Local history conference featured a session explaining why the Black Hills are not for sale

MULEY LODGE NEAR STURGIS – Mario Gonzalez, an Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) attorney, spoke to a packed house discussing the Sioux Nation’s historical struggles and ongoing legal battles for land rights, at the Thirty-First West River History Conference (WRHC), held in Deadwood October 4-6, 2025. The Sioux Nation has been in a protracted legal process to regain the Black Hills since the early days of the last century.

The panel session, “Why the Black Hills Are Not For Sale!” was held at the Muley Lodge on Mattson Lane near Sturgis and moderated by journalist and at large WRHC board member Talli Nauman. Gonzalez was the presenter and was asked questions by the guest panelists, Donovin Sprague, Marnie Cook, and Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes who was a last-minute addition. Attorney Bruce Ellison who has spent decades representing Native American and environmental causes and is best known for his legal work on behalf of American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Leonard Peltier had originally been scheduled to be on the panel but was unable to attend.

The audience of an estimated 75 people were rapt with attention as Gonzalez highlighted the treaty obligations not met by the U.S. government, including promises of healthcare and resources. His concise presentation was jammed with important details of the numerous congressional acts, the Bradley Bill, the Martinez Bill as well as the first, second and third Black Hills claims. Gonzalez emphasized the importance of treaties as living documents and the tribe’s fight for justice. He shared his personal lineage and legal efforts, including a 1978 lawsuit to stop a Supreme Court payment of $102 million to the tribe. The discussion also covered the tribe’s historical land claims, the impact of allotment acts, and the need for innovative solutions to resolve these issues.

Star Comes Out said it was important for him to show not only support for Gonzalez, but to use the opportunity to highlight tribal issues. “It’s been a heck of a fight, voicing for our people.” He said that it was important to speak up, to explain how treaty obligations are not being upheld and the direct impact that it has had and continue to have on reservation resources. “You now, the United States government promised us healthcare and other resources. The general public thinks these are ‘handouts’ and we exchanged for land.” But he explained that this isn’t the case. “We signed a peace treaty and never surrendered. I think it’s important for the general public to know and acknowledge that. So, as far as treaty obligations, it’s severe- ly underfunded, under resourced and you can see that when you go a reservation.”

Gonzalez explained the complicated inner workings of Congress and claims to the Black Hills. “The Court of Claims heard the Black Hills case for the third time under the special jurisdictional act of 1978 and affirmed a ruling from the affirmed 1974 Indian Claims Commission ruling that awarded the Sioux Indians $102 million for the Black Hills, $17.5 million in principle, because the case was based on the taking under the Fifth Amendment, they included $85 million in interest.” That brought the total amount to one or two millions dollars. It was appealed by the government to the Supreme Court and affirmed by the Supreme Court on June 30, 1980.

Gonzalez explained that this was a dilemma. Once the money is paid out, you lose your claims under law which states that once the money is paid out, you can never go back and make a claim again for treaty lands. “We were not agreeable to that.” But they had to act fast. The tribal council authorized him to stop the payment. “We only had about two weeks to put together a complaint filed in US District Court in Rapid City and beat the government from paying out the money. Gonzalez’s legal strategy was centered on the 1973 Claims Distribution Act and the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s sovereignty to prevent the payout. This was done in coordination with the tribes who held that accepting money would compromise the sacred nature of the Black Hills and legally terminate any future claim to the land itself.

The Claims Distribution Act included provisions for distributing the settlement funds. Gonzalez challenged the payout by stating that the OST had not received appropriate representation and that accepting the funds would result in relinquishing any claims. He argued that the tribe’s lead attorney, Arthur Lazarus, had not renewed his contract with the OST and therefore was not legally authorized as a representative of the tribe to accept compensation.

Gonzalez said that these issues still need to be resolved, explaining the return of federal lands might be possible under a joint management type of arrangement. “I think the tribes are fully cognizant of the fact that we have to now accept the reality that we have people residing on this Black Hills land, so we have to reach an accommodation. That’s not to say that we can’t resolve it in some way by returning some of these lands over to the tribe under joint management to begin with, and maybe eventually the tribes can assume management of it.

“We’re trying,” said Gonzalez. “We have been asking to meet and discuss innovative ways to resolve this.” Consultations are a mandatory governmental practice for federal agencies to engage in government-to-government dialogue with tribes “You know what happened? The Biden Administration didn’t even respond to our requests for consultations. And neither has the Trump administration.

“It’s hard to find solutions when people don’t respond and everybody thinks that tribes are getting free government checks every years. That’s just false information.”

More about the WRHC in the next issue.

(Contact Marnie Cook at cookm8715@gmail.com)

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