NEFEE: Special Conversation with Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear of the Osage Nation

Megan Cruz: My name is Megan Cruz. I’m a Research Officer in the St. Louis Fed’s economic education department, where I lead the native Economic and Financial Education Empowerment Program, or NEFEE. NEFEE supports the financial and economic well-being of tribal nations and native communities across the U.S. by strengthening access to economic and personal finance education.

To carry out that mission, it’s critical that we understand the unique culture and heritage of the tribal communities we serve. That means listening and learning from leaders like Geoffrey Standing Bear, principal chief of the Osage Nation.

Chief Standing Bear: We all have our Trail of Tears. Cherokees, Choctaws, Poncas, Osage, Quapaw, all that. And that is part of what forms us. But we also are modern.

Cruz: The Osage Nation is a federally recognized Native American government whose people have existed since time immemorial with the arrival of Europeans to North America and the 16th century, and the westward expansion that followed. Many native tribes were forced to abandon their ancestral lands.

The Osage left Missouri for Kansas in the early 1800s and eventually relocated to what is now Osage County in northeastern Oklahoma. And it was there in the 1920s that the events depicted in Martin Scorsese’s movie Killers of the Flower Moon played out.

Movie clip: Osage. They have the worst land possible. But they outsmarted everybody. That land had oil on it. Black gold.

Cruz: Killers of the Flower Moon was primarily shot on the Osage Reservation in Oklahoma in 2021 and two. And Chief Standing Bear was there to watch it happen.

Standing Bear: This was definitely the story as Osages would tell. And it’s just one of the greatest experiences of my life. I was not in the movie, of course, because I’m Chief. You don’t do that, but I had a front row seat.

Cruz: As I mentioned at the top of the show, cultural awareness is a critical part of carrying out NEFEE’s mission. And while there can be common themes, more than 570 tribal nations and their communities are unique. In this first of a special two-part series, Chief Standing Bear gives us a lesson on the Osage Nation’s past and present. He’ll also tell us about how he worked alongside a Hollywood legend and some of its biggest stars, to make sure the Osage Nation’s history was accurately portrayed in the movie Killers of the Flower Moon.

From the St. Louis Fed’s NEFFE program, you’re listening to a special conversation with Chief Standing Bear, principle chief of the Osage Nation.

Announcer: The Native Economic and Financial Education Empowerment Program, or NEFEE, is headquartered at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis as part of the St. Louis Fed’s mission to promote financial stability and a healthy economy. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta also supports NEFEE initiatives and engagement activities. NEFEE partners with tribal nations, native communities, and schools to provide free financial education resources for tribal programs and classrooms focused on pre-K, K through 12 and post-secondary education.

NEFEE also provides free training for staff and educators to develop content, knowledge, and skills to teach personal finance in their communities. Visit stlouisfed.org/NEFEE.

Cruz: Geoffrey Standing Bear is serving his third term as the principal chief of the Osage Nation, where he works to protect and enhance the Osage culture, language and lands. Before his election, Chief Standing Bear practiced law for 34 years, concentrating on federal Indian law. As a tribal member of the Osage Nation myself. I was excited to visit with Chief or “kaheika” in the Osage language.

Cruz: Kaheika, Chief, welcome.

Standing Bear: Thank you. Megan.

Cruz: What’s the connection with St. Louis, Chief?

Standing Bear: Well, there’s a town called Florissant there. That is an area where the Catholic churches were located, which many of our people went to the Catholic Church as an alternative or co-worshiped with our ancient, religions, with the Catholic Church. And then there was intermarriage. So many of the French families, they arrived in the St. Louis area about 1740s, 1750s. And, we can all directly trace our lines from that St. Louis area. when I speak the historical societies up there, I like to tell them. Well, you want to know where the French explorers are? Well, that’s us. And so, which is true. And, as we, moved further west because of pressures from the east, we became more insular.

But those families still are strong. And, and so we will have the French genetic component and English. Because with Lewis and Clark came the Americans. And I’m a direct descendant, Nathaniel Pryor, who was staff sergeant for Lewis and Clark. He’s my direct ancestor with my cousins. So then you saw the intermarriage of not only of genetics, but also cultures.

