Should we give the Black Hills back?

There is no question the United States broke the Treaty of 1868 which recognized that all West River South Dakota land belonged to the Great Sioux Nation.

Speaking for a moment now with my theologian hat on, it is also clear that God takes issue with (i.e. curses) anyone or nation that “moves his neighbors boundary stone.” (Deuteronomy 19:14) We all sing God Bless America but there are numerous things nations do that God can’t bless. I would contend that the fullness of God’s blessing on our nation in the days ahead is contingent on our creative engagement of the opportunities ahead of us to right national wrongs– one of which is clearly our treatment of native peoples in South Dakota.

Even so, considering the “water under the bridge,” specifically as some would view, the perhaps impossible practical considerations of returning the Black Hills to the Sioux nation, legitimate monetary attempts to right this wrong have been extended – namely the 1980 Supreme Court ruling and $900 million dollar compensation settlement offered to the Sioux people. The money remains in trust as tribal leaders understandably want the land instead. It’s going to take the wisdom of Solomon to set forth a just recourse here – I have hope but I honestly don’t know if there is a way to divide this baby in two.

Personally, at this point, I support more listening, more conversation, and some creativity toward a mutually acceptable accord which may or may not include some kind of Lakota Makoce Wakan (sacred place/land, Sioux sanctuary or sacred memorial grounds) in the Black Hills National Forest. Should the Black Hills be given back? Not today. But today is the day to come together and look at every conceivable angle of how best to right this national wrong. It will take more patience on behalf of the Sioux, and more remorse on behalf of the United States. The Resolution of Apology to Native American Peoples is merely the starting place for a better life together and my hope is that South Dakotans genuinely support this and that native South Dakotans receive it sincerely. Mutually acceptable reparations must follow and, since the issue is land, I’m not sure anything short of some form of land settlement will receive mutual support.

In my unsuccessful entrepreneurial and small business attempts in the past to help establish some economic opportunity on the reservations, I’ve come to appreciate my native brothers and sisters who acknowledge how Tribal Sovereignty ties the hands of any sort of lasting partnership for economic development and how millions of charity and tax dollars, from our perspective, seem to disappear into a black hole. In light of these perceptions and realities it is unlikely here in the Wasecu world that sympathetic elected officials would be very successful in convincing their constituents that giving the Black Hills back would in any way solve any of the problems presently facing our native population in South Dakota.

On a very related note, shame on the Internal Revenue Service for auctioning off 7,100 acres of Crow Creek Sioux land in Central South Dakota last December (2009). It’s shocking to see the United States Government continuing to lay claim to Sioux land. We can only hope nations like China don’t lay claim to our national debt as we have done here to the Sioux Nation.