Tag Archives: forgiveness

20th Century, First Nations, History, Indian, Native Americans, Uncategorized

AIM (American Indian Movement) Founded

AIM Patrol patch. mnopedia.org

July 28, 1968
Two prisoners, Clyde Bellecourt and Eddie Benton-Banai, met in Stillwater State Penitentiary about 1962. These new friends formed the Indian Folklore Club to improve the stay for each other and their fellow Native inmates. After meeting Dennis Banks and Russell Means six years later, the trio form the heart of the American Indian Movement. This pan-Indian, anti-imperialist, and anti-racist organization sought to improve the civil rights of Native Americans in Minneapolis, Minnesota. *

Though it may be a bit shocking to the modern liberal Minneapolitan, many young Indians were introduced to the city only as recently as fifty years ago. Two fairly obscure laws passed about a dozen years before created their incentive to come to town. Public Law 959 a.k.a. the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 was intended to encourage their young tribal members to leave the reservations and assimilate into large cities. ** Public Law 280 proposed to move entire tribes that were farther down the path of assimilation from the umbrella of Federal Law and under the jurisdiction of State law. **

Much of AIM’s leadoff efforts were to assist the new urban members of their tribal branches with their legal questions.
These folks were often thought of as “transnationals” in that they were simultaneously members of First Nations (tribes) and American citizens. Quickly they began AIM Patrol,*** a citizen watch group to challenge police brutality against Natives. Further, they played a pivotal role in the creation of the Legal Rights Center of Minneapolis, a resource that provides free legal aid to the poor. ****

Actus, in Latin, is the root word for activist meaning ‘doing’, ‘a driving force’, or ‘an impulse’. Such a broad word is apropos for AIM and the energy of its charter members.
Look at the impact on the early 1970’s in the following timeline of its’ various actions and events.

November 1969 – Occupation of Alcatraz
This point of action by AIM greatly impacted U.S. government’s decision to abandon they policy of Termination and Relocation.

October 1972 – Trail of Broken Treaties
Cross country traveling protest birthed the “Twenty Point” portion paper which defined points of treaties protestors believed the U.S. government had failed to fulfill.
(A few examples.)
“Restore terminated rights of Native Nations.
Repeal state jurisdiction on Native Nations (Public Law 280).
Provide Federal protection for offenses against Indians.
Abolish the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Create a new office of Federal Indian Relations.
Remedy breakdown in the constitutionally prescribed relationships between the United States and Native Nations.
Ensure immunity of Native Nations from state commerce regulation, taxes, and trade restrictions.
Protect Indian religious freedom and cultural integrity.Recognize the right of Indians to interpret treaties.” *

February 27, 1973 – Pine Ridge – Wounded Knee Incident
For 71 days, the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota was occupied by AIM while they battled U.S. officials.This site was chosen because it was significant to the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. Two U.S. officials were seriously wounded, a civil rights activist disappeared, and two Native Americans died.

For most of our North Star citizens it came as a shock that things were so bad for Native Minnesotans that they would take up arms. Perhaps, no event in the 20th century did more to underscore the dysfunctional relationships and mistrust between our State and Federal governments and America’s First Nations. Further, our laws seem to not be the best vehicle to convey the complexities of the human heart and emotional intelligence. Hear, if you can, the words of one of AIM’s most potent members.
“Being is a spiritual proposition. Gaining is a material act. Traditionally, American Indians have always attempted to be the best people they could. Part of that spiritual process was and is to give away wealth, to discard wealth in order not to gain.” Russell Means

And so we turn from this moment in history to the face of the Eternal One. Dear Father, how we need You to come and stand between us; the Native American Minnesotan, and the Adopted Minnesotan. Can we sit in Your circle and wait on You together? We remember, right now, that we are all co-members of Your Creation, and that all who turn to You will be saved from our narcissism past, present, and future. Blessed are You, King of the Universe, who gives us the omnipotence and omnipresence of the Messiah!

We begin our prayer journey with gratitude for G-d ordained meetings. Only You could have known how Clyde Bellecourt and Eddie Benton – Banai would become friends and allies, (in prison no less), and cast a vision for the Indian Folklore Club. We thank You for their vision for a movement that would include all tribes protecting the future from imperialism through the present practice of human rights and civil rights. We thank You for the strong rope made when the cords of Dennis Banks and Russell Means were added to the founders. (Bind us together Lord! Colossians 3:14) Will You bless them, the land of Minnesota, and their ascendants by the authority of the Lord Jesus?

