On May 7, an Oglala Sioux woman from Wounded Knee, S.D., won a historic ruling in Federal Court. Lavetta Elk won $600,000 from the federal government after an Army recruiter sexually assaulted her in January 2003. The judge’s ruling was based on the “bad man” provision of the 1868 treaty between the government and the Oglala Sioux.
In 2002, Sergeant Joseph Kopf tried to recruit Lavetta Elk for the Army. He then harassed her by phone and email for over a year. In January 2003, she thought Kopf was taking her to be evaluated for the Army. Instead, Kopf drove her to the middle of nowhere and sexually assaulted her.
In April 2004, she filed a notice of claim with the Army and the Department of the Interior, which has jurisdiction over Native American lands. The Army refused to prosecute Kopf, simply demoting and removing him from his post as a recruiter.
The Department of the Interior did nothing with Elk’s claim until she filed in civil court. The case was heard in court only because of her determination for justice. In the May 7 ruling, a federal judge awarded Elk actual damages and also imposed punitive damages.
This case was based on the “bad man” clause, which states that “if bad men among the whites or among other people subject to the authority of the United States shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington City, proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained.”
While that clause would fit a long record of offenses against the Oglala Sioux, this is the first time a U.S. federal court has cited it in a ruling. If the government appeals the verdict, the Supreme Court would have to rule on the Treaty of 1868, which could affect everything from the treatment of Native Americans to land rights. Such an appeal is unlikely, however.
Elk’s case points to inherent unfairness and racism of the U.S. capitalist justice system. The clause states that Kopf should be arrested and charged, but that will most likely not happen. Instead, hoping to close the matter, the court gave Elk money—as if that could compensate for the psychological problems she has suffered since meeting Kopf. Of course, capitalists think money solves everything—justice be damned.
Nevertheless, the importance of this legal ruling cannot be denied. Over the past 140 years, the U.S. government has openly violated every treaty made with the indigenous people of this land. Elk’s historic victory may have a lasting impact in the larger struggle for Native American basic human and cultural rights.
