Dakota Sacred Sites Tour 2022
The Sacred Sites Tours are part of Healing Minnesota Stories’ effort to create dialogue and healing between Native and non-Native peoples (a program of the Minnesota Council of Churches). Join us to gain a greater awareness and understanding of the Dakota people, the original people of this area, who too often are invisible in their homeland.
We will visit three outdoor sites near the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, what the Dakota refer to as Bdote, or “meeting place of rivers.” These sites are the Fort Snelling State Park, the Dakota Internment Camp, and Pilot Knob Hill.
Hear Dakota stories on the land itself about some of our nation’s violent and unjust history and the devastating impact on our fellow human beings.
Being together in this space as people of faith and conscience will support our ability to promote healing, justice, and reparations. It will build our power to be part of the larger movement for a just and sustainable future.
Details:
The tour will start at 1:00 pm and end around 5:00 pm at the Church of St. Peter in St. Paul. We’ll meet at the lower level of the parking lot, to the left of the church. Participants will be encouraged to carpool together, to the extent comfortable with current covid levels.
Tours are appropriate for adults, older youth, and service animals (but not pets).
Dress for the weather with sturdy footwear (if walking). Wheelchairs are welcome as the places we go are on or very near grassy or gravel trails. You can bring a lawn chair if you want to sit during the storytelling. Those walking should expect some uneven surfaces and one mild hill.
Cost:
The suggested donation is $60 per person. All funds will be directed in support of Healing Minnesota Stories.
Registration is now full.
Tour Leaders:
Jim Bear Jacobs
Born in St. Paul, Jim Bear Jacobs is a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation, an American Indian tribe located in central Wisconsin. He has degrees in Pastoral Studies and Christian Theology and has served various churches as youth minister, adult Christian educator, and director of Men’s Ministries. Presently he is Racial Justice Director of the Minnesota Council of Churches and parish associate at Church of All Nations Presbyterian Church. He is a cultural facilitator in the Twin Cities and works to raise the public’s awareness of American Indian causes and injustices. He is founder/convener of Healing Minnesota Stories.
Kelly Sherman Conroy
Kelly Sherman-Conroy / Mato Wašté Winyan (Good Bear Woman) has grounded her life in the Holy Spirit and the deep spiritual practices intertwined between her Lakota identity and Christian beliefs. As a proud member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, Kelly dedicates her time to social justice, racial reconciliation, trauma and healing, Indigenous leadership, and family ministry. Kelly has a Ph.D. from Luther Seminary, where her focus is in Lakota thought, philosophy and spirituality and how these forms inform Christianity and move Lakota people past trauma to healing.
Walking with people of all cultures, she actively provides ministry around the exploration of intersections of identity, personal narratives, and faith. Kelly has two decades of teaching and leading in family ministry and keeps busy by actively being involved in the Minnesota Council of Churches (Board of Directors); American Indian Alaska Native Lutheran Association Inc. (Executive Council); ELCA Youth Ministry Network (Board of Directors); ELCA Authentic Diversity Committee; Minister of Social Justice & Advocacy at Nativity Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; Convenor of the Twin Cities Interfaith Movement Chaplains.
Photo credit: Erika Sanders