And then smallpox devastated us. There was no census, but I can tell you the Jesuit records show further to the west, where we took up residence along the Osage River and then south, the villages in one winter 3000, 5000. Then measles, all these diseases. We were not at war with the United States, but the diseases wiped out, some say 90% of our population.

Well, when you lose most of your people within a generation or two generations, it has an effect of losing your culture, your language. And as I studied when I was much younger about the health aspects besides dying, theemotions, the depression, I can tell you the last buffalo hunt that I was told about my family, the 1860s. They went on that hunt, it was very unsuccessful. They came back. We had already decided to end our journey from Missouri through Kansas and go to the Oklahoma Territories. But apparently this is a common scene among our people that we bury our people on the hills. And there are certain places, certain hills that we know of, we don’t share that information.

But, the hills of Missouri and eastern Kansas are full of tens of thousands of our graves. And, we don’t even like to talk about it, but I was told, in my family it was a sad time because, when our families left they had to leave the graves of their children and the women. It was a difficult scene over a little period of time because the mothers didn’t want to leave their children. Yeah, we carry those stories.

Cruz: Chief, I want to talk about the movie Killers of the Flower Moon, which, of course, has brought Osage history, language and culture to the world stage. So, later in the movie, Ernest Burkhart, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, he reads a book talking about the Osage moving to present day Oklahoma.

Movie trailer: Move! Said the great white father. There are many, so many hungry wolves.

Cruz: But as Osage as we have our own stories for how those lands were chosen. Can you share that?

Standing Bear: Well, I think Everett, he’s a direct descendant of Wakonda, a prophet. And, he said there will be something where we finally find a final home there will be something under the ground that’s valuable. And at the same time, our council, our chiefs, are different bands said, to the to the warriors, take these spears, and then as you, go look for the new home, when you find a place, throw the spears into the ground. And if the ground, holds a spear, pull it up, move on somewhere else, because that means the soil is, good for farming. And that means the white men will come and farm here. We want to go somewhere where that spear will not stand.

And they found this place. Which we once had, that, we lost when our population was devastated. Cherokees moved in, in 1872 we bought this back, and it was rocky soil. And, we try to be isolated again. What remained of us. And we were down to about 5,300 people by then and. But then, in 15 years, down to1,500 people because of, well, it’s more tragedy.

You’re asking begging and you’re asking questions that are, the foundations of all the tribes. We all have our Trail of Tears. Cherokees, Choctaws, Poncas, Osage, Quapaw and all that. And it is part of what forms us. But we also were modern. So anyway, we tried to get away, but then they discovered oil. And here we are.

Cruz: We’re going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we’ll hear about the federal government’s reaction to the discovery of oil and the conditions that led to the events depicted in Killers of the Flower Moon.

Announcer: As a part of the St. Louis Fed’s mission to promote financial stability and a healthy economy, understanding the lived experiences and cultures of the communities we serve is a critical part of the Native Economic and Financial Education Empowerment Program’s mission. At no cost, we provide tailored financial education plans. Our resources include videos, group activities, workbooks, and lessons aligned to school standards. Lesson topics include decision making, budgeting and spending, saving and savings goals, using credit, banking basics, and more. To contact NEFEE, send an email to NEFEE at stlouisfed.org [NEFEE@stl.frb.org] or visit stlouisfed.org/nefee. Okay, let’s get back to the interview.

Cruz: Before the break, Chief Standing Bear spoke about the Osage Nation’s forced removal from their ancestral homeland in the early 1800s and relocation to northeastern Oklahoma. Chief Standing Bear says once in Oklahoma, the discovery of oil had a profound effect on the Osage Nation.

It’s interesting our ancestors and understandably turned to isolationism. Of course, as you said, that didn’t last for very long.

Oil was discovered. How did the federal government react to that?

