The late Elouise Cobell meets President Barack Obama at the White House. December 8, 2010. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
Cobell Settlement turned into a deception
By Charmaine White Face When Eloise Cobell sued the federal government for violating the trust of their wards, the American Indians, it was for individual violations not for collective violations. The federal government was the trustee, or by definition: the institution to whom property is turned over to be managed for the benefit of others. Did the Indians willingly turn their property over to the federal government to be managed for their benefit? What do you think? This is the same government that tried to, and is still trying to, do away with all the Indians. Would you trust someone who was trying to do away with you? But I digress. So, when Eloise Cobell, a member of the Blackfoot Nation in Montana, sued the federal government, it was because they were not accurately managing the property in their trust, and the individual owners of that property were NOT being paid for the resources being taken out. The resources were grass, or trees, or water, or oil, or minerals. The federal government mismanaged the trust to the tune of $400+BILLION dollars! Where could Mrs. Cobell go to with her case? To the courts of the same government that did this misdeed. She had no choice. I’m sure she hoped and prayed for good judges, and there were a few. In the end, after a decade in the courts, she was finally able to win only $4 billion, only 1%, yes one per-cent, of the total owed by the federal government to individual American Indians. What about the other 99 percent or $366 billion that went missing? That is a question no one wants to ask for fear a few government bureaucrats who became extremely wealthy. Fortunately, Cobell never lived to see the final results of the disbursement of the $4 billion because she would have been appalled. Yes, the lawyers were paid for their services, and they were owed that money. But the courts said the money also had to be given to tribal governments to be used for educational purposes, or for buying individual land to put it in the collective land holdings of the tribe. This is not only a violation of what Mrs. Cobell fought for, but is also another 1868 Treaty violation of the Sioux people. Education and land provisions, besides the land in the original Treaty territory, are already obtainable through the Treaty. This way of offering the settlement is only a deception. Ask any Indian if they trust their tribal government? Nine out of ten will probably say “No!” with good cause. In case you don’t believe me, read my first book, Testimony for the Innocent, which shows how tribal governments learned so well from the Great White Father how to rip-off their own people, and how the federal government controls the tribal governments. Then there are the few who have protested taking the money in the Cobell settlement in the first place. Too many times in history, it has been proven that the federal government will illegally take land, even entire reservations, saying, “We paid you for this” when in actuality, the federal government owed the money to the people in the first place. A few elders are saying this is what is going to happen to all the Sioux reservations now that the people have taken the money, and have sold off their individual land to the tribal governments. It makes sense since tribes, like the Oglala Sioux Tribe, use tribal land for collateral on loans. The question is “loans for whom?” “For what purpose?” “From what bank?” When those loans are called in, who will own the ‘tribal land?’ When the reservations are taken by banks, by other tribes, or by the federal government, the protesters can say, “We told you so.” But by then it will be too late. Both the Tea Party and the 99 percent wasicu Occupiers should listen up. What is happening to American Indians is beginning to happen to you. We are only the “miner’s canary.” This trick of taking land in the name of the collective good has already begun. There was an effort in California to make a “green zone” by taking land through eminent domain from people who had lived there for decades. Luckily, the people gathered together and stopped this scam by big business to take peoples’ land and build condominiums. We know what that is about. So be watchful, and don’t believe everything that comes down the road. Do the research. Find out who is behind the “taking” and realize long term, for the future, what is really going on. (Charmaine White Face, Zumila Wobaga, 67, is Oglala Tituwan Oceti Sakowin (Oglala Lakota from the Great Sioux Nation). She also uses her Tituwan common name, Zumila Wobaga, as there is another woman named Charmaine Whiteface. Zumila Wobaga is a writer, organizer, former teacher, a grandmother and great-grandmother. She may be contacted at bhdefenders@msn.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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