land Reparation as Community Investment— a Template for the Future.

On May 22nd, 2026, over 100 people gathered to witness the signing of a land donation agreement between, Our Saviours Lutheran Church (OSLC) and the Indigenous Protector Movement(IPM). The people gathered were welcomed with ceremony by Sharon Day followed by song by the drum group Midnight Express playing IPM’s drum.

Rachel Dionne Thunder CEO and Founder of IPM thanked everyone for coming and acknowledged the long history of the land everyone gathered on:

“This land that we are on, not just rural land, but urban land as well, that this land carries a much longer history than any of us. And that before Minneapolis existed, before churches existed, before property lines and borders existed, that this was and has always been Indigenous land.”

She uplifted the land transfer saying that it was more than just a property transaction, but one rooted in repair, relationship, and community responsibility.

She thanked OSLC for taking meaningful action that could help reverse the generations of Native and Indigenous displacement in Minneapolis, by over policing. She said, “Today is about beginning to reverse that pattern in a very real and material way.”

Rachel said the house, part of the land donation. will become a community centered space rooted in healing, safety, accountability, and Indigenous self-determination. That it will not sit empty, that it will actively be used to support our people.

Rachel outlined the plan for the property, a Duplex where the downstairs unit will be used as an IPM community space, and a place for Many Shield Security teams to be able to gather, and where men will have healing, talking and accountability circles.” IPM plans to turn the upstairs into a reentry program for Indigenous men coming back from incarceration. The Indigenous Protector Movement also hopes to take the property off grid by installing solar panels and batteries.

Rachel introduced Pastor Martha Bardwell the lead Pastor of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, who opened by singing a song called “Where Love and Justice Combine,” and shared that the Land transfer was a unanimous yes by the congregation of OSLC who voted together to approve the Land reparation. She told those gather that this unity of purpose was only possible, “after years of relationship building and truth telling, learning and action.” She also spoke to the Churches work of truth telling and working to decolonize Jesus,

“The church has too often been a chaplain to colonization, a chaplain to genocide and empire. The church has too often knelt before the idols of wealth and white supremacy and militarism. Instead of following the way of Jesus, which is the way of liberation and humility, friendship, service, love, justice, and out of that truth telling which is not at all one and done, it is ongoing for ever work,” Pastor Martha Bardwell

Pastor Martha shared how the congregations journey began with creating a reparations team in 2021 that added a budget line to the churches annual budget to give no strings attached gifts to Indigenous communities and organizations.

The Pastor added that the she hoped that this action of reparation really seeds more imaginations across the state and country for more people to transfer land and wealth to Indigenous stewardship. “We hope that out of this, more people transfer land and wealth to Indigenous stewardship. We hope that more communities of faith, and others will loosing the grip of control and institutional preservation,” Pastor Martha Bardwell

The final speakers before the signing of the land donation agreement were outgoing Metropolitian urban Indian Chairman Robert Liligren and the incoming (MUID) Co-Director Travels Earth-Warner.

Robert told those gathered. That he had greeted everyone as relatives, and that included the Earth and sky, and land, that we were all related, and that this “transfer of the stewardship of this property really exemplifies that.” He agreed that he hoped this land transfer started more reparative actions, adding that governments are property owners that are able to act as well and have responsibility as well. He shared and encouraged excitement for IPM being the new stewards of the property.

Travis Earth-Warner newly elected MUID Co-Director said, who spoke highly of OSLC and the services they had extended to the Indigenous Community. He spoke of his past of working as an outreach worker working with OSLC who housed American Indians. He said, that “[Landback] is often a coined token, hey Landback and lets clap and theirs often a lack of follow through with action, and today their is action.” He thanked Vin and Crow and Rachel for everything they’ve done with IPM, and the recidivism programs they have started. Travis said that people helping IPM was doing a great service and that IPM was going to create such a great impact.

The event ended with the signing of the Land donation agreement, where the land transfer will be completed in October, 2026.