American Indians Sue for $25 Billion Over Abuse

American Indians Sue for $25 Billion Over Abuse
April 10 ?- By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Six members of the Sioux Nation who say they were physically and sexually abused in government-run boarding schools sued the United States for $25 billion on Thursday, hoping to launch a lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of thousands of mistreated American Indians.

The six plaintiffs all attended Catholic boarding schools in South Dakota, but claim in their lawsuit that psychological, physical and sexual abuse was inflicted on Indian children throughout the school system and covered up by a government which forced them to leave their homes for boarding schools.

The plaintiffs allege violations of treaties that date back to the 19th century between the U.S. government and American Indian tribes.

A Department of Justice spokesman could not be reached on Thursday for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.

"All my life I've never wanted to think about these things. I pushed them as far back as I could," tearful plaintiff Adele Zephier said at a press conference in Los Angeles to announce the lawsuit. "I'm really happy to be here today to tell everybody the truth about what happened to us as children.

Zephier said she was abused by nuns and sexually molested by a priest at a school run from 1948 to 1975 by St. Paul's Catholic Church in Marty, South Dakota. Her brother, plaintiff Sherwyn Zephier said he endured beatings at the school.

'GENOCIDE'

American Indian activist Russell Means, who attended the press conference, said the U.S. government tolerated the abuse as part of a plan to destroy Native American culture and called the allegations a "legal euphemism for genocide."

"It's against the law for us to sue the United States for genocide but that's in effect what we're doing," said Means, who helped lead the 1973 armed conflict in South Dakota between American Indians and law enforcement officials known as the "Siege of Wounded Knee."

"We're putting the United States of America on notice that that you can't pretend to be who you are to the world while in your own backyard you are murdering and maiming us," he said.

Jeff Herman, the lead attorney in the lawsuit, said he hoped to include in the suit "hundreds of thousands" of American Indians who were abused at boarding schools and expected other lawsuits to follow against individuals and churches involved in running the schools.

Herman said the lawsuit would survive challenges on statute-of-limitations grounds because the allegations were just coming to light, adding: "We believe the government was involved in a massive cover-up."

The attorney said that, under treaties signed by the United States with the Indian tribes, the government was liable for damages even if it took no direct part in the mistreatment.

"It doesn't matter if the government did anything wrong," he said. "Whether or not they did wrong they owe the money."