Lord, we acknowledge to You the incompleteness of our laws, and their flaccid lack of power to fulfill the aims of the law. Our laws, too often, force compliance of new outcomes rather than taking the painful, yet relationally honest path of persuasion! In this case, we remember to You Public Law 959 and Public Law 280. We see the positive outcomes that the legislators hoped for; a Native Population not isolated from the growth and opportunities of our society through remaining landlocked on their tribal grounds or reservations. Lawmakers, it appears, wanted young Indians to also see their version of the American dream; not remain shut-ins of their Res.

Lord, we need You to forgive the judgments of the proponents of Law 959 and Law 280 towards Native Minnesotans. Where they have judged our Native brothers and sisters, they have offended Your Image. Will You forgive us this sin so recognized by the American Indian Movement?

Conversely, will You forgive the judgements of those opponents of Laws 959 and 280? Where Native Minnesotans have judged our Adopted Minnesotan family, they too have offended Your Image. Will You forgive us this sin committed against detractors past and present?

We acknowledge the Spirit of Force and the Spirit of Compliance present in laws made far away from the communities they most effect. Though centuries after the fact, the force of such laws echo more of the ring of aristocracy than democracy. Could our Native neighbors felt the transference of centuries of the Canon Laws of the Vatican City, the Napoleonic Code, the Kings Bench, and Court of Chancery within our legal system? Free One, will You take this “force of law” up, out, and onto the Cross of Christ? Will You create the chesed within our legal system, both present and future, to emulate the trust and just and heartfelt compliance of Your Court in heaven? How much we need, invite, and desire the Justice of a Holy Father who is faithful and true in his judgments towards all creation! How we yearn for You to come and make us all one under Your good and right legal system!

As a finale, we consider what happens to a nation which has a worship dysfunction.
When Your Chosen Ones had seasons of disrupted worship, they split their anointed heritage into the tribes of Israel and Judah. Let’s see what Mr. Bellecourt observed as a bitter root cause necessitating AIM. “We were prohibited from practicing our spirituality. It was illegal to be in our country. The Movement changed all that.” —from Bellecourt’s 2016 memoir, “The Thunder Before the Storm”

In a similar vein, I would posit that many of the greatest failures of our Republic stem from a representative class that has morphed into a ruling class. When those making the law fail to acknowledge Adonai, they forget that they too are subjects under judgment. This lack of humility, in large part, is responsible for laws and mandates that have broken faith and relationship between government and the citizenry. Is this why Your Kingdom commands worship? Is this why the Great Ones and Elders of Heaven routinely remove their crowns and prostrate themselves in a state of total respect and awe of Your Justice?

No more “Wounded Knees” Lord unless they be in adoration! Let us be a people who bow together! Let us be a people of humility! Let us remember the cost of our tribe’s freedom today in gratitude! You took the rap for every nation so that we could reign in honesty and innocence!
“And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”” Revelation 5:9,10

P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm or https://www.mnopedia.org/group/american-indian-movement-aim
** Matthiessen, Peter (1980). In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. New York: The Viking Press. pp. 28–29.
*** Wilson, Brianna. AIM Patrol, Minneapolis. Minnesota Historical Society. December 28, 2016. Internet. https://www.mnopedia.org/group/aim-patrol-minneapolis
**** Internet. https://www.legalrightscenter.org
http://www.aimovement.org (Much of the “Twenty Points” strategy is credited to activist Hank Adams.)
* https://aimovement.weebly.com/timeline.html
* https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/russell_means_582021
** Bellecourt, Clyde and Lurie, Jon. The Thunder Before the Storm. Minnesota Historical Society Press; 1st edition (November 1, 2016)

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20th Century, African American, History, Minnesota, Politics, Uncategorized

Humphrey on Civil Rights

Unknown

1948
Hubert Humphrey makes an impassioned plea for civil rights at the Democratic National Convention. His speech offends Southern Democrats, who walk out of the convention, but sets the party on a course toward the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“To those who say that we are rushing this issue of civil rights–I say to them, we are 172 years late!” -Hubert H. Humphrey at the Democratic National Convention*

