The Black Hills Are Not For Sale!
In 1980, the longest running court case in the history of the United States judicial system, The Sioux Nation v. the United States, was heard and ruled upon by the U.S. Supreme Court. The primary thrust of the case was a long, ongoing legal action whereby the Sioux worked within the legal system in order to file the grievance against the United States for the violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, as well as the forced Manypenny Commission agreement where the Sioux were resettled onto the reservations and over 7 million acres of their best real estate was taken by the Federal Government to pave the way for prospectors and homesteaders. The court gave an award of $106 million to the Sioux Nation. (Lazarus, 389)
The response of the Sioux was not entirely supportive or happy at the award. The money was not what the tribes wanted, it was the return of the land. A new lawsuit was brought before the courts, seeking the return of the Black Hills lands, and $11 billion in damages — $10 billion for the gold, copper, and uranium resources which had been removed from the hills, and $1 billion in damages for hardships endured by the Sioux people. (Lazarus, 406) Because of a belief that accepting the money from the first lawsuit would in fact endanger the new lawsuit, the Sioux have not collected any significant amount from the $106 million which was originally awarded to them.
Instead, the new battlecry has become "The Black Hills are not for sale!", building a legal case with idealistic, or perhaps some might say extremist terms. The U.S. Treasury department now holds the money awarded to the Sioux in an account against the time when the Sioux will claim
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