Historical Significance

Today I am grateful for safe travels and time with Darcy's family. I am also grateful for the historical significance that Sioux Falls will always have in my/our life story.

Darcy and I got married in Sioux Falls in July of 1998 and spent the first two years of our married life there. His family still lives there. Sam will be attending college about an hour away.  All significant points, and all make Sioux Falls a special place for me. 

We brought our bikes along and enjoyed a different stretch of trail on Saturday afternoon. I was up early for a run on Sunday morning and came across this sign I hadn't noticed before. I captured the pictures because I wanted to do some investigating. 

I did a little research yesterday and found out that this sign likely marks the southern edge of what was Fort Dakota Military Reservation. It was a 70-square mile area, but the fort buildings were adjacent to the falls of the Big Sioux River, near downtown, several miles from this site. 

I wondered what the terrain looked like in 1865. I wonder how relations with the local Native Americans were at the time. I ponder the white man's treatment of those who were here before them. With a pause, I consider the gentle respect that these first inhabitants had for the land and the creatures and plants they shared it with.

With another pause, I appreciate the term Great Spirit and how I have incorporated it into my spiritual  
practices and identity. 

Then, I take a moment to feel the sadness. Sadness for what was done to Native Americans, to slaves, to women, to others the privileged class misused their power to abuse and silence. I dig a little deeper into my white fragility and ignorance and keep educating myself, delving into new emotions and understanding, and forgiving this group to which I also belong.

There is historical significance all over the land that makes up Minnehaha County, South Dakota. Some of it is personal, some of it part of our nation's past. A past which is both honorable and dishonorable. We need to look both square in the eye if we hope to move forward to unify and to end systemic racism and other significant obstacles to our full potential as a nation and a world. 

I close by returning to Fort Dakota Military Reservation, the efforts of the Minnehaha County Historical Society, and this link and video from South Dakota Public Broadcasting with a story authored by Brian Gevik. 

Take a moment today, stop, feel your feet on the ground. Feel the earth beneath you. Consider the sacredness of that piece of the planet and the history it has.