It's for the people

TP: I’d just like to add that like some of the information that people come in with is wrong, might be wrong. I’m not saying they’re wrong, I’m not saying they’re right. But we also got to come together and work together not against each other. This is not about land, it’s about getting people to understand our Dakota history. It’s nothing wrong with being a Dakota and we got to find our history. And you know I say when we find our history, this is going to heal the people. They’re going to know where they came from. I never knew where I come from all my life. I just knew I was a Sioux and that was it. Then when my kids grew up, I went and started the searching where I actually came from. A lot of times I kind of cried. I put stuff away from the stuff I heard and the stuff I remembered from my dad. My dad shared a lot of stories with me. He said how grandpa Pasiapa got away from the Minnesota Uprising. But he called it the Big War. He said grandpa Pasiapa used to turn into an owl and that’s how he got away.

DL: That’s one way to get away.

TP: [Laughter] Yeah but you know, like with the traditional ways there was shift changes back in those days. It is there in history that they used to be able to change. My grandfathers were all medicine people same as with the grandmothers. And I found my grandmothers. But like I said, this is for the people. It’s not about me anymore.