Hubert H. Humphrey saw the United States as the emerging leader of the free world after World War II, but dared to question its authenticity. The specters of fascism, communism, and racial balkanization were very real in the aftermath of WWII. It also underscored the dichotomy of winning liberties for those outside the US while ignoring the racial injustices at home. What did he see as the root cause and motive for the Civil Rights movement?
“For us to play our part effectively, we must be in a morally sound position.” ***

Yet, by what means would America redefine itself and reclaim this “morally sound position”? Humphrey posited our need to lead by example of a consistent standard, not a double standard on rights. Humphrey proposed the notion in this address that human rights exceeded the value of states’ rights.
“To those who say that this civil-rights program is an infringement on states’ rights, I say this: The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states’ rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.” ***,****

Further, he willingly threw down the gauntlet of human rights with the full knowledge of its opposition within his own party. The locus of this opposition were Southern Democrats concerned that the Civil Rights movement made our Supreme Court stronger than State law. Their debate over the next decade centered on the Declaration of Constitutional Principles, also known as the “Southern Manifesto”, arguing that the Tenth Amendment limited the Supreme Court from overreach into their State law. See Tenth Amendment below:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Humphrey’s address rang the bell on a sixteen year, tag-team wrestling match of our national conscience. Most legislators agreed that something must be done about racial injustices, but disagreed as to the proper method Constitutionally. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed, it had more Republican than Democratic support. The roll call tally of June 19, 1964 shows that 82% Republican “Yeas” and 18% “Nays”, and 69% Democratic “Yeas” and 31% “Nays”. ***** Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona embodied the position of Republican critics. He voted to end segregation, and was an active member of the NAACP, yet objected to Title II and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Why? He felt they could interfere with the rights of a business to do business with or employ whomever they chose. Additionally, he had reservations that these Titles could be misused to usurp States’ rights and free speech of the individual. ******

In all, this riveting oratory decries the courageous heart of Hubert Humphrey. Though viewed as emotional grandstanding to his detractors, he willingly spoke his conscience, and the conscience of millions. He dared ask the question, “What is to be done when America’s head conflicts with our heart?”

So we seek You in this moment, Father. We come to You asking insight and wisdom as to Humphrey’s rhetorical line in the sand. How did this speech affect You?

First, we ask forgiveness for the racism of Humphrey’s era. We have offended You first in our legal, cultural, and personal false assessments of African-Americans. Granted, Minnesota’s culture was less legally overt and more free than many states, but we acknowledge the subtle and quiet prejudices that hurt these brothers and sisters: we tolerated red-lining in housing, we tolerated discriminatory lending practices, in many ways, we zoned African-Americans away from us. We have practiced associating crime with a color, and negated the noble contributions of many minorities. Will You forgive our misbeliefs and unbeliefs? We have denied You when we deny Your Image in our African-American brothers and sisters. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy!

Next, we thank You for the life of Hubert H. Humphrey, and the gift You placed in his heart of having the courage of his convictions. Clearly, he was willing to be misunderstood, even by his own, for daring to call out injustice. We commend him in his intense moments at the Democratic National Convention held at Philadelphia Convention Hall on July 12-14, 1948. Will You continue to give us leaders like him who are willing to speak the raw truth in love and respect?

We acknowledge to You the pains of betrayal at the hands of our beloved! WE acknowledge to You the oceans of these judgment’s past. Will You forgive the judgments’ of Democrats towards those of their own, mostly but not limited to Southerners who expressed dissent at Humphrey’s take on civil rights? Will You forgive Democratic dissenters of Humphrey’s vision their counter judgments’ and bitterness? Will You forgive Republicans their judgments’ of those within their party who voiced dissent to the Civil Rights Act? Will You forgive the counter-judgments of those led by Goldwater towards those who supported Humphrey’s ideals?

In this, we may have judged our political opinions to be more sacrosanct than the relationship with the beloved human being in front of us. We have closed our ears to their objections, because it is easier to break relationship than listen to honest criticism of our political and personal doctrines and dogmas. We have feared our detractors, and closed our minds to the wisdom to be gained in real dialogue and debate. You have said, “Come now, let us reason together…” ******* We have turned it to “Come now, you are unreasonable!”

