The money sits in the Treasury as evidence of what was acknowledged and not remedied.

The land remains in the possession of the United States as evidence of what was taken and not returned.

The Sioux nations continue to say, as they have said since 1980 and before: this is not finished.

They are right.

It is not.

The resolution of the Black Hills dispute — if it ever comes — will require the United States to move beyond the logic of monetary compensation and to engage, through whatever legal and political mechanisms are available, with the actual content of the claim.