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- By Native News Online Staff
WHITE EARTH INDIAN RESERVATION, Minn. — Longtime American Indian activist Marvin Manypenny passed away on Sunday on the White Earth Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. He was 72.
Manypenny is the father of Minnesota Lt. Governor. Peggy Flanagan, the first American Indian woman ever elected to an executive level of a state in history.
Though never elected to a tribal position, Manypenny spent decades defending land rights, defending hunting and fishing rights of American Indians.
Lt. Governor Flanagan reflected on her father to MPR News:
“My dad oftentimes would say, ‘My girl, I want to burn down the system, and you want to get into the system and change it from the inside out,’” Flanagan said. “That’s a pretty good summary of how my dad operated and how I operate.”
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