Dakota Homeland video transcript

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Dallas Ross: Dakota is not a nation of people. Dakota is a way of life, a manner in which you walk through this world.

Grace Goldtooth-Campos: Minnesota, or Mni Ṡota Makoce, the land of cloud-tinted waters, is the homeland of the Dakota people.

Dr. Clifford Canku: Dakota relationship to that land is that she's our mother. Our descendants have been here thousands and thousands of years, so every valley, every road, every location has a spiritual connection with us yet.

Grace Goldtooth-Campos: The Dakota Oyate, or nation, is made up of seven council fires called Oceti Ṡakowiƞ. The council fires, or bands, are separated into three distinct groups: the Eastern Dakota made up of Sisituƞwaƞ, Bdewakaƞtuƞwaƞ, Waḣpekute, and Waḣpetuƞwaƞ. The Middle Dakota made up of Ihaƞktuƞwaƞ and Ihaƞktuƞwaƞna, and the Western Dakota, Tituƞwaƞ.

Walter LaBatte: The Dakota way, we have what is called "mitakuye owasin," which means "all our relatives." Everything that God created is a relative of ours.

Dallas Ross: Many questions come up, the Dakota culture, Dakota spirituality or religion. In truth, there is no separation. You cannot be a Dakota without them both being together.

Raymond Owen: They try to simplify us, put us behind boundaries and lines. We'll never fit there. We are water.