Solidarity Statement with March on Fort Snelling and National Day of Action Against SB1070
The multi-million dollar public financing of Fort Snelling is an affront to all people whose basic needs are marginalized by the system. The Fort stands as a shameful monument to the history of genocide and forced removal of Dakota people that delivered this land to the US government. And today we continue to see strategies of government-sponsored racist violence being waged against both Native peoples and immigrants alike—all in the name of nationhood. The recent implementation of SB1070 in Arizona is just one example of the undue persecution of immigrants that has divided communities for decades. But today marks an important moment of unity between Dakota people and immigrants against state-sanctioned policies of brutality and discrimination. As allies, we are here to support these struggles, and to say that we are with you.
While it is a historical symbol, the Fort is also a very material part of the ongoing occupation of the Native lands of North America as its very existence deprives Dakota people of access to sacred ground. It functions socially, as we are seeing in the re-enactments here today, to mis-educate new generations about the bloody history of conquest in the state of Minnesota, and the role of settlers as largely complicit in that process.
As non-Natives we must realize that unless we actively stand with indigenous people still struggling against dispossession and cultural genocide, we remain on the side of the occupiers and are only part of the problem. And it is clear that, just like land theft in North America, the struggle for immigrant rights involves us all. There is no justification for racial profiling, for imprisoning children and families, or for forced removal and deportation, and it is up to all of us to challenge any government that uses such forms of collective punishment as policy. We must act in solidarity in the service of truth-telling and justice because we have a responsibility to directly support Native and immigrant led movements for self-determination. While we cannot change the facts of the past, we can try to play a different role today.
No more racist laws, take down the fort.
