Yesterday after a very contentious, but respectful debate, the Illinois House did not advance a bill that would have given the Prairie Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe the 1,550-acre Shabbona state park. The legislation is an attempt to make amends for the alleged theft of the property dating back to 1840 when the tribe left for a visit to kinsmen in Kansas and later returned to Illinois to find out that their land had been sold to others.
According to an article in the Daily Illini, May 13, 2024:
“The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation has officially established Illinois’ first federally recognized tribal reservation, which includes 130 acres of land in Dekalb County that was put into trust for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation by the Department of the Interior. The tribal nation now has sovereignty over the land known as Shabbona Lake State Park.”
The Daily Illini, May 13, 2024
The Tribal chairman went on to explain the following:
Tribal Chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick, explained the historical significance of the land to the nation and for his family. Rupnick is a direct descendent of Chief Shab-Eh-Nay — the Chief who signed the 1833 Treaty of Chicago among others.
The Treaty of Chicago was one of 44 treaties Prairie Band Potawatomi signed with the U.S. government and included the illegal sale of Native American land. “We ceded 5 million acres to the U.S. government,” Rupnick said. “Some of that land was earmarked for Prairie Band Potawatomi.”
The Daily Illini, May 13, 2024
According to testimony in the House debate, no one questions that the Potawatomi were given land in and around the Shabbona State Park area in a treaty signed with the federal government in 1829. This legislation is coming forth now after the federal government designated the130 acres in DeKalb County as federal Indian Reservation under control of the tribe. Subsequently, the tribe is making a renewed effort to get back all of their original land they were given in the treaty.
The problem that the bill HB 4718 seeks to remedy is essentially a land swap to make the tribe whole in the amount of land they were given as some of their original land they were entitled to is now in private hands. While many sympathize with the tribe, the devil is in the details when it comes to this bill.
A number of issues remain unresolved with this deal, here are a few brought up in debate:
- Most importantly, the State of Illinois has no contractual obligation to give state property that was allegedly wrongly taken nearly two centuries ago. This is a federal government issue that should be resolved by Congress.
- The Tribe has agreed, although not in writing, that they will not pursue lawsuits for claims against the property that is in private hands if the entire state park is ceded to them. There is no “clearing of titles” required in the legislation and future claims against the private property owners could occur.
- There are a number of unknowns about whether the land was vacated by the Potawatomi years ago or purchased from them and also whether or not federal funds were used to establish the state park.
- The bill states that IDNR would still maintain the state park and that the park would for now be set aside for conservation and recreation purposes, but there are no guarantees of what would happen in the future.
- There are no specifics about any IDNR agreement on use and maintenance or fees that could be charged for use of the park.
- The land being granted is greater in total area than the land that the Tribe has claims to.
Fortunately, this bill stalled after a long debate over a lack of specifics in the bill and no appraisal of the property being available. During one part of the debate State Rep Thaddeus Jones attempted to conflate the return of property to the Tribe as a reparation of sorts and asked the progressive Democrat sponsor if he was in favor of reparations which he enthusiastically responded, “Yes!” You can see where this is heading. Overall, this was one of the more interesting debates and issues, but the bottom line is that even Democrats are uncomfortable giving away state land is a convoluted deal that goes back 180 years with no assurances that is solves property rights issues.