Transcript of Joan Pendleton Interview

"They got their land, and yet they promised them this and that – food and that they would always have their place. It’s so upsetting that some people could be that way. At that time they just took advantage of the poor people that didn’t understand. But the government was promising them and the Dakota took them by their word, I suppose. I would never treat someone like that, no matter what nationality they were......I try to, as far as a non-Indian, treat them right. I know what their ancestors did to my ancestors, but I try to forgive and forget. I’ll never forget, but you try to forgive because it’s so many years and you just don’t know who to blame anymore.......I feel that they have benefitted from that, but that feeling should go for them too, that it’s not our fault either. You have to try and get along as best you can nowadays. But I don’t like to hear them say, 'Well, she’s just an old Indian.'......it seems like my ancestors were killed or murdered, and yet when the Dakota people killed the non-Indian it was a 'massacre.' It’s not my fault, it’s not their fault, but you have to live with that and it’s always there."