Fight Back! News | FBI harasses Dakota activist Waziyatawin for speech in Minnesota

By Brad Sigal | January 8, 2011Read more articles in Indigenous Peoples

TAKE ACTION: The Twin Cities chapter of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network initiated a solidarity statement and encourages individuals and organizations to sign on. The statement is available here.

Winona, MN – On Jan. 3, an FBI agent contacted Waziyatawin, a well-known Dakota activist and scholar. The agent from the FBI’s Mankato, Minnesota office wanted to question her about her beliefs and about the content of a speech she gave in Winona on Nov. 8, 2010. Waziyatawin said she declined to talk with the FBI agent about the presentation or her viewpoints and instead referred him to her attorney.

According to a statement being circulated by her supporters, Waziyatawin’s Nov. 8 speech concerned the brutal realities of the colonization of this continent’s land, its resources, and First Nations People. She also spoke of a common need to restore the environment and a way of living that is not reliant on capitalism and the destruction of nature.

The FBI agent claimed to be investigating her because of the speech, which sparked a series of letters in the Winona Post newspaper. The first letter in the newspaper, by a college student who attended the speech, accused Waziyatawin of making “terroristic threats.” He told Minnesota Public Radio that the FBI then contacted him three times about his accusations.

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