The U.S. Government Offered The Sioux More Than $1 Billion For The Black Hills – They Refused To Take The Money
The phrase “refused a billion dollars” became a frequent formulation, sometimes accompanied by incredulity, sometimes accompanied by admiration, sometimes accompanied by an implicit or explicit argument about what the refusal revealed about Native American values or rationality or legal strategy.
Much of this coverage missed, or underemphasized, the most important dimension of the story: the reason for the refusal is not primarily a statement about the size of the fund.
It is a statement about what accepting it would mean.
The refusal would be exactly the same if the fund were $100 million.
It would be exactly the same if it were $5 billion.
The amount is not the variable being weighed against the claim.
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