The Faces of Colonization
Making the Case for Treaties at Mount Rushmore
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Nick Tilsen wasn’t even born yet the year his parents helped organize The International Black Hills Survival Gathering. The massive event was held during the summer of 1980 on the Lakota’s holiest homelands. Mining interests in the Black Hills, South Dakota had once again intensified. Top of mind was also the highly anticipated United States Supreme Court decision that would determine, once and for all, whether the Black Hills had been stolen by colonizers. As history tells us, the Court ruled that it did.
On the eve of the Gathering, the Supreme Court delivered an 8–1 decision that said the Lakota were entitled to compensation for the Black Hills, seized by Congress a century earlier by use of “eminent domain.” The ruling resulted in $105 million to be divided among eight different tribes of the Great Sioux Nation. In defense of their treaty rights, the tribal nations outright rejected the deal. Today, the offer still stands, and in fact, has even ballooned. Inflation increased the value of the landgrab to roughly $1.5 billion. Forty summers later, the Lakota still don’t want the money. They just want the land back.
