#niitsítapi

[boneandbourbon]

How do you feel about non-indigenous americans using the term "spirit animal" in means of feeling strongly connected to a type of animal? I have seen some people speak about how it is exclusively a cultural aspect of native american tribes, but i have seen others argue against that, and I'm not too sure of what to think.

I mean I'm not in the business of policing other people's words but I think it's cringe. It's just so painfully obvious that they don't have the cultural knowledge or background to know what the fuck they're talking about. I personally don't believe non-Indigenous people can even have spirit animals

But at this point the term is so bastardized and appropriated that I think I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show because I do love to watch bilagáana make fools of themselves

[dailyhistoryposts]

Elouise P. Cobell

The woman who gave her name to perhaps the most important class-action lawsuit in history, Elouise P. Cobell | Yellow Bird Woman (1945-2011) was a Native American activist and elder of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Niitsítapi).

Born on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, Cobell grew up attending a one-room schoolhouse and living without electricity or running water. She attended Montana State University, but left before graduating to care for her mother.

Cobell returned to her family ranch and became the treasurer for the Blackfeet Nation. She founded the Blackfeet National Bank, the first national bank owned by a Native American tribe and located on a reservation. She received a MacArthur genius award for this.

Using part of that money, Cobell filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal government. As treasurer, she had found numerous irregularities due to theft by the government. The case became known as Cobell v. Salazar (Salazar being the Secretary of the Interior when the case was settled, though the Department of the Treasury was also part of it). The case was first filed in 1996 and settled in 2009 in Cobell's favor.

Cobell v. Salazar was settled for $3.4 billion, allocated to the plaintiffs and to repurchase land that had been stolen under the Dawes Act of 1887. It also created the Cobell Educational Scholarship Fund.