The historian continues, "In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the ruling in United States v. Sioux Nation. The Sioux were therefore owed $17.5 million for the land value at the time of the taking, plus interest at 5% a year." However, the Natives turned down the money because they would give up their claim to the land if it was paid out, and demanded return of the land, instead. They still have not regained control of the land. Initially, the Treaty of Fort Laramie seemed like a blessing for the Native Americans, and it gave them trust in the government. However, the U.S. repeatedly ignored the treaty, and the Natives began to learn not to trust the government or its intentions.

The Struggle for the Black Hills has not ended for the Natives, and it has been a long and difficult struggle, unlike the Treaty of Fort Laramie, which ended well, and rather quickly, in comparison. The Struggle for the Black Hills really should not have occurred at all, because it was in direct opposition to the Treaty of Fort Laramie and what the United States had promised the natives. It should not still be going on, the government should pass legislation to return the land to the natives and be done with...

The fact that the situation has dragged on this long is simply incomprehensible. The money is still being held in trust for the tribes, and it could be close to $1 billion by now.
References

Giago, Tim. 2002. DLN Issues: The Black Hills. Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Human Rights Advocacy Coalition. http://www.dlncoalition.org/dln_issues/black_hills_articles.htm (accessed12 March 2009).

Johansen, Bruce Elliott, ed. The Encyclopedia of Native American Legal Tradition. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.

Johnson, Andrew. "Wounded Knee, 1890: Historical Evidence on Trial in the Classroom." Teaching History: A Journal of Methods 28, no. 2 (2003): 59+.

Bruce Elliott Johansen, ed., the Encyclopedia of Native American Legal Tradition (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998), 31.

Andrew Johnson, "Wounded Knee, 1890: Historical Evidence on Trial in the Classroom," Teaching History: A Journal of Methods 28, no. 2 (2003).

Johansen, 32.

Tim Giago. 2002. DLN Issues: The Black Hills. Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Human Rights Advocacy Coalition. http://www.dlncoalition.org/dln_issues/black_hills_articles.htm (accessed12 March 2009).