it to the hands of the Dakota people.
In addition, local government traders would not offer credit
to the “Indians” to purchase food or goods.
Without money, store credit or rights to hunt beyond their
ten-mile tract of land the Dakota people began to starve.
The Dakota people were starving.
The Dakota people starved.
In the preceding sentence, the word “starved” does not need
italics for emphasis
One should read, “THE Dakota people starved” as a
straightforward and plainly stated fact.
As a result … and without other options but to continue to
starve – Dakota people retaliated.
Dakota warriors organized, struck out and killed settlers
and traders.
This revolt is called the Sioux Uprising.
Eventually, the US Calvary came to Minisota to confront the
Uprising.
More than one thousand Dakota people were sent to prison.
As already mentioned, thirty-eight Dakota men were
subsequently hanged.
After the hanging, those thousand Dakota prisoner were
released.
Hpwever, as further consequence, what remained of Dakota territory
in Minisota was dissolved (stolen).
The Dakota people had no land to return to.
This means they were exiled.
Homeless, the Dakota people of Minisota, were relocated (forced)
onto reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska.
Now every year, a group called Dakota 38 +2 Riders conduct a
memorial horse ride from Lower Brule, South Dakota, to Mankato Minisota.
The Memorial Riders travel 325 miles on horseback, for eighteen
days sometime in sub-zer blizzards.
They conclude their journey on December 26th, the
day of the hanging.
Memorials help focus our memory om particular people of
events.
Often memorials come in forms of plaques, statues or
gravestones.
The memorial for the Dakota 38 is not an object inscribed
with words, but an act
Yes I started this piece because I was interested in writing
about grasses.
So, there is one other event to include, although it’s not in
chronological order and we must backtrack.
One trader named Andrew Myrick is famous for his refusal to
provide credit to Dakotas by saying, “If they are hungry let them eat grass.”
There are variations of Myrick’s words, but they all are
something to that effect.
When settlers and traders were killed during the Sioux
Uprising, one of the first to executed by the Dakota as Andrew Murick.
When his body was found,
His mouth was full of grass.
I am inclined to call this an act by the Dakota warriors a
poem.
There is irony in their poem.
There was no text.
“Real poems do not “really” require words.
I have italicized the previous sentence to indicate inner
dialogue, a revealing moment.
Bit, on second thought, the particular words “Let then eat
grass” click the gears of the poem into place.
So, we could say, language and word choice ar crucial to the
poem’s work
Things are circling back again
Sometimes, when in a circle, if I wish to exit, I must leap.
And let the body swing.
From the platform.