Standing Bear: Well, they, decided to break up the communal lands. And, of the 1.5 million acres that we had purchased with our own money from the Cherokees in 1872, the government came in, in 1900 and started building railroad lines, by act of Congress, because that violated a lot of our treaties. But when the United States Congress make a specific law to specific tribe, they have that power to override the treaties. They have to do it a certain way. But anyway, if you do it correctly, and we still are challenging in court, what happened to us. If you do it, they will break up the governmental authority and then all of the individual lands are going to be eventually up for taxation, up for treatment, like, non-native lands. And as a result, in one lifetime, in my grandmother’s time from 1906 to 1990, our land was reduced to 150,000 acres. Now, that’s just common among all the tribes. But what’s different about Osage is that James Bighorn and some of the chiefs at the time said, we will sever the mineral estate because we have found this oil here and it has some value. And so all the other tribes were getting their properties broken up, as well. My understanding of the historical record is, we were holding things up, and so they wanted to get all the tribes done with these federal policies. So, they severed the minerals that. And then they gave every one of the surviving Osages a share of the head right, a head right share, which is a right to a royalty.

And there was a roll of 2229 surviving Osages. And so the surface was divided up to those people. And also, each one got its share. And then then the United States Federal Government said Oklahoma law will apply for guardianship laws and a state law for probate. And, that is what led to the situation you see in the movie Killers of the Flower Moon.

It created a system, which is still very much in play today, where the Osage do not actually control their own resources, but the federal government does. And, we have, almost, ceremonial or ministerial limited functions over that. But we get to approve leases and, the federal government has to approve everything involved. And when a federal official makes a decision here on these properties, and in other places in the country, it kicks in NEPA, National Environmental Protection Act.

And so that requires consent, consultation, etc.. So, you can see why NEPA, as well as its influence, you can see the drilling permits being granted, dropping and, other kinds of permits, because those are federal decisions, those are not tribal decisions. And there’s procedures to take that over. but we can’t seem to get over those hurdles.

So, it was the division of the mineral estate from the surface estate, which is unique among the Osage. But the right to that oil in that head right is what was at play in the movie Killers of the Flower Moon.

Movie trailer: Osage are the finest, wealthiest, and most beautiful people on God’s earth. They outsmarted everybody. They have the say in who gets oil. Well, we mix these families together, and that estate money flows the right direction, it will come to us.

Cruz: Killers of the Flower Moon is a powerful account of a tragic period that affected the Osage people. Despite the history of challenges, we’ve heard about the Osage nations enduring resilience. In the next episode, I’ll continue my discussion with Chief Standing Bear and we’ll hear what the Osage Nation is doing to honor its heritage and strengthen its communities. And thank you to Apple TV for providing access to the official movie trailers for Killers of the Flower Moon.

I’m Meghan Cruz, and as part of the St. Louis Fed NEFEE program, you’ve been listening to a first of a special two-part conversation with Jeffrey Standing Bear, principal chief of the Osage Nation.

Megan Cruz: My name is Megan Cruz. I’m a research officer in the St. Louis Fed’s economic education department, where I lead the Native Economic and Financial Education Empowerment Program, or NEFEE . Our mission in NEFEE is to support tribal nations and native communities by strengthening access to economic and personal finance, education. And in order to meet that mission, it’s critical that we understand the unique history and lived experiences of tribal nations like the Osage Nation.

Take, for example, a fundamental concept like wealth in many Western cultures. Wealth is often tied to individuals. How much is in your bank account or retirement fund? Or maybe how much is your house worth? But in many native communities, wealth is more of a communal concept.

To illustrate that point, I want to share a snippet of a story our guest on this episode, Geoffrey Standing Bear, principal chief of the Osage Nation, shared with me.

Chief Standing Bear: In my youth, I asked an elderly man for the Osage. He’s not really my biological grandfather, but we do that respect. I said, grandpa, I really like your new jacket. And he goes, you like that grandson? I said, yeah, yeah. I was probably 15, 16 someone and he just took it off and he goes, you keep that, you keep that.

And I did. I had it for years because in my generation, if someone says they like something that you’re wearing, well, you just give it to. Don’t take nothing out.

Cruz: In our last episode, we learned about the history of the Osage Nation. And on this episode, Chief Standing Bear will talk about his hopes for the future of the Osage Nation. We’ll also explore financial education’s role in strengthening the Osage Nation and other tribal communities.

