Obama signs €3.4bn deal for Native Americans

BARACK OBAMA has signed a landmark law that will pay American Indians and black farmers $4.6 billion (€3.4bn) to deal with claims of government mistreatment going back decades.

The US president had promised during his election campaign to work towards resolving disputes over the government’s past discrimination against minorities.

The measure he signed settles a pair of lawsuits and four disputes over Native American water rights in Arizona, New Mexico and Montana.

At a signing ceremony at the White House the president said: “It’s finally time to make things right.”

Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe from Browning, Montana, the lead plaintiff in the Indian case, called the signing ceremony “breathtaking”, adding she did not expect it to happen in her lifetime. She filed the action nearly 15 years ago.

At least 300,000 Native Americans say they were swindled out of royalties overseen by the Interior Department since 1887 for oil, gas, grazing and timber rights. The plaintiffs will share the settlement.

Cobell said she was in her car in Montana when she learned the Senate had approved the measure last month. “I pulled over and I cried,” she said.

But even with Obama’s signature, the settlement must still go through a gauntlet of court hearings, a media campaign to notify beneficiaries and waiting periods for comments and appeals.

The first cheque is not expected to reach tribal plaintiffs until August.

Even so, Cobell said the day was historic.

“This day means a lot to the elders because it basically means they receive justice,” she said. “The money is secondary. They got justice. The US government gave them justice.”

Democratic senator Blanche Lincoln used similar language to describe the black farmers’ case, which marks the second round of funding from a class-action lawsuit originally settled in 1999.

The case involves allegations of widespread discrimination by Agriculture Department offices in awarding loans and other aid.

The new settlement is intended for people who were denied payments in the earlier settlement because they missed deadlines for filing.