Eloise Cobell - The Face of Courage

By Joan Melcher, Unfiltered 4-13-07

Eloise Cobell spoke in UM’s Ethics at Noon series on Wednesday, giving a succinct accounting of what she’s been through in the last decade or so. Having taken on the U.S. bureaucracy, including the Departments of Interior, Treasury and Justice, in an attempt to right more than 100 years of wrongs in accounting on Indian lands, she is a figure larger than life for me. So when I heard she was going to be on campus, I scurried over to Turner Hall. I wanted to see what that kind of courage looked like.

Eloise is a banker, but in her role as the plaintiff in Cobell vs. Kempthorne, she has become an educator as well. She mentioned how important it has been for her to educate people about what has happened and to encourage them to take ownership of their government and their lives. She gave a brief rundown of the early years of her struggle in the class action suit to reclaim land royalties and the various legal cases and maneuvers, painting a grim picture of the face of government she has confronted.

She noted that the Secretary of the Interior, told the court when implementing the Dawes Act of 1887, that Indians were stupid and incapable of managing their lands and so the government was going to take control. At that point the Department of Interior became the trustee for lands owned by individual Indians, responsible for paying land owners royalties on oil, grazing and timber leases. Cobell said that at a hearing last week she felt those in charge were talking to her in a similar way – more than a century later.

She talked about the weekend before she and her lawyer brought the first suit against the government in 1996 – walking down the Washington Mall and seeing all the granite buildings lining it. She said she became very frightened, and thought, “My God, Louise, you’re taking on the U.S. government.” She began to lose her confidence and called a friend, who asked her, “If you don’t do it, who will?” Indeed.

After winning several lawsuits that the U.S. government, ostensibly, has ignored, Cobell and those working with her were able to estimate what the government owes individual Indians. At the time it was about $14 billion, $176 billion including compounded interest. In 2005 they came up with a discounted figure, what she called “rough justice.” It was $27.5 billion.

Three weeks ago the administration responded, saying the government would be willing to “invest” $7 billion in payments as long as the Indians agreed not to sue again for past, present or future wrongs. Of course, that is not acceptable to Cobell. “We are in a total breach of trust,” she said. She talked of her difficulty in finding senators or congressmen who will help her because of the system of trading votes. Getting money owed Indians for a century is clearly not a top priority, but she has hopes that newly elected Senator Jon Tester will help in the struggle.

She ended by mentioning some of those who have opposed her case over the years – “a few are going to jail” – she said, adding, “When it comes to ethics, there are no gray areas. It is black or white, right or wrong. Give us justice.”

She said that justice may not come in her lifetime. Maybe it’s because I’m naturally optimistic but I’m betting on Cobell.

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