The Hills They Would Not Sell - June 13, 1979

On June 13, 1979, the U.S. Court of Claims ruled that the seizure of the Black Hills from the Sioux Nation was one of the most dishonorable acts in American history and ordered compensation. The Supreme Court confirmed it the following year, awarding $105 million. The Sioux refused every cent. Today that fund has grown to approximately two billion dollars, unclaimed, as the people it was meant for live in some of the deepest poverty in the United States. This is not a story about winners and losers. It's a story about what justice looks like when the law finally tells the truth and the truth isn't enough.