We have offended You in our failure to listen to our friends, and hear out our opposition in our zeal for our rights. We have attempted to gain a more just America, too often, by too much political and legal force. We have attempted to heal the bitter judgments towards African-Americans through bitterly judging those who disagree with our version of justice for African-Americans. Will You forgive and heal us then, free us in the present, and bless the future of Civil Rights? May we come to agree with Our Creator as to the worthiness and inherent value of every human being made in Your Image. We have failed to learn our lesson from the world’s first sibling rivalry where Cain hated and murdered his brother Abel over doing a good thing; an offering of thanks?!? In this we are 5778 years too late!

* P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
The Minnesota Historical Society Web site, http://www.mnhs.org, is fantastic! Check it out! Images are from https://images.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl; again, an amazing resource!
** Photo credit: smithsonianmag.com
*** See transcript of this famous speech. (1948) Blackpast. “Hubert Humphry, Speech at the Democratic National Convention” December 14, 2010. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1948-hubert-humphrey-speech-democratic-national-convention/
**** See HHH give this speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xQZX5ZvcnY
***** See a photo of the official roll call vote. The Center for Legislative Archives “Roll Call Tally on Civil Rights Act 1964, June 19, 1964” On June 19, 1964, the Senate passed the Civil Right Act of 1964; 73 to 27. The House passed the amended bill on July 2; 289 to 126. https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/civil-rights-1964/senate-roll-call.html
****** Mooney, Kevin J. “The 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Conservative Movement”, November 14, 2013. https://www.theblaze.com/contributions/the-1964-civil-rights-act-and-the-conservative-movement
******* https://www.biblehub.com/isaiah/1-18.htm

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20th Century, education, History, Minnesota, Uncategorized, World War II

Military Intelligence Service Language School

250px-Instructions_to_japanese

Nov 1, 1941 to 1946
The Military Intelligence Service Language School comes to Savage. The school trains Nisei (children of Japanese immigrants) for intelligence and translation work with the Pacific forces. By the time it closes in 1946, more than 6,000 students will have graduated.

The school had been established in 1941 in San Francisco but moved east when Japanese-Americans were forcibly relocated outside of California. Minnesota was chosen as the new site partly because the army “pinpointed Minnesota as the geographic area with the best record of racial amity.” Graduates of the program translated documents intercepted at the front, monitored Japanese radio broadcasts, and interrogated captured enemy soldiers.*

To give more context, after the United States went to war with Japan, as a means of curbing spying and sabotage, President Roosevelt issued the infamous Executive Order 9066 which removed Japanese-Americans from their homes to concentration camps. Categories were made to sort these people based on risk-factors.** For example, “Kibei” were those who grew up in U.S., but for mostly cultural and linguistic reasons were sent back to Japan to receive their university education. The “Nisei”, or second generation Japanese-Americans who raised here were not trusted by the public.***

One wonders how this group reacted to the indignities and real losses of property at the hands of our government. Below is an excerpt from the Minnesota Historical Society based on witnesses and primary source evidence.
“The Nisei who attended the school faced unique personal challenges when deciding to join the military. Many parents of Nisei felt uncomfortable with their children’s participation in the war. After being discriminated against by the federal government, some Japanese Americans found the idea of military service problematic. The US intelligence service feared that after Executive Order 9066, recruits would be hard to find. However, Nisei volunteered in the hundreds, and those who enlisted did so to prove their loyalty to the United States.” ****

This loyalty expressed by the Nisei changed the results of World War II. Although their stories were mostly unknown until decades later, these volunteer linguists did a tremendous service to our state and nation. “The Nisei linguists were credited with shortening the war in the East by two years, saving nearly a million lives and billions of dollars.” ****

What say You, Prince of Peace? Will You bring insight into this page of our history? We are grateful for Your loyalty to each of us. “Know that the LORD your G-d is G-d, the faithful G-d who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.” CSB Deuteronomy 7:9

We begin by walking thankfully through Your front door. We praise You for your masterful and chess-like precision in positioning us to do Your will. We are grateful for the receptivity of Governor Stassen to bring this school to Minnesota. We remember and are grateful for the gracious spirit You have put into Minnesotans towards their fellow Japanese-Americans. We still benefit from their wise, benevolent, and forbearing heart towards outsiders. Will You continue this attitude in us today, and enable us to be a harbor for the displaced?

