Maybe state representative Jeremy Munson wasn't the best guest for an Almanac segment on the Bde Maka Ska controversy. We have to wonder--and not for the first time--what goes through the producers and hosts minds when guests are booked.
On Friday night, TPT's Almanac featured Lake Crystal New House Republican Jeremy Munson, of whom host Erik Eskola said was "skeptical of changing names of historic places."
Given Munson's basic historical illiteracy about the names of Minnesota's indigenous people, we wonder just why the hell this fellow was paired with Roseville DFL state representative Jamie Becker-Finn, who is Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe descendant who grew up in the Cass Lake area. She's also a lawyer who is a member of the House Minnesota's People of Color and Indigenous Caucus.
Twitter is reacting to a clip of the Almanac segment posted by the Minnesota Senate District 42 DFL's YouTube Channel (and we'll get to that reaction in a bit), but we're most amazed about Munson's account of indigenous conflict beginning at the 1:38 mark.
Around the 1:28 mark, Eskola asks the panelists "What's the harm?"
Munson replies:
The lake's been named Lake Calhoun for a 180-plus years,and I think Representative Becker-Finn is correct. We should look at the history when we are assessing a name and 300 years ago, there was a war at Taylor Falls between the Sioux and the Dakota, and the Sioux were actually the ones who were long before the Dakota around this lake, so who gets to name the lake I think is an important question we should ask.
Here's the clip of Munson's remarks:
Students of Minnesota history--indeed, probably many small schoolchildren--know that "the Sioux" and "the Dakota" are names for the same groups of indigenous Minnesotans (indeed, the ones who came up with the name for the state). In Dakota Homeland, part of the Minnesota State Historical Society's US- Dakota War of 1862 website, we read:
"Even today, you live in the United States of Dakota. All of this is Dakota Territory."
Ray Owen, Prairie Island Indian Community, 2010
Mni Sota, according to the oral histories of many, has been Dakota homeland for thousands of years. "Dakota” is a word for “ally” and is most likely a reference to the Oceti Ŝakowiŋ (Seven Council Fires)—or main political units—of the Dakota people. The name "Sioux" has also been used for Dakota people. The Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) called the Lakota and Dakota "Nadouwesou" meaning "adders," or possibly referring to "the people of the snaking river" or "people like snakes in the grass." French newcomers mispronounced this name, calling the nation "Sioux."
More about the Oceti Ŝakowiŋ (Seven Council Fires) on the project's page about the indigenous people's political divisions:
Mitakuye oyasin: "All are related"
From Oceti Šakowiŋ: The Seven Council Fires. MNHS Collections.
Historically, there were seven major divisions — "council fires" — of the Dakota, each with a distinct but similar culture. Bdewakaŋtoŋwaŋ, The Spirit Lake People (Mdewakanton); Waĥpekute, The Shooters Among the Leaves People (Wahpekute); Waĥpetoŋwaŋ, The People Dwelling Among the Leaves (Wahpeton); and Sisitoŋwaŋ, People of the Fish Village(s) (Sisseton), are referred to as the Santee or Eastern Dakota. Ihaŋktoŋwaŋ, Dwellers at the End (Yankton); and Ihaŋktoŋwaŋna, Little Dwellers at the End (Yanktonai), are referred to as the Western Dakota or often as the Nakota; and the Tituŋwaŋ, Dwellers on the Plains (Teton) are called Lakota. The historic alliance of these divisions has been known variously over time as the Sioux, the Great Sioux Nation, or Oceti Ŝakowiŋ, the Seven Council Fires. Today Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota tribal governments and communities are located in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana in the United States, and Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada.
Learn more by hearing oral histories of members of Dakota communities.
No, the Sioux and Dakota didn't fight a war among themselves. We suspect he was groping for the name Ojibwe (Anishinaabe)--or Chippewa--though he makes incorrect claim about history andtribal names with utter confidence.
Watch the entire clip here.
Twitter reacts to his potty mouth
We first saw the segment on twitter, as tweepsters responded to the clip. Becker-Finn was civil:
I was on @tptAlmanac last night to discuss #BdeMakaSka . Opposing viewpoint was . . . interesting.https://t.co/zJ3NgjsO96
— Jamie Becker-Finn (@jbeckerfinn) May 4, 2019
Here's Tony Webster:
Minn. Rep. @jeremymunson on Almanac: “If we're gonna stick with the name of Bde [Maka Ska, quipping on how it sounds like ‘bidet’], I think we should put a fountain in the middle of it.”
— Tony Webster (@webster) May 4, 2019
Rep. @jbeckerfinn: “I mean, that's just inappropriate and disrespectful to the language.” pic.twitter.com/q6lYjQyBat
So far, Munson's only tweet/retweet about his appearance:
A new southern Minnesota political duo? Nope, just @GwenWalz and @jeremymunson ahead of their separate appearances on @tptAlmanac. #mnleg pic.twitter.com/zFaeOXTAXZ
— Brian Bakst (@Stowydad) May 3, 2019
Munson's constituents wonder what he's doing in his own district
As we have earlier reported, Munson's constituents are wondering just what he's doing to represent the local interests of his constituents. Check out the letter to the editor in the Madelia Messenger in Local Madelia businessman and telecom lobbyist vows to get Jeremy Munson tossed from office and Julie Rosen and Bob Gunther go to bat for Rapidan Township--where's Jeremy Munson?. The latter post is related to FEMA's response to the township's treatment of sensitive historical site near a road project. Almanac's guest doesn't get involved, but apparently saved his genius for public television viewers.
Lovely.
Screengrab: Munson espousing his opinions about indigenous history on Almanac. Why was he paired with someone who could cite law, the facts of the recent recovery of the lake's Dakota name? Was Almanac hoping for the potty joke?
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I feel like the hosts of the program Erik Eskola and Kathy Wurzer should have corrected him on the Sioux/Dakota reference and that they should have stopped him in his tracks when he made that racist comment about Bde! They totally let it slide and I think they missed an opportunity to stand up to bigotry.
Posted by: Bev Blomgren | May 05, 2019 at 01:42 PM
Wow. That was an eye opener. I have no idea why Almanac would book Munson for this segment. So disrespectful and inaccurate. I live near Bde Maka Ska and totally support keeping the Dakota name. I will never go back to Calhoun. Ever.
Posted by: Ann Manning | May 05, 2019 at 09:24 PM