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I can't tell you how much it means to have an Indian law scholar on this court. Inside this opinion is so much recognition of the dirty, greedy hands that were responsible for Oklahoma statehood & acknowledgement of WHY our treaties were broken & Indian Territory was torn apart
The Gorsuch opinion in #McGirtvOklahoma continues on:
"Finally, Oklahoma points to the speedy and persistent movement of white settlers onto Creek lands throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But this history proves no more helpful in discerning statutory meaning.
"Finally, Oklahoma points to the speedy and persistent movement of white settlers onto Creek lands throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But this history proves no more helpful in discerning statutory meaning.
"Maybe, as Oklahoma supposes, it suggests that some white settlers in good faith thought the Creek lands no longer constituted a reservation. But maybe, too, some DIDN'T CARE and others never paused to think about the question. 
"Certain historians have argued, for example, that the loss of Creek land ownership was accelerated by the DISCOVERY of OIL in the region during the period at issue here. A number of FEDERAL OFFICIALS charged w/ implementing the laws of Congress were apparently openly conflicted,
"...HOLDING SHARES or BOARD POSITIONS in the very oil companies WHO SOUGHT TO DEPRIVE Indians of their lands (cites Angie Debo's book "And Still the Waters Run, 1940 -- great book, should be required Oklahoma reading).
"And for a time Oklahoma’s courts appear to have entertained SHAM COMPETENCY and GUARDIANSHIP proceedings that DIVESTED Tribe members of OIL RICH ALLOTMENTS. Whatever else might be said about the history and demographics placed before us...
"...they hardly tell a story of unalloyed respect for tribal interests."
Much like the Osages, Creeks were oil rich too. They were killed, their allotments stolen, their children stolen, ppl fighting over who got to adopt the orphans for their allotments. It was horrific.
Much like the Osages, Creeks were oil rich too. They were killed, their allotments stolen, their children stolen, ppl fighting over who got to adopt the orphans for their allotments. It was horrific.
It's always been about broken promises to Natives. Screwing us over, shuffling us around. Thinking we ended up with the short end of the stick. But when it turned out what they thought was wasteland had a bunch of oil, suddenly they wanted that too!!
So the acknowledgment of how dirty & nefarious the allotment process was, the crooked politicians & how evil the foundation for statehood was is very satisfying. I hate that those things happened, but the best sanitizer is light. So now it's out there forever in a SCOTUS opinion.
If anyone wants to read up on a WIIIIIILD movie-worthy, or honestly, even a TV series-worthy story, read about Sarah Rector. She was a Creek Freedmen who got rich overnight when there was oil discovered on her family's allotment near Glenpool.
The state had to classify her as "white" 
so she could travel in the Jim Crow era & she had marriage proposals rolling in from strangers across the country when she was still a kid. Oklahoma is full of crazy stories like this b/c our history is nuts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Rector
so she could travel in the Jim Crow era & she had marriage proposals rolling in from strangers across the country when she was still a kid. Oklahoma is full of crazy stories like this b/c our history is nuts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Rector
