Interview · South Dakota · Whitney Rencountre · OSEU 6
Themes: Land & stewardship, Education & learning, Treaties & sovereignty, Values & generosity, Culture & continuity, Community & responsibility, Listening & observation
Learn About questions
What is a domestic dependent nation?
What is “absolute power?”
What is a sovereign nation?
How might open conversations about our history from both sides help move us forward?
Learn From questions
Are there things that were withheld or not fully taught to me when I was younger that I found out about later on in life? How did the new realizations impact me?
Have I engaged in open conversations that have crossed racial lines? What was the experience like?
Have I experienced being a part of a dominant culture? A non-dominant culture? What is the experience like?
Have I ever advocated for a race other than my own? Why? How? What was my motivation?
Transcripts
Working Together - Whitney Rencountre - OSEU #6
Watch this interview on YouTubeWe know about the treaties, we know about, you know, what took place and, you know, when I was at Black Hill State University, I remember Dr. John Glover, we talked about it being a domestic dependent nation. Where we had our sovereignty, we have our sovereignty, our power in terms of the government-to-government relationship, but because of absolute power from the government, it overrules all that.
So we've become a domestic dependent nation where we do have some sovereignty, but it's kind of, it can be overruled at any time, so to speak, because of the absolute power from the government. You know, but aside from that, I think it's important to learn about that. It's important to learn how our situation is today, because when we do that, and it's done in a way, when you hold information from people and they finally learn about it, there's going to be some anger. I mean, it's just natural.
But when you don't withhold that information and you teach and you share that information, you also are showing, you're putting yourself in a vulnerable place, and you're saying, I'm willing to, let's see what we can do kind of to rewrite a little bit of our history. And then you have a willingness from both sides, non-Natives and Natives, to come together and have conversations, have opportunities to teach, and have opportunities to work together to create an environment where there's no information that is hidden. It then becomes public knowledge.
It's something the people who have the power to commission the books, so on and so forth, can then create more of an environment where we can do some great things.
Because, you know, I watched the movie Selma. You talk about what happened when they tried to cross the bridge. It was all Dr. King and the African Americans trying to cross. They ran into a lot of issues. But when non-Natives came and worked with them, they were able to cross the bridge.
And there were still issues there, but I think moving forward, those are some of the experiences that we need to have.
Resource text
OSEU 6: INTERVIEW WITH WHITNEY RENCOUNTRE
WoLakota Project
From the current WoLakota source page:
Working Together
Whitney Rencountre
Transcript
(deep listening, information)
(deep listening, information)
Some indexed text was extracted from scanned material. Check the original source for exact wording and spelling.
Source materials
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Additional source transcripts
Working Together
Working Together - Whitney Rencountre - OSEU #6
We know about the treaties, we know about, you know, what took place and, you know,
when I was at Black Hill State University, I remember Dr. John Glover, we talked about it
being a domestic dependent nation. Where we had our sovereignty, we have our
sovereignty, our power in terms of the government-to-government relationship, but
because of absolute power from the government, it overrules all that.
So we've become a domestic dependent nation where we do have some sovereignty,
but it's kind of, it can be overruled at any time, so to speak, because of the absolute
power from the government. You know, but aside from that, I think it's important to learn
about that. It's important to learn how our situation is today, because when we do that,
and it's done in a way, when you hold information from people and they finally learn
about it, there's going to be some anger. I mean, it's just natural.
But when you don't withhold that information and you teach and you share that
information, you also are showing, you're putting yourself in a vulnerable place, and
you're saying, I'm willing to, let's see what we can do kind of to rewrite a little bit of our
history. And then you have a willingness from both sides, non-Natives and Natives, to
come together and have conversations, have opportunities to teach, and have
opportunities to work together to create an environment where there's no information
that is hidden. It then becomes public knowledge.
It's something the people who have the power to commission the books, so on and so
forth, can then create more of an environment where we can do some great things.
Because, you know, I watched the movie Selma. You talk about what happened when
they tried to cross the bridge. It was all Dr. King and the African Americans trying to
cross. They ran into a lot of issues. But when non-Natives came and worked with them,
they were able to cross the bridge.
And there were still issues there, but I think moving forward, those are some of the
experiences that we need to have.