Where are the feathers?

In 2015, a group of 57 Lakota students from American Horse School travelled to a minor league Rush hockey game as a reward for their academic achievements. Three men seated above the group spilt beer on the students and yelled racist remarks. Only one man, Trace O’Connell, was charged with disorderly conduct and later cleared of the charge.

Shortly after the incident, a trip to honor the students was organized by Cody Hall, a Lakota who operates a sports oriented non-profit. The students travelled to Minneapolis through Hall’s connections. Not all 57 students were able to go, but those who did go were able to tour the University of Minnesota campus, attend a University of Minnesota women’s soccer game, receive a signed Timber Wolves jersey, go to a Vikings game, and be honored with a meal and gift of 57 eagle feathers that was organized by the local Native American community of Minneapolis.

Even though not all 57 students were able to go on the Minneapolis trip, Hall said that the trip was supposed to be “their exclamation point.” Hall would later take more students from the Lakota 57 on a ski and snowboard trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Lisa Bellanger was the main organizer of the meal and gift of 57 eagle feathers. “I sent a couple of emails and made a few calls and then those people made a few more calls and the feathers just came,” she said.

All of the eagle feathers were given to Travis Thunder Bull who was a chaperone on the trip. Thunder Bull was approached to chaperone the trip the day that the group left, and he had anxiously accepted the invitation.

“They fed us traditional rice dishes and we had a good meal,” said Thunder Bull about Bellanger’s event. “Then we all gathered around and Jerry Dearly gave a speech and we all smudged. From other Natives throughout the world, they were able to secure 57 eagle feathers. Some of the eagle feathers were very pretty and the color of rainbows.”

Thunder Bull took the feathers back to South Dakota where he was to organize a ceremony for the feathers to be distributed to each student or made into a display for the American Horse School. After returning to South Dakota, Thunder Bull told Pass Creek district president James Cross that a ceremony would need to be organized.

When Thunder Bull was not home two days later, Cross obtained the feathers while telling Thunder Bull’s wife that he would assume the responsibility of conducting a ceremony.

“I was a little frustrated because I was the one that was put in charge of the feathers and I was the one that needed to see it done,” said Thunder Bull. “I let it go because he is an elected official.”

Thunder Bull persisted in with his obligation and attempted to coordinate with Cross. “I kept bothering him every month,” Thunder Bull said. “I left him phone messages and text messages, but over the years he never did anything. When he finally did respond to me, he told me that he made a staff out of the feathers. But he never could tell me where the staff is.”

Hall had heard about no ceremony being conducted for the feathers. “What was told to the parents was that they were supposed to go in a display in the American Horse School,” said Hall. “They were supposed to resemble what those kids stood up against, but they are probably in someone’s wardrobe and going to some local powwow.”

In response to learning that no ceremony was held for the students, Lisa Bellanger said that “it would be nice to rekindle the event and know where the feathers are because I know some great people who could make a flag or some other display.”

“I understand the significance of eagle feathers and why people pray for them,” said Thunder Bull. “When they don’t end up where they are supposed to go it is bad medicine.”

Overall, Thunder Bull wants to put the story of the Lakota 57 to rest. “Let’s tell the last story of the Lakota 57 and then shut the book,” he said.

But it seems that the student’s justice will not be complete until the eagle feathers make it where they were intended to be even if it is nearly 6 years later.

James Cross could not be reached for comment by the Native Sun News Today.

 

(Contact Travis at travisldewes@gmail.com)

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