From the St. Louis Fed. This is the second half of a special conversation with Jeffrey Standing Bear, principal chief of the Osage Nation.

Announcer: The Native Economic and Financial Education Empowerment Program, or NEFEE, is headquartered at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis as part of the St. Louis Fed’s mission to promote financial stability and a healthy economy. Founded in 2018, NEFEE supports the financial and economic well-being of tribal nations and native communities across the United States by strengthening access to economic and personal finance education.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta also supports NEFEE initiatives and engagement activities. NEFEE partners with tribal nations, native communities, and schools to provide free financial education resources for tribal programs and classrooms focused on pre-K, K through 12 and post-secondary education. NEFEE also provides free training for staff and educators to develop content knowledge and skills to teach personal finance in their communities.

Personal finance and economic education can equip people to make informed decisions, which can support life goals and improve financial stability. Visit stlouisfed.org/NEFEE to learn more. But now back to the show.

Cruz: At the top of the show, I shared a short story from Chief Standing Bear about an Osage elder giving him the jacket off his back. That communal sense of property and wealth differs from the way personal finance is often taught. I asked Chief Standing Bear how he balances promoting financial well-being while still honoring the Osage Nation’s traditional values of wealth and culture.

Standing Bear: Well, it’s not like we’re talking too far in the past when we talk about the present. You know, I say I practice law, but when I looked out the window at the courthouse of Osage County is right on the same hill. That makes me think of this man who was one of the last of his generation. Was a peyote priest. It’s a peyote ceremony.

And, his older brother had died some years ago and he had these four sisters, and they have children and grandchildren, and I know all these people. They had this beautiful home, but they didn’t pay their property taxes to the county and they didn’t understand property taxes. So, when they got the notices, and they did get notices, that they owed so much money. Well, you have to be able to understand what that meant. They had gone to school and learned English, but they didn’t understand when the county tax assessors came in or the for the treasurer’s office said something out to them saying you must owe this. So even though they could read, you don’t learn things in sixth grade about what a foreclosure is, what a lien is. You don’t know what a debt is.

And just because they couldn’t understand what these concepts were, they lost it all. And that is so common among the native people. And I would think other communities that are not native.

Cruz: I would say certainly, understanding these types of financial concepts, I would say many Americans don’t have a full understanding, not just native populations.

Standing Bear: Well, then, I can tell you, we certainly have an unfortunate commonality of misunderstanding of what these concepts mean. Because a lot of our native people believe the treaties protect us from state county action, they don’t. The time period of 1921 and thereafter, is the accumulation of the 1905, 1906, 1907 effort in United States policy to smash the Indian tribal governments and their governmental systems and to leave all the individuals holding their land, which was among, I would say, half of the population.

Private ownership was a new concept. They knew what it was. They they really experienced it. We were a communal people, use the land, use the the use the territory for for your family and yourself. But if you don’t use it, you lose it. But all that was changing, but the wealth that was being distributed was overwhelming during the 1920s.

Every man, woman and child that were Osage, recognized as Osage were, receiving in today’s dollars, it would be about $400,000 per year. So a family of four or five was millions a year. Tax exempt, because these were this is tribal monies, Indican monies. And you can’t tax someone where you have a relationship in a treaty relationship, government to government relations.

We’re not we’re not like a Kiwanis club or Lions Club. We are governments. And those are established prior or to the formation of the United States Constitution. Prior to the formation of the United States Articles of Confederation, prior to the concept of the states. And that’s what these treaties do. There’s over 500 treaties and the Osage have several of these.

 And the key is it's recognition of the United States federal government that that we are also governments, and that how you define that is within the treaty and in federal law. Every tribe is different. If you look at Title 25 or other related statutes, if you look at these laws and get further and further into them, you’re going to see a story of how to divest the individual Indian of their property. It’s about leasing. It’s about, rights of ways. It’s about easements. It’s about putting loans on assets and encumbering assets. Where in Title 25 or other related statutes and federal regulations do you find how to help the Indian acquire wealth? Where is that? Where is that?

