The Sioux refused a $106 million award to reclaim the Black Hills

Evidence

Due to a decade of intense protests and occupations by the Sioux, on July 23, 1980, in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Black Hills had been taken illegally and that remuneration equal to the initial offering price plus interest—nearly 106 million—be paid. The Sioux refused the award and continued to demand return of the Black Hills. The money remained in an interest-bearing account, which by 2010, amounted to more than 757 million. The Sioux believe that accepting the money would validate the US theft of their most sacred land. — Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the…, 519

Categorization

• XREF: Counterintuitive refusal that reframes land as relationship, not commodity — amplifies the reader’s understanding of Indigenous land-sovereignty. — connects to: US conquest of the Sioux followed the classic stages of colonialism — Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the…, 480; The Sioux never wanted compensation because the land was never for sale — Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the…, 522
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the…, 519

Broader Connections

• The Sioux never wanted compensation because the land was never for sale #expands (0.85) — Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the…, 522