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Navajo Nation to Receive $554 Million Settlement From U.S. Government

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The U.S. will pay the Navajo Nation $554 million as the result of a settlement agreement, the largest ever obtained by an American Indian tribe.

The agreement settles a 2006 lawsuit by the Navajo Nation, alleging that the American government improperly handled Indian assets for more than five decades, the New York Times reports.

The Navajo Nation, alongside officials from the Obama Administration, will formally announce the settlement on Friday, from Arizona. The Nation owns about 14 million acres of land, which the federal government oversees, though the tribe said the U.S. has not provided tools and invested the proper resources to foster economic growth.

The Department of Justice said the money will be transferred to the Navajo Nation as quickly as two months from now. The settlement is reportedly part of about $2.61 billion worth of agreements the Obama administration reached with various Indian tribes, in an effort to improve relations between the Federal government and Native tribes.

[NYT]

Native American Life, 90 Years After 'Official Citizenship'

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Tribal police officer Jacob Gadowaltz leads a drug search of a vehicle on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in New Town, N.D., Aug. 2, 2013.Alexandra Hootnick—Zuma Press
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Officer Jesse Hernandez talks to a prisoner in the Pascua Yaqui tribal jail in the Pascua Yaqui Indian Reservation, Ariz. on March 18, 2014.Jahi Chikwendiu—The Washington Post/Getty Images
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Native American Citizenship
Overview of the Pascua Yaqui Indian Reservation, Ariz., March 20, 2014. Jahi Chikwendiu—The Washington Post/Getty Images
Native American Citizenship
Kids play in the street on the Pascua Yaqui Indian Reservation, Ariz. on March 18, 2014. Jahi Chikwendiu—The Washington Post/Getty Images
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Kevin True Blood, 35, of Porcupine, S.D., shoots off his pistol in celebration of the Wounded Knee Liberation Anniversary on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Feb. 27, 2014. Chris Huber—AP
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Residents from Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D., in various states of inebriation outside a store located immediately across the border in Whiteclay, Neb., Feb. 17, 2012.Nicole Bengiveno—The New York Times/Redux
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John Parsons holds a traditional lacrosse stick at the Onondaga Nation. Living uneasily among Americans, many Iroquois still believe they're fighting for their own identity, Onondaga Nation, N.Y., July 19, 2010. Heather Ainsworth—AP
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A Lakota Honoring Ceremony is held for Johnson Holy Rock, foreground, at an annual treaty council meeting held on the Pine Ridge reservation in Pine Ridge, S.D., Feb. 18, 2012. Nicole Bengiveno—The New York Times/Redux
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Children play in the yard of a home on the Hualapai Indian Reservation in Peach Springs, Ariz., Feb. 28, 2012. Robert Galbraith—Reuters
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