Dakota people in the Mankato ("Maka To" – Earth Blue/Blue Earth) region of southwestern Minnesota along the Blue Earth River. Contemporary Sioux people are also listed under the tribes to which they belong: Dakota people The Dakota people are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into the Eastern Dakota and the Western Dakota. The Eastern Dakota are the Santee ("Isáŋyathi" or "Isáŋ-athi"; "knife" + "encampment", ″dwells at the place of knife flint″), who reside in the eastern Dakotas, central Minnesota
Native American mascot controversy in 2005 due to a decision that the Aztecs were not a Native American tribe with any living descendants. However, in February 2017 the SDSU Native American Student Alliance (NASA) supported removal of the mascot, calling its continued use "institutional racism" in its official statement to the Committee on Diversity, Equity and Outreach. Although that resolution was rejected by the SDSU Associated Students, the University Senate, which represents the administration, faculty, staff and students, has voted to phase out the human depiction of the Aztec Warrior. A task force of students, faculty, and alumni will study the issue and make