Conversely, we recognize the judgments of our Federal government and some of the public. We, as a people, took actions to dehumanize the Nisei and the Kibei. We literally and figuratively committed acts of institutional racism. We tolerated our neighbors being stripped of their unalienable rights, dignity, and property because of fear in the time of war. Will You have mercy on this judgment of Your people; the Japanese-American?

We remember to You the successes and failures of President Roosevelt in this era. Granted, his leadership helped us ultimately gain victory over our enemies, but his legacy is a mixture of both good and rotten fruit. As a candidate, he ran on peace, but reversed his position and declared war. “I am asking the American people to support a continuance of this type of affirmative, realistic fight for peace.” ****** FDR at Madison Square Garden, NYC October 28, 1940 In the the run up to W.W. II, his policies shifted between pacifying the threats of Hitler and Stalin, and enraging Japanese leadership through blocking their sea lanes and ability to trade. ****** These actions seem contradictory to his public persona, and call the sincerity of his motives into question. Ironically, the man who, arguably, did the most for the American common man also committed the most racist act on the American common man in the 20th century with Executive Order 9066?!

Lord, we are no better or worse than F.D.R. With one hand we build up, and with the other we tear down. However, we come and ask Your forgiveness and mercy on the internment of American people based solely on their Japanese ancestry; will You forgive us? Will You forgive the judgments documented in EO 9066, and the corresponding counter-judgments by the Nisei and the Kibei? Will You forgive our common American culture its fear, suspicion, and prejudice towards the Nisei and Kibei? Will You forgive the counter-judgments of the Nisei and Kibei towards their government and fellow citizens?

Today we give You thanks for the thousands of Japanese-Americans who rose above the prejudice of our government! We thank You that they did not take the bait of offense straight from the only truly common enemy of humankind; Lucifer. We thank You that they saw the greater threat to humanity in the aggressive prejudices of Tojo. Will You bless their figurative and literal ancestors to also de-escalate war and solidify peace and good-will through knowing language and culture? Amen!

* P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
The Minnesota Historical Society Web site, http://www.mnhs.org, is fantastic! Check it out! Images are from https://images.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl; again, an amazing resource!
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_9066
*** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisei
**** http://www.mnopedia.org/group/military-intelligence-service-language-school-misls
*****
****** http://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/fdr_provoked_the_japanese_attack.htm

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18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, Agriculture, farming, History, Intercession, Judgment & Counter-Judgment Cycle, Mexican, migrant workers, Minnesota, omnipresent history, World War I

Sugar Beets and Migrant Labor 1917-1919

220px-276_Beta_vulgaris_L

Beta Vulgaris

1917 to 1919

“Labor shortages in the U.S. during World War I and political unrest in Mexico draw many Mexican workers north to the sugar-beet fields of the Red River and Minnesota River valleys. Many return year after year; others move to the Twin Cities to find permanent jobs.” *

As a backstory, the sugar beet came to prominence in 18th century Silesia through experiments subsidized by Frederick William III (the King of Prussia) to extract sugar. These findings were furthered by scientists Andreas Marggraf and his star pupil Franz Karl Achard. Their work led to the selection of ‘Weiße Schlesische Zuckerrübe’, meaning white Silesian sugar beet, and boasted about a 6% sugar content. **

The Red River Valley of northwestern Minnesota and  eastern North Dakota had perfect conditions for the growing of this specis of beta vulgaris. Mexican migrant workers entered the scene just as local sugar beet growers and the American Crystal Sugar Company had need for their hand-harvested crop. The Great War had commandeered local labor, leaving room for displaced Mexicans.

Jim Norris, a local expert on these relations, stated the following in his book “North for the Harvest”:

“Though popular convention holds that corporations and landowners invariably exploited migrant workers, (the author) reveals that these relationships were more complex. The company often clashed with growers, sometimes while advocating for workers. And many growers developed personal ties with their migrant workers, while workers themselves often found ways to leverage better pay and working conditions from the company.” ***

And so, Lord of the Harvest, we find ourselves in a triune relationship; the company, the farmers, and the  field workers. We invite Your illumination of these events, and Your insights. Come and lead our meditation!

