What is the American Indian opinion regards to the Cobell vs. Salazar settlement at DU?

[PufPuf23]

What do you know and understand about Cobell vs. Salazar?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. thought I would add a link for easier discussion:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
QUESTIONS? CALL TOLL‐FREE 1‐800‐961‐6109 OR VISIT WWW.INDIANTRUST.COM.
1
Important information about the
$3.4 billion Indian Trust Settlement
For current or former IIM account holders,
Owners of land held in trust or restricted status, or their heirs
A federal court authorized this notice. You are not being sued.
Para el aviso en español, llame o visite nuestro sitio en internet.
Din4k’ehgo ‘i[ hane’ biniiy4go, b44sh bee holne’ doodago b44sh [ich7’ii biyi’j8’ nihaa nanitah.
 A proposed Settlement has been reached in Cobell v. Salazar, a class action lawsuit about
individual Indian land, funds and other assets held in trust by the federal government. Courts
decided that the federal government has violated its trust duties, including a duty to account for
Individual Indian Money trust funds. The Settlement will resolve claims that the government
violated its trust duties by (a) mismanaging individual Indian trust funds and other assets, (b)
improperly accounting for those funds, and (c) mismanaging trust land and other assets. The
individual Indian trust land is called “allotted” land and owners are from time to time referred to
as “beneficiaries,” “allottees,” or “landowners.”
 You may be part of this Settlement with certain rights in this Settlement if you are an:
 Individual Indian Money (“IIM”) account holder (even if the account currently is not
active or open),
 Individual Indian who has or had an ownership interest in land held in trust or in
restricted status,
 Heir to a deceased IIM account holder or individual landowner.
 The Settlement establishes funds worth approximately $1.5 billion to pay individual Indian trust
beneficiaries for past accounting problems and resolve historical asset mismanagement claims.
Settlement and administrative expenses, incentive fees and expenses of the Class Representatives,
and legal fees and expenses will be paid out of these Settlement funds. Another $1.9 billion will
be used primarily to buy up interests in trust lands that are owned by many people (“fractionated
interests”).
 Congress has passed legislation authorizing the Settlement and provided funding for it. The
President has signed the legislation into law.

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President Barack Obama Remembers Elouise Cobell
October 27, 2011

With the passing of Elouise Cobell, a proud member of the Blackfeet Nation of Montana, we have lost a champion of Native American rights. Her persistent and determined leadership in the pursuit of justice for Native Americans will leave an enduring legacy.

As treasurer of the Blackfeet Nation, Elouise spoke out when she saw that the federal government had failed to account for billions of dollars that it owed to hundreds of thousands of her fellow Native Americans. In 1996, she filed suit, and for 15 years, tirelessly led a legal battle, with seven trials, 10 appeals, and dozens of published decisions. She fought her battle not just in the courts, but in the halls of Congress before finally securing justice for more than 300,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives in the form of a $3.4 billion settlement.

The agreement reached in Cobell v. Salazar marked the largest government class-action settlement in our nation’s history. The scholarship fund this settlement established will give more Native Americans access to higher education. Tribes will have more control over their own lands. Elouise’s tireless efforts strengthened the government-to-government relationship with Indian country, and a generation of Native Americans and all Americans has seen the promise of justice realized.

Last December, I had the privilege to meet with Elouise in the Oval Office prior to signing into law a bill to make things right. The Claims Resolution Act of 2010 is a direct result of the settlement that bears her name. It is proof of an enduring American idea – that change is always possible.

more at link:
http://www.cobellsettlement.com/

[PufPuf23]

2. Dawes Act

$2.0 billion of the $3.4 Billion Cobell vs Salazar settlement was for Indian Trust sold under the Dawes Act. Wiki cites 90 million acres sold to corporate and non-Indian settlers and 38 million acres retained in Trust. The land still in Trust was commercially managed by the USDI/BIA until the mid 1980s for timber, minerals, grazing, etc. The other $1.4 Billion is for this mismanagement by the BIA after the Curtis Act.

So the settlement pays $2 Billion for 90 million acres (California is about 100 million acres for comparison)? Dawes Act sales continued until the 1950s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Act


The Dawes Act, adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey Indian tribal land and divide the land into allotments for individual Indians. The Act was named for its sponsor, Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts. The Dawes Act was amended in 1891 and again in 1906 by the Burke Act. The stated objective of the Dawes Act was to stimulate assimilation of Indians into American society. Individual ownership of land was seen as an essential step. The act also provided that the government would purchase Indian land "excess" to that needed for allotment and open it up for settlement by non-Indians.

The Dawes Act had a negative effect on American Indians, as it ended their communal holding of property by which they had ensured that everyone had a home and a place in the tribe. It was followed by the Curtis Act, which dissolved tribal courts and governments. The act "was the culmination of American attempts to destroy tribes and their governments and to open Indian lands to settlement by non-Indians and to development by railroads."[1] Land owned by Indians decreased from 138 million acres (560,000 km2) in 1887 to 48 million acres (190,000 km2) in 1934.[2]

The Dawes Commission, set up under an Indian Office appropriation bill in 1893, was created, not to administer the Dawes Act, but to attempt to get the Five Civilized Tribes, which were excluded under the Dawes Act, to agree to an allotment plan. This commission registered the members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Curtis Act of 1908 completed the process of destroying tribal governments by abolishing tribal jurisdiction of Indian land.

After decades of seeing the disarray these acts caused, the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration supported passage in 1934 of the Indian Reorganization Act. It ended allotment and created
a "New Deal" for Indians, including renewing their rights to reorganize and form their own governments.[2]

etc.