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05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0142. Imported source record; individual Elder status and tribal affiliation are not inferred.
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Interview transcript
I am reminded of the time I left the Rez and went to college at Black Hills State. In some of the classes they would take roll…take attendance every day. I would sit in the back of the classroom…and they did it in alphabetical order. Every time it would start getting to the “T”s, I would begin to cringe like “Oh my,” you know. The instructor wouldn’t say your first name, just your last name. I always remember the instructor, Dr. Sever Eubank,” who taught history. That is my major. I went to school to teach high school history. He would just look down and wouldn’t look up. We’d have to say “here.” And he’d say “Taken Alive.” “Here.” And to see all my non-Indian friends look back every day like, “Who has a last name like that?” And like, “Ok, c’mon guys and girls, same guy.” But to have gone through those types of experiences…and I’m certain other relatives and friends with crazy sounding last names like mine probably went through similar experiences. So to have gone through those…and now today…to see as I call it “The Indian Name Movement” if you will.” A lot of our relatives, a lot of the new young people…seeking and desiring to have a Lakota name…which is awesome! Very very awesome because it connects them individually and personally to the Creator. It connects them individually and personally with each other. And as a result of that process, we end our petitions, if you will, to the Creator with that phrase, “Mitakuye Oyasin.” And that in itself is one of the most famous prayers as our elderly would tell us in our language. LAKOTA PHRASE. Just that phrase, they say…in itself… is an awesome prayer…and it goes all the way to the stars.