100 Years Page #4

are complied with

in a reasonable manner.

The problem here was,

in some locations, for example,

they were kept

in these wooden shacks,

out in the field,

and just piled in boxes.

They weren't numbered,

they weren't named.

In another location,

I remember seeing--

it was in this huge warehouse

that had garden equipment,

mulch, etc.

It was absolutely

in shambles.

If your social security

information

were kept in such a manner,

there would be an outcry

that would be insane.

There would be riots

in the street.

There's no lesser duty

simply because these people

are invisible.

[Ruby] We had been looking

for the production totals

on the three wells

on my grandfather's property.

We had been unable to find it.

I'd started to do research

on the Internet

to see if I could find anything

about this,

about the records.

And I searched many, many hours

on the Internet,

until, one day, I finally found

a listing that told me

that the records were

in Fort Worth, Texas.

I was elated, I was--

"At last! At last,

we found it!"

I called them.

We were all crying.

We were so happy.

Leon said, "Let's go!

Let's get in the car

and go right now!"

We all went.

We all piled in the car,

and we went to Fort Worth,

and we began our search.

We've talked about this

all our lives,

what happened with

the great-grandparents'

allotment.

I've heard

these stories forever.

That's what I grew up with.

So, we're in this room,

and we're finding this,

and we're pulling these out,

and we're going,

"Wow, this is it.

We know this is it.

We've found a gold mine.

We've found the story."

We're jumping around

talking about this,

looking at each other.

"Oh, look at this!

Look at that!" And then,

we look over to the table,

to where...

To where my mom and Leon

and Theda and Aunt Mildred

are sitting...

and they're weeping.

They lived with them.

And they were seeing

Mose Bruno

and Frances Bruno's

original signatures,

documents

that those people touched,

and you could tell

from these files

the day-to-day happenings

in that family.

You could tell when they bought

a pair of socks,

you could tell when they bought

a bushel of peaches,

and it brought back

so many memories for them.

[bailiff]

All rise for the Honorable

Judge Lamberth.

[Elouise]

The power of that decision

to win an accounting

from 1887 forward,

it felt like we really had

a huge victory.

It gave me huge hope

that the government had

to fix the systems.

And that was what

the judge said

and that was the law.

I remember

when I got the decision,

I was driving down the road,

and I pulled over,

and, you know,

I just sat there and cried

because I thought

we had a great victory.

I thought,

"Gosh, we've really won."

Some days, you know, you feel

like you're in a battle

that is really difficult

when you're fighting

the United States government.

And so, you have to look over

to Ghost Ridge.

You have to look over here,

and you have to--

you have to get

the real feeling of the pain

that the people went through,

in order for us to survive.

And so, I look over here

on some really trying days

and pray to them for support.

And then, I also look

over here sometimes

when we have a huge victory,

and I turn over to Ghost Ridge,

and I think about

all the people

that were here, and I think,

you know, "Well, we got them

for you this time."

The government

argued that this

was a different type of trust,

that they didn't have

to comply with

common trust law standards.

They lost that argument.

That meant that we won

for all the people that died.

And that was a really, really

tremendous victory for me.

So, that means

that my grandparents

and my parents

would get their accounting.

[cattle bellowing]

[dog barks]

Come on. Get up here,

come on, let's go.

All of the entire

state of Montana

was Blackfeet territory.

So, when the government

came in and tried

to confine the Blackfeet people

to reservations,

it was hard

for my great-great-grandfather,

who was Mountain Chief,

and he just did not believe

that the Blackfeet had to be

confined to a certain area.

And so, he fought it.

They wanted to make him conform

to be a good little Indian.

So, I always hope

that Mountain Chief

trickled down to me.

And, uh, we're fighting

the government, specifically,

that come in and try

to dictate to you how

your lives should be lived.

And so, that's how--

that's what he fought for.

And I think

that's very similar to, um,

what a lot of us

are fighting for

in this lawsuit.

[Lamberth] There were--

There were a number

of boxes of documents

relating to Indian accounts

that had been destroyed

and that the court was not told

had been destroyed.

And, uh...

it was a...

just a gigantic fiasco

from beginning to end.

[Elouise] The judge sent

a serious message

to the defendants

that he was no longer

going to tolerate them

disobeying court orders,

that they had to comply

with his court orders.

And when they continued

to destroy documents,

continued to not

produce documents,

um, we had a contempt trial.

Oh, man, he kicked

the sh*t out of us.

[chuckles]

Judge Lamberth ruled

that Secretary Babbitt,

Treasury Secretary Rubin,

and I were in contempt of court

for having failed

to produce the documents

that had been--

that had been promised.

Um, and he was right,

of course.

[cheering and whistling]

[man] The Indian Trust issue,

another broken promise.

When I talk to my colleagues,

they sit and say,

"Well, you know,

but that's a long time ago."

I said, "You need

to stop and think what

you would do to somebody

if it was your

grandmother's estate

and it had been plundered."

You would go after them

with everything you want

because that was a legal

obligation undertaken by

the United States of America.

There is no excuse.

[cheering]

How long is it going to take

for Congress to act?

And we see things like Enron

and, uh, WorldCom and Telcom,

whereby Congress

immediately took action

and passed the Corporate

Responsibility Act.

And when I asked

a member of the Senate--

I said, "Well, why

can't you do this

here with the Indian trust,

the Cobell litigation?"

And their response was, "Well,

there was an emergency there.

The CEOs and the

management were stealing

from the shareholders."

I said,

"What's the difference?"

[Elouise] Mary Johnson,

she was so upset about the fact

that they weren't getting

any royalty money

off of any of their wells.

And they would go

to the B.I.A. office,

and they'd say,

"Well, how come we're not

getting any royalties

because the oil pump

is still pumping?"

[Mary speaking Navajo]

And all the other

local police came over,

and they told them

that they had no right

to do that.

[speaking Navajo]

So, Mom says, "Okay,

I'll go to jail for it."

[speaking Navajo]

[Elouise] It is the government

that has caused this problem.

In a fit of paternalism,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes