The most appropriate way to commemorate the U.S.- Dakota war seems clear to me ("150 years later, war's wounds still cut deep," Jan. 29):

1. The state of Minnesota should apologize.

2. Every student in this state should learn from an early age that the American Indian names attached to the rivers, lakes, towns, cities, and counties across the state mean something -- that they belonged to real individuals, families and bands who were harmed in countless horrific ways in the creation and development of this state. That history must become a mandated part of the curriculum.

3. The state and its institutions should commit support and resources to the reinvigoration of American Indian culture and language, most especially taking steps to ensure that the teaching of Dakota and Ojibwe languages becomes available to all children for whom these languages are a rightful inheritance.

NATAN PARADISE, WEST ST. PAUL