Dakota Water Walk and Prayer Ride Journeys to Mankato, Minnesota

Leaving Granite Falls going by Upper Sioux

Published December 22, 2018

UPPER SIOUX COMMUNITY, Minn. — The Dakota Water Walk and Prayer Ride is traveling from Sisseton, South Dakota to Mankato, Minnesota, to honor the Dakota that fled the US Army in 1862 as well as the 38+2 who were hung in the largest mass trial in the country’s history.

Participants also walk and ride to help heal the area’s increasingly polluted waters and raise awareness about the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous people. This spiritual journey started at Sisseton on December 10 and follows a route the Dakota people took as they attempted to escape along the Minnesota River. On December 26, the walk will join the 38+2 Wokiksuye (Memorial) Ride for a ceremony at the 38+2 hanging site in Mankato.

Many of the walkers and riders are descendants of the Dakota 38+2 or those that fled the US Army. Following the hanging, massacres, and internment of Dakota people, genocidal US policies have resulted in high rates of alcohol and drug use, depression, and suicide. The walk was started in 2017 to help heal both multigenerational trauma and the waters that have been poisoned by oil leaks and other contaminants.

Children from Tiospa Zina school in Goodwill, South Dakota led the walk/run on day three. Joined through town by Melanie S and 86-year-old Emmett Eastman, who have run in many countries for healing.

“On last year’s ride, I was going to provide support for just a few days, but ended up going all the way,” said Jessie Neland of Sisseton. “I had no idea how healing it would be, but I really needed it. Last year I drank a lot because I lost my aunt. I tried to go three times but I kept being brought back. When I got on the ride, I just took care of my horse and she took care of me. I can’t put what happened into words—it’s an unknowable part of healing—but it brought my spirit back to me.”

“On the walk, I know I can help, I can bring something good,” Neeland said. “There are many people out there that are feeling what I felt. Maybe they think no one cares for them or prays for them, but we do. We also educate people along the way—I talk to everyone about why we’re walking, even hotel clerks and gas station cashiers. A lot of people haven’t heard about this history or what is happening today but now they will know.”

New to this year’s walk is the call for an end to the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous people. The riders lead a spirit horse carrying an empty cradleboard, symbolizing those lost in the 1862 Uprising and 38+2 hanging, as well as the missing and murdered.