We thank You for beta vulgaris and the sweet taste it brings to our lives. We thank You for the research done for centuries that yielded such fine results, and provided an alternative to sugar brought into existence by the slavery of the sugar cane fields! We thank You that You provided opportunity for Mexicans amidst the tragedy of the Great War!

Next, we thank You for Your example of a three-sided relationship creating balance. Your roles incorporate our experience of simultaneously living out three roles, yet being one person. We are mothers, daughters, and wives simultaneously! We are fathers, sons, and husbands at the same instant! 

Therefore, we can find security that companies, farmers, and fieldworkers can play three roles that serve one united purpose in sugar beets or the production of any commodity. Will You be the guardian of these relationships in Minnesota? Will You forgive our offenses to You in our imbalances in these relationships? 

Will You forgive us as field workers for negating the needs of our farmers to produce results without fail? Will You forgive our farmers their dehumanization of laborers? Will You forgive those that own the company of their drive to power and market position? Will You forgive us as farmers and field workers our fearful judgments of Wall Street? We do not know the pain of finding a buyer or fair price for huge quantities of a perishable product. Have mercy on us! 

May we find sweetness in being a three-legged stool! May we see the imbalance should we remove one leg of our relationships by excluding Your Holy Opinion! May we be one in purpose regardless of position: migrant, farmer, or president!

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_beet

***Dig deeper on the impact of migrant workers in Minnesota and the Midwest in this excellent book. “Mexican Workers, Growers, and the Sugar Beet Industry” by Jim Norris

http://muse.jhu.edu/book/5421

 

 

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20th Century, Democrat, Faith, Governors, History, Intercession, Judgment & Counter-Judgment Cycle, Leadership, Minnesota, omnipresent history, Politics, Prayer, Social Studies, State Government

Governor Hammond Dies in Office 1915

Unknown

December 30, 1915

“Governor Winfield S. Hammond dies only eight months after taking office, when he suffered ptomaine poisoning on a trip south and died of a stroke in a little bayou town in Louisiana.” *

Governor Hammond was “a staunch Democrat in Republican community”, namely, the city of Mankato and Watonwan County. His ambitions politically were to minimize the bureaucracy of our state government, and eliminate waste. He achieved his political office with bipartisan support. **

What draws me to his story today is that he lived as a political minority in his hometown, yet achieved the highest post of leadership in the state. Politics, both in his era and the present, is more often a game of division than multiplication. The effects of partisanship, past and present, often turns friend against friend, spouse against spouse, and family against family.

What is Your wisdom for us in this, King of Kings? Each day, each moment, we are offered choice by You; will we make relationship, or break relationship? Daily You offer us this insight:

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our G-d, the Lord is One.” Deuteronomy 6:4***

On the personal level, we can have a thriving connection with someone who disagrees with us. We often are married to such a person, work daily with them, or live nearby. We know that person so well, and love them, so we choose to agree to disagree in select areas for the sake of relationship.

Yet when it comes to politics, and its seasons of heated rhetoric, we allow our disagreements over knowledge to supersede our relational “knowing”. Why is this? Why does information trump partnership?

Eternal Father, have mercy on this condition, both in Hammond’s era and the present. We have asserted our superior knowledge against our resolve to continue relating in the context of relationships. We have broken faith with each other over the letters “D” or “R”.

Will You have mercy on on us? Will You help us to “love our enemies”? Will You especially give us grace for our beloved enemies; members of our own household whom we cannot reach agreement?

We offer thanks for Governor Hammond, and his propensity to listen and unite with his opponents. Will You bless him, his progeny, and those who work and especially listen to those across the aisle? Will You fulfill his incomplete visions to create a responsive system of leadership in Minnesota? Will You overcome the acceptance of faction and partisanship as a necessity for the civic leadership of our society? Will You replace knowledge with knowing, and make us one people? Amen!

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winfield_Scott_Hammond

***http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/6-4.htm

 

 

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20th Century, Exploration, History, Intercession, Judgment & Counter-Judgment Cycle, Mining, Minnesota

Cuyuna Range Named 1903

Kennedy-Mine

1903

“While surveying his land in the 1880s, Cuyler Adams noticed that the point of his compass was spinning. Over 20 years he explored the area for the underground metals that distracted his compass. He forms the Orelands Mining Company in 1903 and names the range by combining “Cuy” from Cuyler with “Una” after his pet St. Bernard.

