The federal government resettled dozens of tribes in this part of the nation’s midsection after expelling them from other regions in the 19th century, but then gradually whittled away at the tribes’ communal property here to make way for white settlement and eventual statehood.
The governor and Attorney General Mike Hunter both declined to discuss the talks because of the “dynamic and delicate nature” of the matter, said Alex Gerszewski, spokesman for the state attorney general’s office.įor years Native American tribes have struggled to improve their economic position in what was once Indian Territory.
