Matthew Fletcher is a professor of law at Michigan State University, and editor of Turtle Talk, a law blog about American Indian law and policy.

Both American Indians and African Americans have momentous claims arising from historical wrongs, but their goals sharply diverge. American Indian claims, such as the Great Sioux Nation’s suit to regain the Black Hills, which resulted in a judgment against the United States for over $100 million, are simply not claims for reparations. The tribe won the suit in 1980, but the judgment proceeds accrue interest in a billion-dollar trust fund located in the Department of Treasury’s bank accounts because to accept the money would legally terminate the tribal claim to the land. So the tribe bides it time.

Tribal fights for hunting and fishing rights, education, sacred sites, and natural resources are rooted in self-determination.

American Indian claims like those to the Black Hills are legal claims that date back over a century, and often Indian tribes and Indians seek money claims for past injuries, but most Indian claims are rooted in tribal culture, governance, and land. Indians and tribes are interested in self-determination, the right to live in their traditional homelands and govern that land.

Tribal fights for hunting and fishing rights, education, sacred sites, and natural resources are all rooted in self-determination. When tribes settle claims against federal and state governments, the funds invariably go toward governance. Even Indian gaming, which many people think of as a form of reparations, grows out of tribal government activity, and Congress has mandated that gaming profits be spent on governance.

America’s moral debts to African-Americans and American Indians are shockingly deep and wide. African Americans point to slavery, Black Codes, Jim Crow, and redlining. And American Indians point to land and resources theft, boarding schools, and cultural and religious persecution. But while African-Americans eye individual payments, Indian tribes seek control over lands and natural resources taken from them by the United States and state governments. The advantage in the tribal strategy is to make Uncle Sam the bad guy. African-American strategists should take note.





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