The Mandan people are still here. The Hidatsa people are still here. And so are the Arikara, Lakota, Assiniboin and Crow.

Two hundred years after the Lewis and Clark Expedition the native people are still here. That's despite great adversity. And the struggle continues.

No one should be surprised that American Indian activists contemplate protesting the commemoration of the expedition in its bicentennial year. A number of issues that stand between people today can be traced back to the time of Lewis and Clark. Powerful issues. And it's certainly appropriate in a democracy to voice opinions on those issues - commemoration or not.

The bicentennial - to be commemorated here in the Circle of Cultures - isn't some kind of holiday drummed up just for the selling of greeting cards, bumper stickers and T-shirts. It focuses on a military expedition mounted for the purpose of exploring newly acquired territory. The ensuing transformation of that land brought horrendous change upon Indian cultures and sovereignty. That's one truth.

Because of that truth, because it isn't pleasant, do we pretend it didn't happen? Do we bury it?

No, we acknowledge it. And we commemorate it because it was and continues to be important.

The expedition provides a wonderful lesson in diversity, as well as compelling examples of self sufficiency, endurance, courage, friendship, sacrifice and diplomacy. In its wake came the trappers, railroads, buffalo hunters, ranchers, homesteaders and cities. Call it progress from one point of view, and call it the destruction of a way of life from another angle.

The expedition wrought such powerful change on the Great Plains, that the consequence are still being felt - up close and personal for some. That's part of why people care one way or other.

Of course, there will be protesters.

But it isn't 1804 or 1806 any more. It's 2004. The land has changed. The people have changed. And today, we make provisions for protests that are lawful. Weapons and violence are set aside.

One of the most important things that could happen in this commemoration is that all who want a voice are given one. That they be provided an opportunity to speak. That they be allowed to tell their story. Not just the story of the Corps of Discovery, but the story of the Sioux, Hidatsa, Arikara, Mandan, Crow, Assiniboin, Shoshone and other nations along the trail. And that people respectfully listen.

The bicentennial offers an over-arching narrative with plenty of room for the stories of many people from many nations.

The people are still here, and we share a circle of culture.