Bright Lake County Park

“I went to school in a one-room schoolhouse . . .”

… We did not speak English. We had to learn it. In the second grade, I moved up to a public school where we were always punished when we speak our language. If it is just Indians speaking to each other, I don’t see something wrong with it, but it was just discouragement. When I graduated from college, I went to work as a teacher. My dad said, ‘Whenever you get away from here, remember who you are. We raised you as a Native American; you speak your language, and you are from this particular Tribe. Don’t ever forget who you are.’ I have always spoken my language, and it’s the Alibamu language.”

~Zetha Battise (1937-2022), in Project 562 by Matika Wilbur

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This place is on the traditional territory of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, Wahpeton, and Yankton nations. (Crowdsourced info compiled by Native-Land.ca. Please visit the nations’ websites to learn more.) We support indigenous land rights and the Land Back movement.

 

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