It speaks to persistent questions about the relationship between the United States and Indigenous nations, questions that are not resolved.

The treaty obligations created during Black Kettle’s lifetime — at Fort Laramie 1851, Fort Wise 1861, Little Arkansas 1865, Medicine Lodge 1867 — are not all fully honored today.

The specific commitments made to the Cheyenne and Arapaho people have been violated, reduced, and renegotiated in ways that consistently favored American interests over the rights formally recognized in the treaties.

The Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma maintain tribal sovereignty and cultural identity today, which is itself a form of resilience that Black Kettle’s commitment helped make possible.

The survival of the community is not nothing.