Voices

These individuals are the beginning of a collection of responses to Minnesota statehood. Click on the "greeting" link to hear their introductions.

Joe Bendickson, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, is a Dakota language instructor and immersion preschool teacher for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. He is also an apprentice in the Master Apprentice Project for the Dakota Language Society. Joe has made learning the Dakota language his lifelong endeavor. He utilizes the Dakota language at home, using immersion methods to teach his son. He is a graduate of the Dakota Language Program at the University of Minnesota. \| Greeting \|
Sean Fahrlander, an enrolled member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, was born in Minneapolis and raised on the White Earth and Leech Lake Reservations. After serving in the US Navy during the First Gulf War, he returned to Minnesota and finished his degree in American Indian Studies at Leech Lake Tribal College. Fahrlander has worked with youth in various organizations while honing his skills as a traditional storyteller, writer, and poet. His greatest wish is to share the stories that have been given to him. He is currently raising his new son, Tecumseh, and writing when he can find the time. \| Greeting \|
Douglas Lemon is a descendant of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and an enrolled member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. He was instrumental in the early development of the Minnesota American Indian Chamber of Commerce, and has worked with corporations, tribal governments, and Native American entrepreneurs. \| Greeting \|
Neil Cantemaza McKay, Dakota language specialist at the University of Minnesota, is an enrolled member in the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation. Neil grew up in Minneapolis’ LynLake neighborhood and earned a degree in American Indian Studies in 1997. At the university since 2000, Neil teaches courses in first- and second-year Dakota, Indians in Minnesota, and Dakota Culture and History. He also performs and records with this band, Autumn. \| Greeting \|
Lillian Rice, Ojibwe/Potowatomi, lives her life in service to her community, her family, her culture. Currently, she teaches at an Ojibwe language immersion pre-school, Wicoie Nandagikendan Urban Immersion Preschool, while responding to requests from her community for guidance, cultural support, and education. \| Greeting \|
Jo-Anne Stately, Anishinabe, has been Vice President of Development for the Indian Land Tenure Foundation since 2003. Prior to joining ILTF, Stately held several positions in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. An enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Pillager Band, from the White Earth Reservation, Stately remains active in issues and programs directly benefiting the Indian community. Stately was a founding member of the National Fund for Excellence in American Indian Education. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Minnesota State University Moorhead. \| Greeting \|
Waziyatawin is a Wahpetunwan Dakota from the Pezihutazizi Otunwe (Yellow Medicine) in southwestern Minnesota. She received her Ph.D. in American history from Cornell University in 2000 and spent seven years teaching in the history department at Arizona State University. Waziyatawin is the author of Remember This! Dakota Decolonization and the Eli Taylor Narratives (University of Nebraska Press, 2005) and co-editor of Indigenizing the Academy: Transforming Scholarship and Empowering Communities (University of Nebraska Press, 2004). Waziyatawin is founder and director of Oyate Nipi Kte, a nonprofit dedicated to the recovery of Dakota traditional knowledge, sustainable ways of being, and Dakota liberation. Most of the year she resides in the Minnesota River Valley. \| Greeting \|

This project funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities

and The Saint Paul Foundation.