Can the Sioux buy their stolen land?

THE ROSEBUD Sioux tribe (RST) has arranged to purchase Pe' Sla, one of the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota's seven sacred sites in the Blacks Hills of South Dakota. Pe' Sla, encompassing a little under 2,000 acres, is the only sacred site that isn't at the least protected by the federal or state government.

Pe' Sla has been owned by the Reynolds family since 1876. They have mostly been friendly to the Lakota and would allow them come on the land to perform ceremonies where they welcome back life at the end of winter.

In late August, the family was ready to put the piece of land up for auction. Once this was announced, the RST started to raise funds to compete for the purchase. Leading up to the auction, the RST had only raised $1.3 million and the Rapid City Journal estimated the land would go for $6-10 million.

There was the possibility that the Lakota would lose Pe' Sla to a developer. Rumors swirled that a major highway would be built on the land. Then the Reynolds family called off the auction. Originally, this caused a lot of confusion--the RST didn't know if this was a good or bad thing. There was the strong possibility that they closed it because they had a buyer.

This turned out to be the case, but the Reynolds family decided to sell the land to the RST for $9 million. Currently, the tribe has paid a down payment of $900,000 to the family and has until November 30 to pay the remaining $8.1 million.

The irony of the situation is that this land has historically and legally been the Lakota Nation's. The western part of South Dakota was outlined as the Great Sioux Reservation under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The treaty stated, "no white person or persons shall be permitted to settle upon or occupy any portion of the [territory]; or without the consent of the Indians, first had and obtained, to pass through the same."

The federal government signed the treaty before gold was discovered in the Black Hills (the Lakota's most sacred land) in 1871. In a Wall Street endeavor, mining companies disregarded the 1868 treaty and flooded into the area under U.S. government protection. Following the stock market crash of 1877, this gave the big wigs on Wall Street the excuse for the U.S. to officially seized the Black Hills that same year.

In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, ruled that the seizure of the Blacks Hills was indeed illegal, and the U.S. government would have to pay $15.5 million, plus 103 years of interest (now it's about $800 million), to the Lakota.

The tribe turned down the money, and instead demanded the seized territory back. The U.S. Court of Claims said that "a more ripe and rank case of dishonorable dealing will never, in all probability, be found in our history."

WITH THIS as a backdrop, the Lakota have been pushed into an awkward position trying to buy land that is legally already theirs. Tom Poor Bear, the Vice President of the Oglala Lakota Nation, said to the New York Times, "It's like someone stealing my car and I have to pay to get it back."

The nation faces upward of 80 percent unemployment. At the same time, it is expected to pay $9 millions for land that is rightfully theirs. It's an entirely backward situation.

Earlier this month, all bands of the Lakota Nation from the six reservations in western South Dakota, including Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, Rosebud, Crow Creek and the Lower Brule, met to discuss who can donate what to raise the remaining $8.1 million by the end of November. It has not been disclosed how much individual tribes can donate. However, the RST has been raising donations online.

There is still the possibility of not being able to raise the money and losing the land again.

There is real excitement of the possibility of Pe' Sla being back in the hands of the Lakota, but a divide among the people still exists. Many people on the reservations continue to say that it's their land, and there is no need to buy it--rather, it should just be given back to them.

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, an elder by the name of Maneriva Blacksmith said to me, "I think they should just give them [the Black Hills] back." This is a very real feeling among many elders. Some have even said that by purchasing the land, the nation is accepting the fact that the family and the U.S. government have title to the land, which isn't true according to the treaty.

The Lakota in this moment and in past moments have been forced to "play the game" with the U.S. If they don't play, they potentially will lose their sacred land to a developer for good.

However, there is an alternative: building the mass movement to save the Black Hills and give the land back to the rightful owners, the Lakota Nation. Activists have been fighting for this ever since their lands were stolen from them.

Henry Red Cloud, an Oglala Lakota, said to me, "I think all the tribes need to unite." That's what we need to see if there will be true American Indian Liberation and sovereignty.