" Throughout the history of the Kensington Rune Stone in the twentieth
century, memories of an ancient battle were repeatedly evoked to
address the concerns about more recent battles. The skræling endured
as a convenient symbol of the threats posed by secularization, urbanization,
and diversification. As sociologist Richard K. Fenn observes,
“Any society is a reservoir of old longings and ancient hatreds. These
need to be understood, addressed, resolved and transcended if a society
is to have a future that is different from its past.” Furthermore, when
a society does not adequately confront its past, it perpetually finds “a
new target that resembles but also differs from the source of original
conflict.” If Fenn is correct, old enemies will continue to emerge in
the face of new enemies unless Minnesotans can understand, address,
resolve, and transcend the state’s original sin: the unjust treatment of
the region’s first inhabitants. "

― David M. Krueger , Myths of the Rune Stone: Viking Martyrs and the Birthplace of America