Yesterday and today the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a series on the dispute over who is and who is not eligible to be recognized as a member of one of Dakota bands in Minnesota. This mainly involves the groups at Prairie Island and Prior Lake, both of whom run very successful casinos and divide the profits among the band members.
Part 1:
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1135490.htmlSunday: A 'great rift' widens
Frozen out of casino profits, thousands of descendants of Minnesota's Dakota Indians have sued, asserting their rights to the money. A federal judge in Washington has strengthened their claims.
To the small group that runs the fabulously successful Mystic Lake and Little Six casinos in Prior Lake, Sheldon Wolfchild was the wrong kind of Indian.
It didn't matter that he was one of the real Indians in the movie "Dances with Wolves," or that he claims descent from a hero of the 1862 Dakota rebellion in Minnesota. When he asked a decade ago to join the 200-member tribe that has grown rich from gambling profits, he was denied.
But now Wolfchild and 22,000 other descendants of Minnesota's Dakota Indians are laying claim to the casino riches. And they have been bolstered by a federal judge's suggestions that the government may have erred in 1980 when it determined who could control the tribal land.
Part 2:
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1137449.htmlMore at stake than money, descendants say
Their Sioux (sic) ancestors were forced generations ago to abandon life in Minnesota. Now families want to lay claim to their heritage.
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