The first ore is shipped from the Cuyuna Range in 1911. The 147,649-ton shipment to Duluth-Superior culminates years of searching, digging, flooding, and failing. More mines quickly open on the range, and immigrants from Finland, Italy, and Yugoslavia find themselves in new villages with names like Orelands, Klondike, Steelton, Ironton, Iron Hub, and Iron Mountain.” * 

What a shock it must have been when Mr Adams’ compass needle started spinning! Did his hair stand on end? Did he calmly and rationally start thinking of possible explanations? Thank you Lord, that this wonderfully odd day in the life of Cuyler Adams was part of Your plan for Minnesota! Thank you for the curiosity You implanted in this man to explore; to seek and find! How many lives were changed by this single moment of the “spinning compass”?

This leads me almost instantly into feelings of remorse for my personal lack of intuition and imagination of Your possible purposes for such odd moments of my life. How many times have You placed me into a potential moment of discovery, and my response is to blame the defective spinning compass in my hands? My rational mind is often the killer of opportunity! I find myself in analysis paralysis, instead of simply continuing the process of looking for answers like Cuyler! Will You forgive this blockage to Your eureka moments? 

This discovery acted as a catalyst for the movements of people and cultures from across the world to northern Minnesota. What was your purpose in this? Why is this ore important other than its obvious applications to industry? In any case, I thank You for using this valuable resource to facilitate the meetings and intermingling  of peoples from Finnish, Italian, Yugoslavian, and Native Minnesotan cultures! You provide us with innumerable introductions to those of other cultures, and yet You do not force our hand in how we respond! You are the perfect travel agent!

I say thanks this day for the blessings and benefits of iron ore, and any of its other common metallurgical applications! Good Father, what a great medium You allow your people to play with?! What a useful material to bless past, present, and future generations! 

Yet, as with any technology, it must be subject to self control. We used mountains of metal in World War I from this mine to assert our political will! We have beaten our plows into swords, and still we continue to do so! Will You forgive our defiant uses of natural resources? Will You help us learn to sidestep political manipulations into war? Will you forgive our resentment, hatred, and fear of others that germinates into the seeds of death? Will You mature our response to the spirits of accusation, provocation, and offense?

Will You also forgive our tragedies based on trust of our knowledge? We study and learn, which is good. But we often allow our knowledge to cloud our judgments! We do not retain a sense of scientific humility and curiosity. We often rely on our observations, and find that they are sadly based on a minuscule understanding of the natural world. For example,

“At the height of the mining, the Cuyuna Range was the location of the worst mining disaster in Minnesota, the Milford Mine disaster.[1] On February 5, 1924, a new tunnel was blasted too close to nearby Foley Lake, and water rushed in, killing 41 miners.” **

Will You forgive how we have hurt our fellow man, and Your world as a result of our miscalculations and arrogance? Lord have mercy! Will You remember our successes, our faithful and bold risks to grow and learn, and the ways we’ve sought to better the lives of others and ourselves? 

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyuna_Range

*** A very readable resource on Cuyuna with brief bios by author Dean Klinkenberg.

http://mississippivalleytraveler.com/cuyuna-iron-range/

**** A wonderful read on Mr. Adams! https://ipeopleblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/1922-mining-engineer-cuyler-adams/

 

 

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19th Century, education, History, Intercession, Minnesota, omnipresent history, Social Studies, State Government

School Required 1885

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1885

“The state legislature passes a mandatory school-attendance law, requiring all children between the ages of 8 and 16 to attend twelve weeks of school a year.” *

Jesus, will You observe this law with me? What is on Your mind when looking at the idea of mandatory school attendance? You don’t use the law forcibly in the New Testament, but did require certain obedience in the Old Testament. You instructed parents to teach, but also said, ‘Let the children come to me” when restrained by the disciples. You demand all from us, but want obedience from the place of lovingkindness rather than empty religious duty.

In any case, I thank You that Minnesotans’ have valued education. I thank You for the heart behind this law that children should be allowed a time and place solely for learning. I thank you that these 12 weeks were set aside to enhance the exposure of young minds’ to the enjoyable discipline of education.

