U.S. Has No Valid Title To Dakota Ancestral Land In Mille Lacs Co., MN


by Thomas Ivan Dahlheimer



I am an indigenous peoples' rights advocate working to rectify injustices against the Dakota Oyate (People) in the "Rum" (Wahkon) River Watershed. I am the director of Rum River Name Change Organization. The world's largest Indian news source has posted letters of mine on the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. The World Council of Churches and several mainline U.S. Christian churches have denounced this doctrine. The doctrine has been primarily used internationally to support decisions invalidating aboriginal possession of land in favor of colonial or post-colonial governments.

On November 7, 2016, Robert Labatte, an Indigenous Grand Elder at International Center of Spiritual and Ancestral Wisdom (ICSAW), shared my 11/7/16 facebook group post in Regaining The Dakota Oyate's Mille Lacs Homeland. My shared post on Mr. Labatte's facebook site is located here.

My post reads: I changed the title of my article A History Of The Dakota People In the Mille Lacs Area to A History Of The Dakota People In Minnesota. I also added the following paragraph to the article.

In The Circle article titled Dakota Rising its author Jon Lurie describes how Wyatt Thomas traveled to Mille Lacs County from Nebraska where he lives on a reservation as a member of the Santee Dakota Tribe. "Thomas said that Minnesota, and Ogechie lake in particular, was, to him, home. Thomas was on a mission to scout his tribe's Minnesota ancestral lands. An important first step in reintroducing the Santee Dakota to their original homeland."... "Thomas is one voice in a growing chorus of indigenous cultural leaders who agree that the reclamation of traditional lands is crucial to solving the Dakota mental health crisis due to the brutality of their historic treatment."

To the above paragraph's words "reclamation of traditional lands" I include a link to a video of a Standing Rock protest. It's a video link of a Christian delegation of allies to Standing Rock marching on a standoff roadblock. The narrator says that they [the bishops] are denouncing the Doctrine of Christian Discovery and thus nullifying the Christian basis of [U.S.] land title to Dakota territory.

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On November 19, 2016, the Union-Times, a newspaper for the communies of Princeton and Milaca Minnesota, published a letter to the editor of mine that was given the title Dahlheimer: Group – Land title to Dakota nullified. Princeston and Milaca are cities located on the "Rum (Wakan) River," a traditional and recently reclaimed "important spiritual and cultural artery" to the Dakota.

On 11/14/2016, Indian Country Today Media Network (ICTMN), the world's largest Indian news source, posted a comment of mine on an article by Steven Newcomb, a world renowned Indigenous/Indian activist who is on the cutting edge of a global movement to usher in a new age and new world order, wherein indigenous peoples will regain their traditional homelands and full nation-state sovereignty rights. The article that I am referring to is titled ‘Void When Initiated; You Can’t Grant What You Don’t Possess’. ICTMN posted three selective comments on the article. My comment is the third comment. An article about this comment of mine is titled Reclamation of Indigenous Peoples' Traditional Homelands And Full Sovereignty Rights.