tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post6746483573557224020..comments2024-03-28T02:29:13.507-07:00Comments on Legal Ruralism: Federal government to pay $3.4 billion to settle Indian trust claimsLisa R. Pruitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16469550950363542801noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post-20527524081889265662009-12-10T09:42:46.270-08:002009-12-10T09:42:46.270-08:00The underlying case, Cobell, is one of the true vi...The underlying case, Cobell, is one of the true victories in Native law. The Bush admin tried to derail the case by replacing the judge, but their choice told them exactly the same thing. 3.4b seems like a lot but some estimates have put the money lost at 100b+ over the past century. What is hinted at in the piece is that while this may settle the lawsuit, it doesn't (at least the article doesn't mention this) fix the Indian Account system. <br /><br />A solution that would help begin to address part of the problem from the Indian perspective would be the increase in the use of actual Wills. In many Indian cultures talking about death is taboo and a will is talking about death. Add that to higher illiteracy rates, very few actual Indian lawyers per capita, and the extreme rural nature of many Indian's lives, this is a major problem. In addition, the BIA is the agency that probates Indian estates and they are around 20 years behind. This is one of the major reasons why you have the fractionalization of estates and this add to the "patchwork" problem on many Reservations.<br /><br />So while the money is great, really great, I want to see substantive structural changes in order for there to be long-lasting justice for Indians.Spechttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08323579827302004339noreply@blogger.com