OST Attorney Mario Gonzalez reflects on his accomplishments as he turns 80

RAPID CITY – As Oglala Sioux Tribal Attorney Mario Gonzalez (Nantan Hinapan) celebrates his 80th birthday on December 11, 2024, he reflects back on his distinguished legal career, revealing a rich tapestry of achievements—each thread intricately woven with steadfast dedication to justice and the restoration of Indigenous rights. Born into the heart of the Oglala Lakota Nation, Gonzalez’s journey has always been inextricably linked to his heritage, instilling in him a profound sense of duty toward his community.

Growing up on his grand- father Fred Wilcox’s ranch near Wanblee, and later in Kadoka, Mario learned early lessons in resilience and identity. His family’s relocation to Box Elder marked a new chapter, where he attended and graduated from Douglas High School at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

As he attended Black Hills State College in Spearfish, love blossomed when he met Dorothy Conroy, a partnership that would endure for 36 years until she passed away from breast cancer in 2002, yielding six children and 15 grandchildren. Dorothy’s unwavering support fueled his ambition, a source of strength that would continue to resonate throughout his life.

After earning his Juris Doctorate from the University of North Dakota School Of Law in 1972, Mario’s legal career blossomed. He practiced law in Martin, SD, but it was within the Oglala Sioux Tribe that he truly found his calling. From 1979 to 1995 and again from 2000 to 2024, he tirelessly served as the OST Attorney, becoming a champion for tribal sovereignty and rightful recognition over land.

Mario’s achievements that reveal a compelling saga of resilience and a steadfast commitment to advocating for the rights of Native people include:

• Starting the OST’s FmHA land purchase program as law student during the summer of 1970, by getting the Tribal Council to impose a moratorium freeze on the sale of trust lands to non-Indians and working with tribal attorney Richard Schifter to obtain the first tribal FmHA loan to buy trust lands on the reservation. The loans have added thousands of acres of trust lands to the tribal land base by using the income derived from the purchased lands as collateral.

• Getting the Court of Appeals to rule in Oglala Sioux Tribe v. Andrus, 603 F.2d 707 (8th Cir. 1979) that the general civil service conflict of interest laws did not apply to BIA employees so BIA could not transfer BIA Superintendent Whirlwind Horse to another location when his brother Elijah Whirlwind Horse was elected OST President.

• Enjoining the United States in Oglala Sioux Tribe v. United States, 650 F.2d 140 (8th Cir. 1981) from paying out the $102,000,000 1980 Supreme Court award for the Black Hills to the OST; the lawsuit also stopped the distribution of the award to all the Sioux tribes under the 1973 Claims Distribution Act.

• Reversing payment of the $39.7 million U.S. Claims Court judgment award for 48 million acres 1851 treaty lands and non-treaty lands in Docket 74 in Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Oglala Sioux Tribe v. United States, 806 F.2d 1046 (Fed. Cir. 1986); the case also stopped distribution of the award to all the Sioux tribes under the 1973 Claims Distribution Act.

• Conceptualizing and drafting the Indian language of the Mni Wiconi Act of 1988 (102 Stat. 2566). The Act authorized the creation of the Oglala Sioux Rural Water Supply System (OSRWSS) and Lyman Jones/ West River Rural Water System. It also authorized $87,500,000 to “plan, design, construct, operate, maintain and replace” (OM&R) the systems.

• Conceptualizing and drafting the 1994 Amendments to the Mni Wiconi Act (108 Sat. 4526) that included 2 new project sponsors, the Rosebud and Lower Brule Sioux Tribes. It also increased the authorization to $263,000,000 to plan, design, construct and OM&R all the systems.

• Conceptualizing and drafting the 1985 Sioux Nation Black Hills Act (S. 1453) (a/k/a as the “Bradley Bill). The Bill, with some changes made by the Black Hills Steering Committee, proposed to return federally held lands in the Black Hills to the Sioux tribes.

• Successfully representing the Wounded Knee Survivors Associations in repatriating a Ghost Shirt from the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Scotland; the shirt was taken off the body of an Indian man killed during the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.

• Assisting the OST in securing and closing a $38 million loan from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in 2006; $20 million for construction of the Prairie Wind Casino and Hotel and $18 million for refinancing outstanding OST debts.

• Co-authoring (with Elizabeth Cook-Lynn) the book, “The Politics of Hallowed Ground: Wounded Knee and the Struggle for Indian Sovereignty” (1999)

• Was the first recipient of the Distinguished Aboriginal Lawyer Achievement Award awarded by the Indian Law Centre of Canada, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sask. in 1995. He was selected over native lawyers from the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

When inquired by Native Sun News about what he considered one of his greatest contributions, he replied “Everyone seemed resigned to the fact that the Sioux tribes would have to accept money for treaty lands awarded by the Indian Claims Commission (ICC). Throughout my childhood and after I graduated from law school, I can remember people saying ‘lend me some money and, toksa when I get my Black Hills money I will pay you back.’”

“So, I believe that one of my greatest contributions is shifting the paradigm (model) from money compensation to land restoration when I litigated and stopped the ICC/Claims Court awards to the OST in Docket 74 and Docket 148-78, and the distribution of the awards to all the Sioux tribes in both dockets, in the 1980s. This wouldn’t have happened if the money awards were paid and distributed to the tribes and their land claims were extinguished under the ICC Act.”

He concluded that “I could not have accomplished what I did without the support of my deceased wife Dorothy Conroy, my children, my maternal grandmother Anna Quiver Wilcox, mother Geneva Gonzalez, and other Lakota family members who taught me to see the world through Lakota lenses, my Mexican father Gabriel Gonzalez, my attorney friends like Russel Barsh, Richard Trudell, and Allen Parker, and the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council members and officials that I worked with over the years.”

Contact Ernestine Anunkasan Hopa at editor@nativesunnews.today)

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