We Dakotas for some reason, were always drawn back to where we were born and raised; we’re drawn back.

DL: Can you explain to me, what the draw was in coming back to Minnesota for the Dakota people. Why did so many Dakota risk their lives to return?

DB: I suppose, to use an expression, I suppose it’s because it’s their homeland. Like for example, when I was in the service and then later in different states working [for the BIA], I liked most of the places, however, this was always my home and it remained my home. There’s something I’ve noticed about the white folks – pardon the expression – but some of the folks that I worked with, when they decided to retire, they stayed where they were. They didn’t go back to someplace else, where they were born or raised and went to school and all that. They didn’t. I’m not saying that they all were that way, because I know quite a few folks who were that way, that they stayed right where they retired. They considered that to be their new home. We Dakotas for some reason, were always drawn back to where we were born and raised; we’re drawn back.