Have there been any reparations paid to Native American nations for what was done to them during American expansion to the West?

by Riekopo

Title says it all. There was some serious badness inflicted onto the native people in the United States part of North America during American expansion to the West. As bad as anything else that occurred in the world. I am wondering if the surviving Native American nations have been paid reparations for what occurred? As a secondary question, has what occurred ever been recognized as an American genocide?

ahalenia

Not reparations, per se, but tribes have sued the federal government for their treaty rights and moneys owed to them. The Indian Land Claims Commission was established in 1946 to "any Indian tribe, band, or other identifiable group of American Indians" and lasted until 1978. The ILCC was a tribunal that heard cases from Native Americans who had lost lands due to treaties not being upheld.

Recently Cobell v. Salazar, a class action lawsuit with 500,000 Native plaintiffs, was settled in favor of the plaintiffs over moneys held in trust by the US government (for land leases, etc.) not distributed to the Indians. In the 2009 settlement of the case, $1.4 billion was awarded to the plaintiffs and $2 billion went to purchase lands to be put back in trust for the tribes.

This is not money awarded to tribes and individuals because the US feels sorry for anything it did, it's pennies on the dollar of lease and other moneys owed to Natives for decades/a century that the US simply didn't pay out.

In 2009, the US federal government did pass an Apology to Native Peoples of the United States bill that was part of the Defense Appropriations Act of 2009. Not much fanfare has been made about the bill, but Public Law 111-118, Section 8113 reads that the United States, acting through Congress—

• Recognizes that there have been years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes;

• Apologizes on behalf of the people of the United States to all Native Peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by the citizens of the United States; and

• Urges the President to acknowledge the wrongs of the United States against Indian tribes in the history of the United States in order to bring healing to this land….