Once again there is talk by non-Indian lawyers to pursure the allocation of monies awarded the tribes of the Great Sioux Nation for the theft of the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The amount of that money was around $863 million several months ago and it is probably much larger by now with the accrued interest added. Many of the young people do not understand the history of the battles of life and death that led the leaders of the Sioux people to reject the acceptance of even one penny of that monetary award.
I do not want to anger those Indians, mostly non-Lakota, that would work with an attorney to find ways and means of accepting the settlement. But they should remember that it was Lakota warriors that gave their all in the struggle for the Black Hills.
There was Tatanka Iyotanka, Sitting Bull, a Minneconju Lakota, Tasunka Witko, Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota, and Sinte Gleska, Spotted Tail, a Sicangu Lakota, who lived, fought and died to preserve the lands of the Great Sioux Nation. And although he was not present at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Mahpiya Luta, Red Cloud, spent most of his life fighting to keep the whites off of Lakota land.
Lakota elders have lived with this premise since the lawsuit to reclaim the land was filed in 1921 and they are solid in their belief that, "One does not sell one's mother." To the Lakota the Black Hills are considered to be Maka Ina, Mother Earth, or Maka Unci, Grandmother Earth. It is a concept that is deeply spiritual, cultural and traditional.
Over the years I have written about this struggle of the Sioux people to reclaim a portion of the Black Hills. Generations have come and gone and still the issue is unsettled. Before the senatorial election of 2004 I announced that I would run for the senate against then Senator Tom Daschle. I knew it would be a losing proposition, but I wanted to be able to bring issues such as the Black Hills to the debate. I wanted the Lakota to have a voice in the senate race, win or lose.
I got a call from Daschle's office and we agreed to meet at the Rodeway Inn Restaurant in Rapid City. Daschle had been saying for years that the issue of the Black Hills had been settled when the U. S. Supreme Court made the monetary award. I took it be a politically motivated comment by Daschle because the largest part of his constituency is white and it would have been political suicide for him to talk about returning even a portion of the Black Hills to the Sioux people. We had a good meeting and Daschle took under advisement my request that he meet with the leaders of the Sioux tribes and work out an agreement to return Wind Cave National Park to them along with other National Forest Service Land and the complete monetary award. I told him that if he would meet with the tribal leaders and seriously discuss this proposal, he could at last come to an agreement that would be beneficial to the tribes. He agreed and I dropped out of the senate race.
It all turned out to me a moot issue because Daschle lost the senate race to John Thune, a Republican. Daschle is now a civilian and a man with considerable political acumen and clout. He can still be very effective if he picked up the banners of the Sioux people. Wind Cave National Park is a federal park not a state park. In most of the origin stories of the Lakota people Wind Cave is where their ancestors emerged into what is now the Black Hills. The Black Hills was their place of birth and therefore a very sacred place.
Since 1981 I have written that the leaders of all the tribes of the Sioux Nation should initiate a meeting to come up with a game plan that would include introducing new legislation that would return at least 1.3 million acres of National Forest Service land, no cities, no state parks, and no private lands, to the people of the Sioux Nation.
It is time for the tribal leaders to get off of the political pot and start the ball rolling to seek and equitable solution for all of their people. It would be a disaster if the non-Indian lawyers settled it for them. As the impatience from mostly non-Lakota members grows, it is time to stand up and be deliberate and decisive.