An article about the fight for "The SacredOaks","The Sacred Spring of the Lakota" and "Little Crow Mask" at Minnehaha Falls/Park

link




Back in the first few years of the 21'st century, a battle was fought -and lost- to protect a sacred site in the middle of Minneapolis. A grove of Oak trees were demolished to build a light rail system to the Mall of America from downtown and move Hiawatha Avenue. This linked page has a short synopsis of the end of that battle; there is a great photo of the LittleCrow statue at the bottom of the page.



(An excerpt:) "For the Mendota, the struggle to save the oak trees and the sacred spring is a struggle to exist as apeople. to regain their history, their future.About half a mile from the sacred spring, on thewest side of Minnehaha Creek in high grass above Minnehaha Falls, there is a statue, a giant bronzemask held up on two poles. It is Little Crow. Through the open sockets of his eyes, you can see the sky. It is the mask of a man in great pain for his people, his world. There is no marker there to identify the mask. This work by an Indian artist was put there by Indian people, for Indian people, so they will remember. ~ "
-Ruth Rudner


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