Native Leaders Draft Bill to Regain Some of Sacred Black Hills

By Amelia Schafer. ICT + Rapid City Journal.

FORT YATES, N.D. – The Black Hills are not for sale and never will be was the central uniting message discussed during a meeting at the Prairie Knights Casino in Fort Yates, N.D. on the Standing Rock Reservation.

Representatives from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, a group of Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation elders and various treaty councils gathered on Nov. 13 to formulate a plan for regaining land in the Black Hills.

The group met to discuss the He Sapa Restoration Act, which includes a formal declaration from the Oyate (nation) and the tribal governments to demand that the United States return federal land in the Black Hills to the Oceti Sakowin people. The group hopes to introduce the bill in 2025.

The bill would not affect the titles of private lands. Though those lands would be cataloged as part of the land identification process, they would remain in possession of the title holders.

“Today we’ve gathered to discuss the Black Hills,” Standing Rock Vice-Chairman Frank Jameson said. “This fight has been ongoing for many decades before us and it will continue after us.”

For centuries the Oceti Sakowin Oyate (Lakota, Nakota and Dakota Nations) have sought to protect and regain He Sapa, the Black Hills. The discovery of gold in the area in the late 1800s triggered a massive influx of white settlers into the territory despite the area being the unceded territory of the Oceti Sakowin and Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples.

This particular bill has been in the works for a while, NDN Collective organizer and He Sapa Restoration Act education committee member Mark Tilsen said during the conference. Years ago a group of tribal councils, treaty councils and elders gathered to discuss the Black Hills.

At the time, the group thought co-management would be a good route.

“Our thought was that this would lead us to have control of the Black Hills in all but name,” Tilsen said. “We would learn and build the infrastructure and skill set so that one day when we did have the Black Hills returned to us, we would know how to take care of them properly and already be in agreement about how they should be managed.”

Earlier this year the tribes and the U.S. Department of Agriculture worked on two separate Memorandum of Understanding agreements with Oceti Sakowin tribes.

The first agreement establishes a framework for tribes to work on consultation, land and water conservation, forest stewardship, landscape-scale restoration, cultural resources, sacred site protection, fuel reduction, wildlife management, youth programs, workforce development and visitor relations.

The second MOU invited nations to shape a new Pactola Lake visitor’s center in the Black Hills that would establish educational and interpretive programs.

The MOUs were established with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe.

Now, elders say that’s not enough.

“Our elders at the time rejected this notion, saying that co-management or co-stewardship is not enough,” Tilsen said. “We need to look at the real return of the Black Hills to the people.”

In the 1980s, the United States Supreme Court ordered $100 million to be paid to the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation) over the broken treaty, but the nation refused and continues to refuse to accept the money. Now, with interest, that money has grown to be more than $2 billion.

For many tribes, the Black Hills are the center of the universe and the origin of their creation stories.

“This land belongs to all Native Americans,” said Catherine Young Bear, a Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation elder from Mandaree, N.D. “I know the Lakotas have been fighting for a long time for the Black Hills.”

As drafted, the act does not relinquish any existing claims for treaty land and seeks to establish a pathway for land return to tribes. The group will fine-tune the draft over the next few months and seek sponsors.

The act also seeks to establish a more traditional form of Indigenous governance that includes treaty councils, spiritual leaders, traditional leaders and other important traditional culture bearers. Currently, tribal governments – commonly referred to as “IRA governments” (governments created by the Indian Reorganization Act) – are the only entities the federal government recognizes.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council have also spoken out in support of the act. The Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council passed a resolution in support of the bill earlier this year.

The previous day, Nov. 12, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council voted to support the bill, however, not all groups are in approval.

Everyone present on Nov. 13 agreed the Black Hills should never be sold, but some had differing opinions on how to approach a return.

Philimon Two Eagle, Sicangu Lakota, attended on behalf of the Sicangu Treaty Council. Two Eagle, the council’s executive director, said the treaty council decided not to support the legislation over concerns it would diminish the original treaties and be dead on arrival.

“To do this act is reckless because once you hand it to Congress it’s not an if they will change it, they will change it,” Two Eagle said. “With a new Republican Congress, I have a feeling this will be dead on arrival. We may have had a chance with the Democratic leadership, but I strongly advise not to do this.”

Two Eagle said the original Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868 are fraudulent, as not all traditional chiefs were present for the signing, but they’re still the original law. Two Eagle said the modern treaty councils are descendants of the original signatory chiefs.

“The only way to change the treaty is to make a new treaty. That’s why the Sicangu Treaty Council doesn’t agree with the fact that it’s going to Congress,” Two Eagle said.

True justice, Two Eagle said, would be for all settlers living on Oceti Sakowin treaty land to leave and return it to the Indigenous people.

“We want these people to vacate our land. There is no such thing as land back. Vacate these lands,” Two Eagle said. “It’s a big dream but these treaties, even though the treaties are fraudulent, they were signed and ratified. When you sign a treaty in the field it is still legal and binding.”