As is the case whenever new laws spring up, I’m sure there was an element in the state that was resistant to comply for varying reasons. “What if my child becomes smarter than me? What if the school teaches something that I do not agree with? What is wrong with the way I am raising my child currently? Does the government of Minnesota know better than me? I need my son or daughter at home because they are essential workers on the farm!”

Lord, for these attitudes of distrust from the people to the state, have mercy on our judgements! Lord, for the attitudes of the state to the people, have mercy on our judgements! We are all people capable of misusing our authority. We are all people who capable of using some element of force when we do not get our way. We are not benevolent like You; we often do good things from impure motives. 

Christ, will You have mercy on our motive conflicts? Will You give the correct balance in this contested area of education in the life of our state? Will you give us the grace for our neighbor that is inherent in Your law, and in the laws of Minnesota? How can we expect our freedom of choice to be respected, when we will not even acknowledge our neighbor’s vantage point as one worthy of consideration?

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

** Peruse the details of this law? https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/?view=session&year=1885&type=0

 

 

 

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19th Century, Culture, History, Indian, Intercession, Minnesota, Native Americans, State Government, Treaties

Sisseton Wahpeton Reservations Established

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February 19, 1867
“The Sisseton (or Lake Traverse) Reservation in northeastern South Dakota and the Devil’s Lake Reservation in central North Dakota are established for the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands, originally from Minnesota. These two bands had argued for the restoration of their treaty rights on the grounds that they had not fully participated in the war of 1862.” *

Lord Jesus, I ask that You enter this negotiation of February 19 so long ago. Will You bring Your justice into this situation? Will You free the Minnesotan and tribal members from the sins of their generations? Will You bring a new peace between Sisseton Wahpeton and our State?

http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

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19th Century, Dakota, History, Indian, Intercession, Minnesota, Native Americans, omnipresent history, U.S. Government

Santee Reservation Established

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February 27, 1866
“The U.S. Indian Office establishes a reservation for the Santee Dakota—who are facing starvation at Crow Creek—at the mouth of the Niobrara River in Nebraska. Pardoned prisoners from the military prison in Davenport, Iowa, join the Crow Creek survivors in this new location.” *

Jesus, will You intervene in this event? Will You forgive any of the judgments offensive to You in this event, whether from: Santees, Dakotas, Minnesotans, South Dakotans, Iowans, or Nebraskans? All our opprobrious conduct was against You. Will You have mercy on these parties in this moment as You will forgive our contemptuous actions in the future? Will You transform these relationships? Will You bring chesed into our present?
* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

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19th Century, Dakota, History, Indian, Intercession, law, Minnesota, Native Americans, Social Studies, State Government

Reestablishing Dakota Communities in Minnesota

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1865 to 1895
“About 150 Dakota who assisted in the punitive expeditions are allowed to remain in Minnesota after the war. They take refuge on lands at Mendota and Faribault owned by Henry Sibley and the Faribault family. As the decades pass, more Dakota find their way back to traditional homelands, living near old villages at Prairie Island and the Upper and Lower Sioux Agencies. In 1889 Congress passes legislation allowing the Dakota to establish communities at Lower Sioux, Shakopee, and Prairie Island. A similar community at old Upper Sioux lands is established in 1938. These four communities are all that remain of federally recognized Dakota land in Minnesota. In addition, several Dakota communities are established in Canada.” *

Amazing! This is exactly the type of stuff that I have looked for during this effort. Here are layer upon layer of opportunities for the Enemy of All to build his evil networks to break the society that You have intended in this state of Minnesota. I’m blind apart from You Holy Spirit! I will tell You what I see. Will You guide my prayers and observations? Will You forgive my errors and move me to what is in Your heart?

Lord, is this an attempt to divide and create unforgiveness among brothers? Is this a task that is understandably messy because we are human beings? Proverbs 6:15,19 NIV tells us “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:” one of them being “ a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”

Holy Spirit, we see the fruit of dissension sown among the Dakota people. Will You forgive the offense of the judgments these two groups had towards each other? Will You forgive this offense? Will You re-establish good faith and trust among the Dakota Nation? Will You establish good faith and trust between present Dakota Nations and Minnesota Nations? Will You bless and restore these parties to You, the land, and their generations? Will You break the power of the spirit “who stirs up dissension among brothers?”

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

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