Elouise Cobell: Speaking Rural Truth to Power

Our friend Elouise Cobell, a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Rural Strategies, died October 16, 2011, in Great Falls, Montana.

Elouise was a tireless advocate for the Blackfeet Nation and for rural and tribal communities around the country. She took on the federal government over its misuse of the Indian Trust Fund, which for more than a century pilfered billions of dollars belonging to Native Americans.

Against tremendous odds, Elouise prevailed. In 2009 the government settled her case against the Department of the Interior with a $3.4 billion payment, the largest government class-action settlement in U.S. history.

Still, her daily work remained back home with the Native American Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization in Browning, Montana, a town of about a thousand people.

This video clip is from Elouise's presentation to the 2008 National Rural Assembly. 

(Photo by Kelly Gorham, Montana State University “Mountains and Minds” magazine)

Elouise was remembered by her friend  Carol Cross Juneau in a recent 'Living on Earth' segment. Listen to it here.