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Land was given back to the Dakota Indians at the Lower Sioux Agency Historic Site in 2021 and the Upper Sioux Agency State Park in 2023. This has been in the news for some time now.

But what many Minnesotans may not know about this achievement of the "Land Back" movement is that the land in question holds the graves of whites who were killed by the Dakota at each of those sites in the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862. There are about 20 unmarked graves of victims at the Lower Sioux Agency and two at the Upper Sioux Agency. These gravesites are sacred to the white community.

The Dakota often speak of the sacredness of the graves of their ancestors, as they should. But the white community also adheres to the belief that graves are sacred — the most revered of sites. Now, in 2023, a banner over the entrance to the Interpretative Center at the Lower Sioux Agency proclaims "Landback." A sign recently installed at the Lower Sioux Agency discusses the burial of the dead and does mention the whites who were killed there and remain buried there. But it is not the appropriate and prominent marker, including gravestones, that should be there in memory of the 20.

I have pointed out the presence of these graves and the approximate location of a number of them to the Minnesota Historical Society, but the institution has taken no action to mark or prominently acknowledge the sites. Surely, the presence of the graves of some 20 murder victims deserves better.

The MHS and the state Department of Natural Resources seem more anxious to get the land back in the hands of the Dakota than to protect the sanctity of these graves. But given the number of unmarked graves of murder victims at the Lower Sioux Agency, this area is in actuality a large cemetery. As such, it should be treated with the utmost respect.

I call upon the MHS executive council to do the right thing and provide prominent markers at the approximate locations of these graves, and to ensure free and unimpeded access to the site for any person who wishes to visit.

Curtis Dahlin lives in Roseville.