S.E. RUCKMAN: 'Cobell Warming'

Sometimes words just stick together and a phrase is born. Online digging says that centuries ago coining a phrase was usually for promotional purposes.  Suddenly the words “Cobell warming” stuck in my head like a commercial jingle.

I defend my pun because we were, after all, nearing mail-outs of the landmark $3.4 billion Cobell trust case. The half-inch thick booklet I got at one of the sponsored meetings informed us the settlement could possibly mean a minimum $1,000 for each Individual Indian Money (IIM) holder through the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Cash on the barrel head (another coined phrase, I add).

Admittedly, a recent appeal to the Cobell decision has halted check mail outs for the near future. That and there’s still a few tribal leader consultations scheduled regionally.  In any case, the chattering has started amongst beneficiaries of this class-action lawsuit.  Most have gotten their computer printed letter from the Bureau telling them that they are eligible. Cobell warming is a reality, I tell you.

Not surprisingly IIM holders are starting to calculate what they may do with their unsolicited windfalls. The plans are veritable.  I’ve heard a lot of people say they’re going to the casino (to take their entire family to the tribe’s sit-down buffet). But I’ve heard serious plans for the payout, too. One of my Comanche relatives is waiting on the money to make the down payment on braces for her only child.

Which goes back to my newly minted phrase; I would characterize Cobell warming as a wave of enthusiasm or fervor rising up in Indian Country as a result of impending trust payouts. Now is a healthy time to get on the good side of your favorite IIM account holder.

But not everyone in Indian Country is warm because of happy, toasty feelings. I know of a group which has eschewed any disbursement. The settlement let each potential recipient decide to cash in or opt out of the multi-billion negotiation. Some of those who defer it are doing so with the idea that they could bring separate suit against the federal government for a century of royalty mismanagement by the BIA.

One Muscogee Creek Nation (MCN) citizen I interviewed told me that his great-grandfather had his IIM account siphoned without his knowledge to help fund American war efforts. The actual amount that his forebear was entitled to was probably incalculable, he asserted.

I agreed with him. The payout monies are an admission of guilt by the U.S. Government that it grossly mishandled a fiduciary duty to the very folks it was sworn to protect.  The enormity of which, I am guessing, that $3.4 billion pales in reality (and approaches incredulity).

During this period of Cobell warming, I read with humor an article published in a mainstream Utah paper. This quiet-seeming state has now issued an official word of warning to its Indian citizens to be on the lookout for scammers looking to remove them from their settlement monies.

The Utah Division of Securities said that fraudulent investors are waiting to swoop down because “religious or ethnic communities, professional organizations or other close-knit groups are often targets for similar scams.” This is rich. The state is concerned that con-men will mislead unsuspecting Indians.  I maintain that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Years ago, my tribe had received a federal settlement on its aboriginal claim for most of what is now Oklahoma (at the bargain rate of about one cent/per acre). Therefore, my per capita payment sat in an IIM account during the eligible time period.  Cobell warming was going to include me after all.

I had my doubts about what to do with federal money. So I did what I do when unsure about anything-- I just pondered it for a while. I certainly knew about the case, wrote about it and read disbelievingly through yards of Cobell case testimony.

I was certain that this settlement held a bigger lesson that I could upload if I just paid attention. When I least expected it, my personal answer alighted. I have watched my dreams for over 10 years and learned to respect what messages my subconscious mind released.

In the dream, I was next in line at a bank teller window (a dream symbol is loaded in meaning). Right as I was preparing to go up to the bank teller, two Indian elders (men) spoke to me. They were not in the line but rather on the sides, I recall.

These two men wore gray braided pigtails, trousers, plaid shirts and suspenders. They called out to me: “Are you going to take that money? Are you going to take that little bit of money that is nowhere near the amount the government owes (us)? “ The dream was months ago, I am paraphrasing.

This message was clear to me and for me. I decided right then and there, no Cobell warming for me. Then my daughter mentioned that she wished she had gotten a per capita payment from the tribe (she was born a year past the cut-off date). She missed out and always felt the loss.

Having been a single mom, the answer on what to do with my portion is logical. I didn’t opt out, though. But I plan on spreading the wealth of this belated guilt money.  As we wait on the distribution of the Cobell settlement payouts, I hope lots of little Indian kids will somehow get a taste of the monies (via school clothes, basketball shoes, football cleats, backpacks, etc.) too.