we continue our two-part report tonight on the growing movement among native americans to reclaim
land that once belonged to them tomorrow the u.s department of the interior is set to begin
a series of consultations with native american tribes on how to return more land to tribal
management or even ownership but much of ancestral native american land is in private hands causing
tribes to take a more commercial approach to social justice newshour weekend special
correspondent kira kaye has the second part of our report ladies and gentlemen good evening
the chief looking glass powwow is the cultural and social event of the year for the nez perce
tribe it is first and foremost an intense dance competition held on the grass of the community
center on the tribe's idaho reservation last year's powwow was cancelled because of covet 19.
so this is also a bittersweet reunion with families camping together for the weekend
here we go junior girls traditional dancers of all ages compete in various categories
your rhythm and footwork are important so is your personal flair including the design
of your regalia these are empty imitation but the real ones are only two comes with
every animal so if you have this many under your husband would have to be a very very good hunter
well you have no one to play with yourself if you're out of shape you know because you
had a whole year to get into shape amidst the lighthearted banter and impressive athleticism
there is also a nod to the tribe's tragic history it's war with the us army and expulsion from its
homeland we recognize our ancestors and the struggle and sacrifice that they went through
and it was during that time in 1877 that our people were driven out of this valley venez
purse fought and fled across 1800 miles of some of the most difficult terrain on the continent
old women and newborn babies were killed the bloody pursuit ended in surrender
and confinement for the survivors where oregon idaho and washington now sit i like to call that
they're a part of the united kingdom of the net spurs and and so each of those states have
portions that lie within our territory we met tribal vice chair shannon wheeler in the walawa
valley of northeast oregon he's been coming here all his life as a visitor the first thing you
notice of course is the walmarts the mountains here the second thing i noticed was the water
when i had come over here as a kid but you would come and stay in a hotel on your land yes yes or
a tent yeah it remains a sacred and special place for the tribe our people are buried all over here
and there's been so many inadvertent discoveries and and their remains not handled correctly
venez purse had lived on this land for 16 000 years the u.s government granted them rights
to 7.5 million acres including the walawa valley in an 1855 treaty made in exchange for access to
trade routes to the pacific we agreed to live in peace we agreed to do the things that we
promised within the treaty and our people upheld those things and the u.s had accepted that yes
and then change their mind after gold was discovered it took like 14 years and then the
united states army were going to forcibly remove you now their land was reduced to a reservation
only five percent the size of the tribe's original territory much of their sacred spots
and rich farmland excluded at the heart of the lost territory sits um sakspa or land of the
boulders where the most famous of the nez perce leaders chief joseph held his council today the
nearby town of joseph oregon has become an artsy tourist destination celebrating chief joseph
but with little hint of the ethnic cleansing that led to the creation of towns like this
um became the hayes family farm but the last of the hayes family died in 2014 and then last
year a tribe official got word the property was for sale another bidder wanted to put a housing
development on the land but the nez perce pulled together 3.3 million dollars to buy it themselves
coast to coast other tribes are also buying back their lost land when it hits the market
in maine the pasa maquati saw a real estate listing and with the support of an environmental
consortium brought back pine island and what an honor to be above our land they had been
given it and thanks for their assistance to the colonists during the revolutionary war
but lost it when maine became a state in 1820 near california's big sur the esselen tribe bought the
1200 acre adler ranch again with the help of a nature conservancy an esslen representative
likened it to getting back the tribe's sistine chapel and just a few hours north the yurok tribe
has spent 10 years slowly buying back more than 70 000 of the half a million acres once taken
back at the idaho powwow nez perce tribe members see their purchase as a reassertion of their
identity the government has had control over us the army has had control of us the christian
churches have had control of us and now we're getting back some of our power that we had in
the past it does bring that healing and it also brings a responsibility for us to take care of
that landing i can't wait to go camp on that land you know just to set up a tv to set up a tent
and this past july a moment 144 years in the making the nez perce returned on horseback
to the land they now again own for a blessing ceremony those same bloodlines that had to leave
are still alive and that's what the ceremony was for to be able to let those emotions
out so that our people could walk from this day forward with a better heart behind this
good news though is the lingering question of whether paying for land rewards historical wrongs
the owner of this land though he called it a business transaction yeah he was definitely
all about business uh and he benefited from it there are people who might watch this and say
problem solved they'll just pay for it are you worried that you're setting a bad precedent if we
set a precedence of this is the way that we have to do it then that's what we're having to do uh at
some point in time in the future we would hope that the federal government would see that what we
did was wrong the this tribe and these people need to be compensated for that we have to fight for
every ounce that we get and if we have to pay for some of it then that's what we have to do