CONTROVERSY OVER $48.9 MILLION SALAZAR SETTLEMENT ON STANDING ROCK RESERVATION OVER PER CAPITA PAYMENTS

By Deborah LaVallie

Founder and Editor of The Turtle Island Messenger

The map of Standing Rock Sioux Reservation shows highly fractionated individual allotments shaded in green and tribal lands shaded in yellow.

On April 11^th, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar announced a $1.023 billion settlement of the U.S. Government’s mismanagement of monetary assets and natural resources held in trust by the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Treasury, in lawsuits filed by 41 federally-recognized tribes.  The settlement ends the long-running disputes and claims that span over a 100 year period, that the Obama administration hopes will improve and move forward the relationship between the tribes and the U.S. Government.

Secretary of Interior, Salazar stated, “These important settlements reflect President Obama’s continuing commitment to ensuring empowerment and reconciliation for American Indians”, and said he is looking forward to working with tribal leaders to further strengthen the government to government relationship based on mutual respect and a shared concern for the proper management of tribal trust assets and funds.

Fifty six million acres of trust lands and more than 100,000 leases are managed by the Department of Interior, which include housing, timber harvesting, farming, grazing, oil and gas extraction, business leasing, rights-of-way and easements and managing around 2,500 trust accounts worth billions of dollars for more than 250 tribes.

Under the $1 billion Salazar Settlement agreements with the tribes, the protracted litigation will end the tribe’s lawsuits for mismanagement of the tribes trust accounts, trust lands and natural resources.  The U.S. Government will compensate the tribes for their breach of trust claims and the tribes will waive, release and dismiss their claims without prejudice. When one of the tribes settles, it is dismissed as a plaintiff.  These tribes can disburse funds to members in any manner they determine, such as a per capita payment, supportive services and so on.

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Attorney General Holder stated, “These settlements fairly and honorably resolve historical grievances over the accounting and management of tribal trust lands, and other non-monetary resources that, for too long, have been a source of conflict between Indian tribes and the United States”, adding that this will mark another step in “our” shared future built upon mutual respect and strong bonds of trust between tribal governments and the United States.

Since the time of the announcement the tribes involved in Nez Perce et.al, v. Salazar, otherwise known as the Salazar Settlement have been in the process of planning how their settlements will be disbursed and some have received or will soon receive their settlement, while some have already paid out a per capita payment to their tribal members, such as the Spirit Lake Dacotah Nation in North Dakota and the Rocky Boy’s Chippewa Cree Tribe in Montana have done.   In some tribes the issue of distribution has become contentious, as in the cases of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of Fort Peck in Montana and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota.  At Fort Peck $75 million was placed in the Tribes bank account around July 10th and the issue of disbursement is being discussed and debated in community meetings in the districts.  The Tribal Council there wanted input from the people before a final decision was made on whether to give out per capita payments.

Avis Little Eagle, a Standing Rock Sioux Tribe councilwoman, at large and owner/editor of The Teton Times, in an editorial dated July 25^th, stated that the biggest issue facing the tribe is the recent Salazar Settlement, filed in 2001, and that the tribe has not yet received.  She explains to the people of Standing Rock that there is also another lawsuit that was a class action lawsuit filed by Eloise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Nation and other tribal plaintiffs, and that lawsuit is for individuals, whose trust resources were mismanaged by the federal government.  She added that SRST has compiled a package of the tribe’s debt, the various projects that had been previously approved by resolution by the tribal council years ago, and that resolution states they would be readdressed when funds become available, that a priority list was gathered by the council and taken to the districts on the reservation for comment.   Addressing the petition circulating throughout the reservation and off-reservation requesting per capita payments, she said, “That probably will not happen.”