Cruz: So in our work in NEFEE, we often talk about, which I think is a different message than for other populations, we talk about financial education, developing these skills and the impact it has not only on the individual but also on the family and for the community as a whole. We also see it as a way, as workforce development, particularly with a tribe where very commonly a child will grow up, they will work for their tribe.

And so we view this as a way that they can develop those skills to be better stewards of tribal assets. What are your thoughts on this?

Standing Bear: Well, we consider the best path forward is education. We do look at resumes and do see a few folks who are very skilled and experienced. Problem is getting them to stay here. Especially, people with children who want good educational opportunities. During COVID the school system statewide would say don’t send your children, keep them at home and have them homeschool and use the internet.

So, as far as the nation’s job, our response is, let’s get some internet. So we, our four people, grant writers skilled Osages understand what’s going on. They just need empowerment. And as a result, we’ve received the last year grants to build out 5G infrastructure for internet in the amount of $54 million, which for us is a big leap.

And we have broke ground on that a month ago. We are building the first real 5G internet system here, and we’re sharing that with our neighbors, not just the Osage, of course. And so we’re looking for more funding. That’s been an example of our people getting hold of the opportunity and seeing the problem and working together to eradicate that problem.

And my job and the job of people in these leadership positions is to make sure that we have sustained funding for these advances so they can generate how to pay for themselves. And, how do we not do it just on grants? How do we do it on generating our own wealth to so we can carry out the sayings of our ancient ones.

They say, be good to one another. Take care of one another. Well, God, it’s hard to do if you don’t have nothing. So, we have something, I want to see us go back to where we are taking care of each other. So, we have enough in our minds and hearts wo when someone comes up there and goes, you know, grandpa, I really like that coat you’re wearing, you just take it off and give it to them. Now that’s Osage.

Cruz: We’re going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we’ll hear about Osage plans for a brighter future. And wrap up our conversation with Chief Standing Bear.

Announcer: The Native Economic and Financial Education Empowerment Program, or NEFEE, works to engage tribal leadership and native educators to better understand the unique financial education needs of their communities. It’s part of the St. Louis Fed’s mission to promote financial stability and a healthy economy. At NEFEE, we understand the lived experiences and cultures of the communities we serve to develop tailored financial education plans, which are provided at no cost.

Resources include videos, group activities, workbooks and lessons aligned to school standards. You’ll learn about decision making, budgeting, and spending, saving and savings goals, using credit, banking basics and more. To contact NEFEE, send an email to NEFEE@stl.frb.org or visit stlouisfed.org/NEFEE. Okay, let’s get back to the interview.

Cruz: Like many places in America, the Osage Nation faces challenges ranging from addiction to mental health. Before the break, chief was talking about focusing on Osage values to be good to one another, to take care of one another. And with that in mind, I want to close out this special two part series with Chief Standing Bear describing how the Osage Nation is facing its challenges with the spirit of community and resilience.

Standing Bear: Well, what we’re going to do is open up our first large primary residential treatment program. And, for men and women in juveniles. In our effort to tackle this struggle against anxiety, and alcoholism, diabetes. All these diseases, they’re also interrelated, as I’m learning, that you can see the record showing all the way from where our homes were in Missouri talking to experts that, well, grief leads to disease, and stress leads to disease.

And all of those tragedies just weaken the biological system of the individual and the community to where you’re just wide open to all these problems. Well, we still have this here with the diets. Goes on, the lack of exercise, the complete lack of knowledge of, like, what you teach, to our school teachers and others. You know, we got to shore all that up, you know, the the the heart and the mind. The body and the mind together, are together. And so we’re trying to understand that. So a year later, in June of 2025, we’re scheduled to open our new clinic, which is seven times larger than our current clinic. And that will take care of the, I hope, at least, the body and mind, as well.

But we’re leading off with this, primary residential treatment. And this separate, it’s kind of back in the woods, and we’re using ARPA money for the primary residential treatment. We borrowed against our casino money because, like most tribes, our casinos aren’t that large. We’re rural. There’s a few big tries to get all the press. People think, oh, the tribes have casino money. Wrong.

