A St. Paul school board member and co-founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM) Twin Cities, Chauntyll Allen, has ignited controversy with a public Facebook post suggesting that dogs should be allowed to urinate in "white Christian cemeteries."
Allen's comment followed a decision by Minneapolis officials to "decommission" the Minnehaha Dog Park, an off-leash area, by the end of the year. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board cited the park's location on "sacred" Dakota land, identified as the Mni Owe Sni (Coldwater Spring) Traditional Cultural Place, which is believed to hold unmarked graves connected to the aftermath of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.
"I don't get why we don't just make dog parks at white Christian cemeteries if white Christians are ok with it?" Allen wrote. "This is a simple fix. Leave indigenous land sacred and piss on the white corpses."
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board's decision to close the dog park stemmed from an archaeological study that identified the area as sacred to Dakota tribes. Board President Tom Olsen stated that the space holds significant history that was not previously fully understood, necessitating a readjustment of expectations for its use. Maggie Lorenz, executive director of Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi, explained that unmarked graves are scattered across the land due to the concentration camp at Fort Snelling and the subsequent winter of the U.S.-Dakota War, during which many ancestors died.
Lorenz suggested that such data is protected to prevent the looting of burial sites for artifacts. She also indicated that the recognition and protection of these sacred places by Indigenous peoples are finally increasing, representing an effort to correct historical wrongs.
Allen's recent remark is not the first controversy she has been involved in; she is currently facing felony charges related to the storming of Cities Church in St. Paul in January.
The debate over the Minnehaha Dog Park has been heated, with differing views expressed during a recent meeting. Some argued for shared public land use, while others, including Gary Spears, stated that the dog park infringes on the religious freedom of Native people. Lorenz expressed satisfaction that Dakota and Indigenous places are finally receiving recognition and protection.
The argument extended to a public Facebook forum for the dog park, where Allen's comment prompted a strong reaction. The forum's comment section was eventually closed due to the intense back-and-forth exchanges. Some comments criticized Allen's remarks and questioned her suitability for her role on the school board, while others defended the importance of preserving off-leash areas and questioned the evidence of graves being present in the specific dog park location.