Sep 27, 2026 · 59 min · 16 segments
This week, we're sharing a recent interview with Cal Robinet, an anarchist, union electrician, and fire arms instructor involved in the union and LGBT Ray Rainbolt Memorial Shooting Club. Cal is also…
So in a recent interview that you gave to the CNT, you mentioned that the history of the land on which the Whipple Federal Building stands is a concentration camp for Dakota and other Indigenous people in the area.
And last February, a new Indigenous encampment came up at Coldwater Springs.
I think where there had been a history of other protest camps there.
Could you briefly speak about the history, as you know it, of that site, the connections through the history of the federal occupation, maybe who the Whipple building's named after, and who some of those resisting people are and what they've done?
Yeah, so the history of the Minnesota Territory was partially a result of westward expansion and partially a result of the Louisiana Purchase.
And it's very notable that the two large indigenous nations that this land belongs to is the Dakota people and the Ojibwe people.
And throughout the 1800s, there were a series of conflicts between Native and settlers that resulted in a number of wars.
The federal land of Fort Snelling was kind of a forward base for settler forces.
And it was commonly kind of – it was placed at – the confluence of two important rivers.
So the Minnesota River and the Mississippi River, and both of these rivers were major routes of trade for both indigenous and settler communities.
And kind of by like taking that land in particular, they were able to force people into this kind of trade with industrial economy.
the federal government built these structures, which are often cited as early modern examples of what we know as concentration camps, where they took all the people that they could and forced them to live in these like tightly controlled areas and then starved them to death, killed them.
And it's something that we saw back then, and it's something that that land is being used for again today.
It's important for people to understand and recognize this history because this doesn't just come from nowhere, right? And I think that among the more sophisticated opposition forces that we see, that they also understand this history as well.
ICE chose that one building in particular to be their headquarters for multi-state operations.
And you see in other places like in Richmond, Virginia, for example, ICE's headquarters are literally just an old strip mall.
My group, Ray Rainbolt Memorial Shooting Club, put forward a demand for the May 1st actions that the Workers Assembly here was doing to include, as part of the demands, the return of the federal land of Fort Snelling to the Dakota people.
And it's important for us to You know, remember this history and see ourselves as a part of it.
And as far as the more recent protest actions and prayer camps and such, I can link some stories from Unicorn Riot that cover that in a little more detail and carry the voices of some of the folks that were participating in that.
And I also just want to say, you know, as somebody who is not a Native person, you should listen to Native people on this.
So in a recent interview that you gave to the CNT, you mentioned that the history of the land on which the Whipple Federal Building stands is a concentration camp for Dakota and other Indigenous people in the area.
And last February, a new Indigenous encampment came up at Coldwater Springs.
I think where there had been a history of other protest camps there.
Could you briefly speak about the history, as you know it, of that site, the connections through the history of the federal occupation, maybe who the Whipple building's named after, and who some of those resisting people are and what they've done?
Yeah, so the history of the Minnesota Territory was partially a result of westward expansion and partially a result of the Louisiana Purchase.
And it's very notable that the two large indigenous nations that this land belongs to is the Dakota people and the Ojibwe people.
And throughout the 1800s, there were a series of conflicts between Native and settlers that resulted in a number of wars.
The federal land of Fort Snelling was kind of a forward base for settler forces.
And it was commonly kind of – it was placed at – the confluence of two important rivers.
So the Minnesota River and the Mississippi River, and both of these rivers were major routes of trade for both indigenous and settler communities.
And kind of by like taking that land in particular, they were able to force people into this kind of trade with industrial economy.
the federal government built these structures, which are often cited as early modern examples of what we know as concentration camps, where they took all the people that they could and forced them to live in these like tightly controlled areas and then starved them to death, killed them.
And it's something that we saw back then, and it's something that that land is being used for again today.
It's important for people to understand and recognize this history because this doesn't just come from nowhere, right? And I think that among the more sophisticated opposition forces that we see, that they also understand this history as well.
ICE chose that one building in particular to be their headquarters for multi-state operations.
And you see in other places like in Richmond, Virginia, for example, ICE's headquarters are literally just an old strip mall.
My group, Ray Rainbolt Memorial Shooting Club, put forward a demand for the May 1st actions that the Workers Assembly here was doing to include, as part of the demands, the return of the federal land of Fort Snelling to the Dakota people.
And it's important for us to You know, remember this history and see ourselves as a part of it.
And as far as the more recent protest actions and prayer camps and such, I can link some stories from Unicorn Riot that cover that in a little more detail and carry the voices of some of the folks that were participating in that.
And I also just want to say, you know, as somebody who is not a Native person, you should listen to Native people on this.
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