In 1997, Jimcy McGirt, a Moscogee (Creek) Indian, was convicted of raping and sodomizing a four-year-old girl and sentenced to life in prison plus 500 years. Now 71 years old, McGirt has been appealing his conviction for years, and in July the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in his favor. Sort of.

The SCOTUS decision had nothing to do with his guilt or innocence but whether or not the state of Oklahoma had the right to try him for his crimes. Because the acts were committed on whats known as Indian land, McGirt and his lawyers argued that only the federal government could try him for his crime.

The Supreme Courts decision, wildly unpopular in Oklahoma, isnt likely to get McGirt released from prison any time soon but could throw thousands of other prosecutions into appeals chaos.

Just another thing to blame on Andrew Jackson.

As youll recall from your history books, when settlers began arriving here from England and France, they encountered tribes who had been occupying this country for generations. But settlers saw the lands potential for tobacco, cotton and other products and vowed to take them over at any cost.

George Washington wanted to civilize the tribes, converting them to Christianity and European ways, but not surprisingly, many tribes resisted. A few accommodated peacefully, relocated willingly, and got along with their new neighbors. Those Indians Choctaws, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek and Cherokees-- became known as the civilized tribes.

But as more settlers arrived and wanted more land, other tribes pushed back resulting in all sorts of hostilities from skirmishes to outright massacres. Thousands were killed on both sides, but since the newcomers had better weapons, more troops and laws benefiting only themselves, Indians were the losers.

Jackson had fought in several battles against Indians and definitely thought any land, possessions or rights they had should belong to new Americans. When he became President he determined to get rid of the Indian problem. States joined his crusade, enacting laws limiting Native American sovereignty and rights and encroaching on their lands.

Southern states, in particular, dealt harshly with Native Americans and illegally transferred property rights to white Americans.

In 1830 Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which gave the federal government the ability to trade cotton-rich land in the south for barren land in the west. The Act required the government to deal fairly and peacefully with the Native Americans, but they didnt.

In the winter of 1831, soldiers forcibly removed Choctaws from Georgia and Alabama, many bound in chains, and literally walked them to the territory known as Oklahoma. Soon other tribes had to begin the often-fatal walk west, now known as the Trail of Tears. By 1840 tens of thousands of Native Americans had been driven off their lands, forced to cross the Mississippi, and survivors were promised the new lands would remain theirs forever.

Some years later Oklahoma and other territories became states, and residents assumed the old promise meant nothing anymore. Last month the Supreme Court disagreed.

Justice Neil Gorsuch sided with liberal justices, and said, Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law. Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word.

All that really means right now is the McGirt will get a new trial. But in the long run, its a huge reminder of how horribly America treated minorities generations ago and a small reminder of how little things have changed since then.

I dont think Id like Mr. McGirt, but maybe his lawsuit did us all a favor.

A former assemblywoman from Jersey City, Joan Quigley is the president and CEO of North Hudson Community Action Corp.

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Link:

Supreme Court ruling a reminder of how badly Native Americans have been treated | Quigley - nj.com