The Prairie Island Indian Community has filed a claim with the Minnesota Historical Society, requesting repatriation rights to the “Mankato Hanging Rope,” the noose used to hang Dakota relative Wicanhpi Wastedanpi (Good Little Stars), known also as Chaske.
“This sacred item was stolen from Wicanhpi Wastedanpi’s grave and kept as a trophy before being donated to the Historical Society,” a statement from the Prairie Island Tribal Historic Preservation Office said. “It should be repatriated immediately to the Dakota people and the Prairie Island Indian Community as the lead claimant.”
The Minnesota Historical Society said it had received a claim under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) on Feb. 29 from the Prairie Island Indian Community requesting repatriation of the “Mankato Hanging Rope.” The rope was used in the Dec. 26, 1862 execution in Mankato of 38 Dakota men who were convicted of “murder and other outrages” against settlers during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, a bloody, six-week event. It was the largest mass execution in U.S. history.
God fucking dammit. People have had thirty years to comply with the law and they’re still holding on to this shit.
The claim was made in February under a 1990 law, not made in 1990.