Dakota people 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 and northern Iowa. They have federally recognized tribes established in several places. The Western Dakota are the Yankton, and the Yanktonai ("Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ" and "Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna"; "Village-at-the-end" and "Little village-at-the-end"), who reside in
Native American mascot controversy majority society continues the systems of dominance and subordination that have been used to colonize, assimilate, and oppress indigenous groups. Some see the use of caricatures of Native Americans as sports mascots as contributing to their political and economic marginalization. Where other minorities would be consulted, decisions impacting Native Americans, such as building the Dakota Access Pipeline, are made while excluding Native concerns. Another incident cited as indicative of the misunderstanding of Native American legal status because of stereotyping is the Baby Veronica case, in which a child was adopted by a white family without the consent of her father,