In yesterday’s StarTribune: Mendota tribe struggles to keep language, culture alive
The two-story house in dot-on-the-map Mendota (population: 197) is more ragged than rustic. White paint is peeling off doors. A side porch has collapsed. On the front lawn, weeds have won the turf war against grass.
But on Wednesday nights, supporters of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community try to forget they have trouble making rent on their ramshackle community center. There is important work to do here along Hwy. 13: There’s a language and culture to preserve.
The band of 200 to 300 people is working locally to increase the dwindling number of people who know the Dakota language and nationally to gain federal recognition as an independent tribe, a designation that would bring much-needed financial help.
See the video, Learning the language.