We borrowed $50 million to build this clinic. And then we use some of our own other reserves to for roads, sidewalks, prepare the ground and to buy the land. Which is funny, we’re buying our own land back again for the third time. And, you know, here’s what I will do for the next, couple of years of my third term is shore up these activities so we don’t have to go back and buy our own land for the fourth time.

Cruz: Speaking of health, Chief, can you describe some of the nation’s food sovereignty efforts and initiatives?

Standing Bear: Well, I’m looking forward to, the Federal Farm Bill ever being passed. So, we can use, some of our initiatives in feeding ourselves in our food distribution programs and other programs we could purchase from our own, resources. Refer back to, March 20th of 2020, when my top staff came into this room and said, Chief, there’s no meat.

And I said, what do you mean there’s no meat? Well, we have all these children at lunch we have to feed and all the elders and there was absolutely no meat anywhere. No stores, go anywhere, all the, suppliers are without meat. And this whole system just shut down, the food chain.

And that happened, during the COVID. And we struggled to put together meals for, some weeks. And, what we did is to, we found alternate sources, which were very expensive. And then we said, well, what do we do long term? So, I called some people with other tribes that I knew had better success than we have had in growing food and also in raising cattle or buffalo and using them as a food source.

And there’s people out there. So you just got to know who to talk to and who’s available and how they could fit in with your team. So without getting all the details, how I did that and how I eventually I got the whole team, which got larger and larger and larger, and we were all marching to the same drum, which is great in Indian country, as it were in any  government or company.

We’re going forward and, we do that with what I talked about, the, the butcher house we have we, had been purchasing land. We now have 2000 head of cattle. We have 300, bison. We had more, but we had to cut back a little bit because of the drought.

And, we’ve been, offering, discounts to, Osages and related tribes for our meat processing. And our, greenhouses are state of the art. And there’s a large off of aquaponics farm. So, this is the start of our food sustainability feed ourselves. Because if we don’t do it, there’s no food sovereignty because when you think about it, somebody is controlling this food, the food distribution. And, we need to be more involved in that process. And that’s empowered. And a good place to start is in food and water and good clean water. That goal, we tried to work on good water. We told you about the internet, the $54 million grant there.

We got some moneys for our water systems, but they’re still, including my own place where I live, it’s not unusual to be without water for a week. I’ve been out of water for a month before. Further down the line, there are Osages that have been out for six months. That’s not uncommon in Indian country. It is just frustrating as can be that I’m in a position of authority and I can’t deliver reliable, good, clean water. You know, it’s just absolutely frustrating. But we’re doing our best, and I know why we can’t do that, but that just sounds like an excuse, so we just got to do it. So that’s food sustainability.

It’s all linked into the same programs. Culture, language, food, water. It’s it’s all of us within that, the animals, the bison, the cattle, hiring the people to work in the butcher house. Keeping people here, instead of them going to try to get more money in Dallas or somewhere. I mean, I get it. People wanting to leave. I came back. Almost all of our top people were raised here. They came back and, they’re contributing. So, we’re just trying our best, we need all the help we can get them.

So the way I look at the Federal Reserve and look at our community development, financial institutions, is methods to help us go forward faster, safer, smarter. That’s what I want to get done. And if we don’t do it, no one’s going to do it. And then we’ll have to start all over again.

And God forbid, if we don’t get it together, we’re just going to scatter to the winds. Our treaties will be erased.

We’ve always considered ourselves a nation.

The federal government has said in the late 1800s about the Osages, they consider themselves a nation with a capital N. That was the report from here back to Washington, D.C. And that’s how it is today.

Cruz: Thank you so much, Chief, for your time today and for sharing your insights. And I have to say, you’re always welcome at the St. Louis Fed.

Standing Bear: Thank you.

Cruz: To learn more about the Osage Nation, check out the Open Vault blog from the St. Louis Fed at stlouisfed.org/openvault. I’m Megan Cruz, and as part of the St. Louis Fed’s NEFEE program, you’ve been listening to the second half of a special two-part conversation with Geoffrey Standing Bear, principal chief of the Osage Nation.