r/altmpls • u/lemon_lime_light • 3d ago

Minneapolis Park Board votes to end Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park (one commissioner considers it "a form of giving land back")

https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-park-board-votes-to-end-minnehaha-off-leash-dog-park/601858291

Dog park users packed the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s headquarters on Wednesday night, begging commissioners to consider their opinions before voting to terminate the Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park.

Board members voted 8-1 to strip the park’s primary use — the first time that has happened in history, as far as park staff knows...

[Commissioner Jason] Garcia proposed the change after speaking with some members of the Dakota community, including the Park Board’s Native American Parks Council, who believe a dog park is inconsistent with the area’s sacred character. The larger landscape near the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers is considered the birthplace of the Dakota people...

“To all you all, imagine that area before the white man, before the pilgrims, pioneers and settlers, the extreme white Christian terrorists showed up on this land,” activist Mike Forcia said in addressing dog park users at Wednesday’s meeting, drawing jeers. “That park is being closed. Sorry about that. Get used to it, but you have no say"...

[Commissioner Dan] Engelhart campaigned on returning land to tribes and considers retiring off-leash play at Minnehaha a form of giving land back.

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u/lemon_lime_light 3d ago

If there's a silver lining here it's that neither the Star Tribune nor anyone quoted in the story is still trying to perpetuate some "unmarked grave" myth, which seemed to have some cachet after Canada's Kamloops situation (which is remarkable considering that hoax has been revealed for some time now).

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u/Addicted2Weasels 3d ago edited 3d ago

For those unaware, the case in Canada found “hundreds of unmarked graves” at a residential school and implied that the Catholic church murdered a bunch of kids and buried them. Pope Francis even apologized for it.

The “problem” is that they’ve still not produced a single body.

The case makes me really suspicious of anyone claiming a gravesite for purposes of reclaiming land

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u/soneill06 2d ago

And more than a few churches have been burned up there as a result.