Some of the inside scoop...
It is very hard being a white person who has written a story about the Dakota. Yes, there is Indian blood in my family, but I'm not of the Great Sioux Nation. I'm just a girl from Kentucky who is trying to get the word out about a people who I relate to. My ancestors suffered at the hands of the U.S. Government and maybe that's why it is so strong in me, I don't know, but to take a story like the Great Sioux Uprising and try to make a positive out of it is a tall order.
The spirits don't see my color, but others do and that's ok, I am not trying to be anyone or anything that I'm not. I understand the hurt and anger, the resentment and the need to keep things within the tribe, I totally get that. Sometimes when I look down at my skin, I am shocked to see it is white and not red. These feelings in my heart are so strong and the spirits who have helped me have not allowed me to rest, even after the first book was done. I write these stories because the spirits push me, knowing that the past needs to be out there. They have helped me, doctored me, guided me and molded me into the person writing this. It is ONLY with their help and through the ceremonies that I have learned my real identity- who I am- and for this I am very thankful.
There are not many of my own people to teach me the ways of my ancestors. I am not from a reservation of which I can go back to, nor do I have older relatives who can tell me anything. All I have to go on is what is in my blood. That DNA that screams at me as I listen, watch and learn my way through life. That pain that I feel when I see how the youth suffer at the hands of alcohol, drugs and child abuse, as it was in my own family. Not knowing where the next meal was coming from was in my own family. Financial struggles were in my own family. I grew up on commodities just like most of the Indians I know, and I wouldn't change it for all the money in the world. It made me a good person, an honest person, but more importantly, a humble person and I am a BETTER person for it.
I will work til I can't work anymore to bring this story of the Dakota 38 to the big screen, and in a way that will attract thousands of people to the theater to see it. Why? For money and fame? No. I stand to make very little from this movie. It is because the more people who see it, the more people will learn and the more they know, the more healing that can take place. The truth will be presented in a way that people can "get it" and just like other movies where it shows a disaster taking place, people will gasp and cry and be moved to do something, only this story will be TRUE and they'll CHEER in the end because the outcome will be just! It is my wish that the healing that takes place while this movie is made and watched, the outcome of all the hard work that the 7th generation does in the film, will somehow be reflected in the spirit world for those who might still be suffering there. My true desire is for my work to make a difference, to bridge a gap of understanding and to right the wrongs somehow. I am not taking anything I didn't come here with when I die, but I WILL leave a footprint while I'm here. It's the least I can do for the spirits who have shown me that skin color is not important when you are working together for a cause.
I get emails everyday from people who are so excited to see the movie, want to be in the movie, want to write music for the movie, or who just want to somehow be involved and it does my heart good to see this. It means that the story, MY STORY, is moving people and as the spirits have told me, more will follow. Now a pardon for Chaska, the Dakota hung by mistake who my character Ghostkiller was based on, is in the works. To me, that confirms all I know about these spirits who are working within and this that book is no joke. These things must happen and the healing must take place and so it is! I love this way of life!
I hope that somehow, someway, those of you reading this will be touched by this journey. I hope that it gives you hope and that you learn something along the way to pass on to someone else. Keep keeping on, no matter what, and reach for those stars who's only desire is to twinkle for you.
Toksa ake kolas! (til we meet again friends!)
Lynny Prince
The spirits don't see my color, but others do and that's ok, I am not trying to be anyone or anything that I'm not. I understand the hurt and anger, the resentment and the need to keep things within the tribe, I totally get that. Sometimes when I look down at my skin, I am shocked to see it is white and not red. These feelings in my heart are so strong and the spirits who have helped me have not allowed me to rest, even after the first book was done. I write these stories because the spirits push me, knowing that the past needs to be out there. They have helped me, doctored me, guided me and molded me into the person writing this. It is ONLY with their help and through the ceremonies that I have learned my real identity- who I am- and for this I am very thankful.
There are not many of my own people to teach me the ways of my ancestors. I am not from a reservation of which I can go back to, nor do I have older relatives who can tell me anything. All I have to go on is what is in my blood. That DNA that screams at me as I listen, watch and learn my way through life. That pain that I feel when I see how the youth suffer at the hands of alcohol, drugs and child abuse, as it was in my own family. Not knowing where the next meal was coming from was in my own family. Financial struggles were in my own family. I grew up on commodities just like most of the Indians I know, and I wouldn't change it for all the money in the world. It made me a good person, an honest person, but more importantly, a humble person and I am a BETTER person for it.
I will work til I can't work anymore to bring this story of the Dakota 38 to the big screen, and in a way that will attract thousands of people to the theater to see it. Why? For money and fame? No. I stand to make very little from this movie. It is because the more people who see it, the more people will learn and the more they know, the more healing that can take place. The truth will be presented in a way that people can "get it" and just like other movies where it shows a disaster taking place, people will gasp and cry and be moved to do something, only this story will be TRUE and they'll CHEER in the end because the outcome will be just! It is my wish that the healing that takes place while this movie is made and watched, the outcome of all the hard work that the 7th generation does in the film, will somehow be reflected in the spirit world for those who might still be suffering there. My true desire is for my work to make a difference, to bridge a gap of understanding and to right the wrongs somehow. I am not taking anything I didn't come here with when I die, but I WILL leave a footprint while I'm here. It's the least I can do for the spirits who have shown me that skin color is not important when you are working together for a cause.
I get emails everyday from people who are so excited to see the movie, want to be in the movie, want to write music for the movie, or who just want to somehow be involved and it does my heart good to see this. It means that the story, MY STORY, is moving people and as the spirits have told me, more will follow. Now a pardon for Chaska, the Dakota hung by mistake who my character Ghostkiller was based on, is in the works. To me, that confirms all I know about these spirits who are working within and this that book is no joke. These things must happen and the healing must take place and so it is! I love this way of life!
I hope that somehow, someway, those of you reading this will be touched by this journey. I hope that it gives you hope and that you learn something along the way to pass on to someone else. Keep keeping on, no matter what, and reach for those stars who's only desire is to twinkle for you.
Toksa ake kolas! (til we meet again friends!)
Lynny Prince
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