100 Years Page #6

[Elouise]

Yeah. We can't give up.

And we're glad

that you're doing this

and staying with it.

I know my husband

would sure like

to see it over with.

[chuckles]

He's tired of me

talking about it.

[man] Everybody feels

just like he does.

They'd like to see it--

see it get finished, you know,

and get something out of it

before-- before it's too late.

Especially for all these...

you know, the older people

and stuff.

You know,

we're not prejudiced people.

We think of everybody else.

The tribe here,

the whole people,

if you came to our door,

we would welcome you in,

give you what we have,

but the government

won't do that to us.

And I'm wondering why.

We are people,

we have feelings.

We're just like

everybody else.

The only thing is, we don't

holler loud enough, you know?

And, with this one here,

she does the hollering for us.

But you'd better believe

we're going to be behind her.

Because they owe it to us.

They owe us this money.

[drums beating]

[horse whinnies]

[gun fires]

[men yelling]

Good luck.

[chuckles]

You'll be finished, yeah.

[drums beating]

This is my son.

My son put himself

through college

by being, um, a rider

at the Excalibur

in King Arthur's Tournament.

Quite proud of him.

He graduated from UNLV and is

in the hospitality industry.

Um, I guess maybe

we should move right

from there, over to here,

Elvis Presley, the king.

I gotta talk about the king.

Everybody that knows me knows

that I'm an Elvis fan.

Everybody. I've been

an Elvis fan forever.

In fact, Elvis Presley

came through Browning, Montana,

and, um, he was on the train.

The train slowed down,

and he went and waved,

and I was, like,

totally in shock,

I was so happy.

But everybody knows

that Elvis, the king,

is something special to me.

This magic night

A night

With you

[man] Everybody stand

and look up to God here

in this real special meeting.

Our heavenly Father,

we thank you for this gathering

this morning.

Lord, that you will

just guide us.

We want this case to be settled

as soon as we can.

In Jesus' name

we pray together. Amen.

[people] Amen.

[Keith] I see there's still

a couple people in the back

standing up.

There's a lot of seats

up front, and, uh...

You know, I'm a Cherokee

and a lawyer,

so you may be here awhile,

so you may want to have a seat.

[people laughing]

Um, I'd really like

to give special recognition

to Keith Harper.

And I remember, that first day,

Keith rolled in a stroller,

and he had

his baby girl with him.

And, today, that baby girl

is walking around,

handing out information

for you on this case.

And so, she's grown up

with this case.

We need to have

the American people understand

how this is affecting

all of us.

How it affects people

on this reservation

when you have a lease

in which you are getting

five cents for every dollar

a non-Indian gets.

How it affects you

when you get a check

with no explanation

whatsoever.

Uh, Congress kept saying,

"Give us a figure.

Give us a figure

of what you will settle for."

Um, so, we proposed a figure

of $27.5 billion,

a much discounted figure.

Was it an amount

that every penny

that is owed us?

No, it wasn't. But, at least,

we had a figure out there

that we would settle for.

One of the problems

that we struggle with is...

what if it takes

another five or six years?

What does that mean

for the older people

that may never see

any benefit of it?

That weighs on my mind,

and I know that probably weighs

on a lot of people's minds.

We think about you

all the time.

And, you know,

you see things change,

and you hear

that so-and-so is sick

and can't get out

for the meeting today.

You see people that have canes

that didn't have canes

when we first came to Navajo.

But I got your message

loud and clear,

and one thing

that we've got to remember

and we've got to hold

in our minds,

is, "This is our money.

It's not the

government's money.

It's our money."

Thank you for coming.

Okay.

I fully support

what you're doing

with the litigation.

Thank you very much.

We need that support.

One, two...

[chuckles] Victory!

[all chuckle]

[Elouise]

I was really encouraged

when Senator McCain became

the Chairman of the Senate

Committee on Indian Affairs.

And I met with Senator McCain,

and he said, "Elouise,

I'm going to work

as hard as you have."

[McCain]

All the witnesses

have testified

in favor of the court

being the ones

who would be responsible

for the distribution of money.

And, in the 50 principles,

you say the court would conduct

a, quote, "fairness hearing."

What will the court be testing

the fairness of?

In our testimony

and most everybody's testimony,

they feel that the court

is more fair and impartial,

and I believe

that the treasury

is a named defendant,

Mr. Chairman,

and so,

the impartiality is not--

You know, that's the thought.

It's not there.

I think you're asking

a district judge

to take on a task

which is incredibly complex.

The courts

do this all the time,

and distributing--

[McCain] Not with this amount

of money, they don't.

On a class action lawsuit,

yes, they do.

-No, they don't.

-And... And...

No, they don't decide

what's fair and unfair.

I don't know

if a district judge

has the kind of assets

to make those kinds

of judgments.

They weigh the evidence...

[McCain] Courts also decided

what attorneys' fees are.

Yes, and that was my answer

that I was going to tell you.

It's my understanding

that the courts will decide

the attorneys' fees,

and that...

that was done as a result

of a congressional act

that took out the states

and wanted to make sure

that the Federal Government--

Excuse me. Native Americans

will be reimbursed first,

and then attorneys,

if I have anything

to say about it.

I've been interested in what

the attorney fees have been

by the Federal Government

in fighting this case.

We cannot find out.

Just come to the courtroom.

There are hundreds

of attorneys

that are sitting

in that courtroom

day after day,

and there was a rider approved

by the Congress

in the appropriation bill

that allowed for

the government officials

that were accused

of this wrongdoing

to hire their own attorney,

private firms.

And I see those people

every single day.

So, vice versa,

I really would like to see

what the government

is spending on attorney fees.

My attorneys haven't been paid

in years, let me tell you.

[McCain] Well, if there's

$27.5 billion at play,

I'm sure they will be,

Ms. Cobell.

There is no huge contingency

firm amount

that has been negotiated

with attorneys,

let me assure you that.

[McCain] Then there should

be no problem, then,

of telling us how much

of the $27.5 billion.

[Elouise] I'd be very happy

to do that, sir.

Thank you very much.

[Elouise] There was certain

problems with the legislation.

Number one,

the numbers were all blank.

Where it was

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