Today is a historic day for tribal landowners across Oklahoma. We have taken a stand that has been over a century in the making.
Today, a federal class action lawsuit was officially filed against the U.S. government to address the systemic mismanagement of oil and gas resources on our lands. For more than 100 years, families across the Five Tribes—the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Muscogee, and Seminole—have been “shortchanged” by a system that was supposed to protect our interests.
What started as a personal search for answers for my family has now grown into a regional movement for transparency and justice. We are demanding that the federal government fulfill its trust responsibilities and finally “shine a light” on the practices that have impacted thousands of Indian landowners for generations.
Last December, we stood in a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., to tell our story. Now, we are standing together as one voice to ensure that our ancestors’ legacies are respected and that our children inherit the fairness and respect they were promised. The light is finally on.