She states that she feels realistically, the tribe’s debts and needs are so great and with 15,000 enrolled members to consider, giving out a per capita payment might not happen because SRST is so large, and a per capita payment of any consequence is not a viable option.  The fund will most likely be used to build up the infrastructure on the reservation and for economic development in the districts.  “The Cobell Settlement is a payment to individuals.  The Salazar Settlement is for the whole tribe to use for the benefit of the whole tribe”, she states.  In addition, she said that a per capita payout could take years, as there must be a per capita plan which would include the closing of the enrollment, finding the addresses of all enrollees, placing money in a trust for children, paying it out and setting aside money for any future lawsuits by tribal members.  “The needs of the tribe are immediate and urgent, so a per capita, realistically, is probably not going to happen.”

Little Eagle said that projects on the reservation will most likely be prioritized because the resources that were mismanaged were located on the reservation, with priority going to projects such as an in-bed addiction facility and the schools like the Porcupine Head Start and Rock Creek School, which is 100 years old.  She’d also like to see a facility to house the American Indian artifacts collection of Blue Cloud Abby, which will be closing.

The grassroots group of tribal members, Active Citizens for Tribal Truth (ACTT), grew out of concern about tribal actions at Standing Rock that they thought were unethical and illegal.  They are interested in making a positive change, believing that tribal actions keep the tribe from moving forward.  In February when council members brought charges against Chairman, Charles Murphy, for ‘misconduct in office’ and ‘neglect of duty’, ACTT members believed the council actions against the Chairman were a ‘power grab’ in order to gain control of all branches of tribal government.  On May 24^th, ACTT sent out letters to the North and South Dakota Senators and Congressmen, expressing their concerns and requesting a meeting and assistance in addressing the issues and concerns of the people at Standing Rock, signed by the group’s spokespeople, Archie Fool Bear and Kathy Buffalo Boy.  Their letters have gone unanswered.  The group recently submitted a recall petition with 760 signatures recalling council members Jay Taken Alive, Phyllis Young and Avis Little Eagle.  The petition was turned in on June 28 and is currently being validated by the election office.  If the signatures are certified, a recall election will be held.  The election office has 90 days to certify the petition. 

Harold One Feather, an enrolled member of SRST, who lives off-reservation founded the website Occupy Standing Rock with the objective of bringing a major fundamental  change to the tribe in hopes of the tribe being more compassionate towards it’s enrollees, who live both, on the reservation and off the reservation.  He states that over the past 12 years, the tribal council and administration has wasted $415,780,514 in federal grants, according to the audits of the past several years.  “Look at these fantastic amounts, and these figures don’t include the money received from the casinos, IHS, BIA or the schools.  Almost half a billion dollars!” he said.  “There has been no meaningful improvement in the quality of life on Standing Rock, and there have been many suicides as a result of this failure.  From my own personal perspective, the moment our tribe started receiving the massive cash injections, the suicides began escalating.”

Fy 2010 - $55,609,602                                      Fy 2003 - $27,690,696

Fy 2009 - $41,495,839                                      Fy 2002 - $23,194,179

Fy 2008 - $32,397,852                                      Fy 2001 - $25,494,074

Fy 2007 – $29,566,832                                     Fy 2000 - $20,326,137

Fy 2006 - $27,900,357                                      Fy 1999 - $25,360,110

Fy 2005 - $37,964,203                                      Fy 1998 - $17,179,526

Fy 2004 - $32,358,107                                      Fy 1997 = $19,242,700

One Feather believes the $48.9 million settlement will be distributed as the tribe does with its casino revenues with 65% to the tribe to use for their own purposes and 35% to the districts to do what they want with their share.  “This is a settlement with no restrictions.  In the end, the decision to help off-reservation enrollees will be the responsibility of their respective councils.”  He states, “The funds controlled directly by SRST, such as, casino revenues, TERO, JTAC/TERF are not subject to any hiring laws either federal or state, and this is part of the reason causing the issues at Standing Rock.”

