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51 Dak .ota Odowaŋ At the end of the Dakota-U.S. war in September 1862, nearly 2,000 Dakota people surrendered to the U.S. Army, believing that they would be treated humanely as prisoners of war. That November, 1,700 women, children, and old ones were forced to march 150 miles to a prison camp at Fort Snelling, an unknown number dying along the way and lost to their families, who were not allowed to bury them. My flat English tongue betrays my heart and the songs of those who came before and who want to know Dani¶ota he? Are you Dakota? Early morning fog rises from the Minnesota River where women and children marched November gnawing their hands. Dani¶ota he Are you Dakota? eya dowaŋpi. they sing. My hard English ear struggles but my heart hears their songs. Odowaŋ kiŋ hena sdodyaye he Do you know those songs? Dani¶ota he Are you Dakota? eya dowaŋpi. they sing. One hundred and fifty miles they struggled to save their songs. Nauŋya®uŋpi kiŋhan You will know them hena sdodyaye kte. when you hear us. Dani¶ota ye You are Dakota! eya dowaŋpi. they sing. 52 My healed Dakota heart dama¶ota ye dowaŋ. sings, I am Dakota! Waŋna nawiçawa®uŋ. I hear them now. Uŋhdohdipi We are returning home, eya dowaŋpi k’a they sing, and makicidowaŋpi. they sing for me. ...

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