“According to the tribe, the districts will receive nothing.  Instead the tribe will build things for them and call it infrastructure improvements.”   He asks, “Where is the tribe’s budget on this $48.9 million?  There has been talk that the tribe has not publicized its budget, because they are going to spend most of it on a defaulted loan to Shakopee.  Congress knows what’s going on.  The massive federal grants are back-door payments to the local white community.”  He believes there can be no relief until tribal differences are ended amicably without oppression or political assassination, adding that the majority of the land involved in the Salazar Settlement was land sold by the Hunkpapa in S.D., as a result of extreme destitution.”

Velma Little Eagle Balderas, an enrolled member of the SRST, has lived in Minneapolis teaching the Lakota language and culture in the Minneapolis Public Schools for 19 years and the Heart of the Earth School, which is no longer a school, for 10 years.  Originally, from Inyan Cunkaskie – Rock Creek, SD on the Standing Rock reservation, which was the last home and residence of Grandpa – Tunkasila, Sitting Bull – 'Tatanka Iyotaka', she was at her hometown in March and attended a district meeting where councilpersons Jay Taken Alive, Avis Little Eagle, Ronald Brown Otter, Doug Crow Ghost and Milton Brown Otter passed out a budget for the distribution of the Salazar Trust Settlement.  Though the money hasn’t been spent yet, a budget has been put into place, and since that time she has been vigorously supporting a per capita payment to on and off reservation membership of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe voicing her concerns about filing an injunction on the tribal council spending the settlement, and gathering signatures of off-reservation enrollees petitioning the tribal council for a per capita settlement. 

At the March district meeting there was no talk of a per capita payment, though there was talk of the districts receiving funds for various projects.  “The People seemed to accept this.  I took the budget home to Minneapolis and came to the realization that this was a legal, approved per capita payment trust settlement.”  She started to contact people in the Minneapolis area and made a visit to attorney Larry Levanthal’s office, but didn’t have the funds to initiate legal proceedings.  She then started voicing her concerns strongly on Facebook.  “A lot of the Oyate (people) were literally forgotten.” 

Little Eagle Balderas believes there are three major reasons why there are so many Standing Rock members living off the reservation.  One is the removal of Native children off the reservation during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, until the Indian Child Welfare Act was created.  Also, the Relocation Act in the 60’s and 70’s located individuals and families off the reservation to seek work and for self-sufficiency, and finally, there is no economic system on the reservation, so many move to the cities where there are jobs.  “All of these people are entitled to the trust settlement.  It is the most legal approved trust settlement for the Oyate, and is in reality, ‘for’ the Oyate people, and nothing else.”

As a direct descendent and granddaughter of 'Tatanka Iyotaka', or Sitting Bull she states, “I personally feel that our Grandfather – Tunkasila – Sitting Bull would want us to get the trust settlement as a per capita payment , as this settlement was given for mismanaged lands and resources.  It was ‘our’ lands, and the Oyate should be the ones receiving this, in all fairness.  The monies should be distributed equally to the people.”

She has received hundreds of phone calls from off reservation membership throughout the country, from Denver, New Mexico, Seattle, California, Idaho and even Mexico, many calling about their concerns, expressing their joy that there ‘might’ be a possibility of receiving something.  As they couldn’t afford legal representation, she connected with the SRST – ACTT group that was already organized and busy getting petitions out to the people.  Balderas states, “They are our only hope.  ACTT leaders such as Archie Fool Bear, Sharon Kary, Geraldine Agard, Kathy Dancing Bull-Buffalo Boy, Rosie Jacobson, Vanessa Price and others have been working diligently and with dedication, going to meetings, talking to the people, working to resolve this issue.”

“I became involved for my grown children, my takojas/grandchildren and for the ‘Seventh Generation.”  Should there be a per capita payment, she would spend it buying school clothes for her grandchildren and paying bills.  “This has caused me a lot of stress, when I think about my brothers and sisters out there, all my relatives.  So many are having hard times.  Our smudging, fasting and praying have paid off.  Wopila Tanka Tunkasila, Mitakuyapi onkiyapi, Mitakuye Oyasin.”