Daniel Conderman 
If you’re looking for an example of what systemic racism really looks like—like real, institutional, soul-crushing, government-rubber-stamped theft and murder—then buckle up, because what happened to the Osage Nation in the 1920s will blow your damn mind.
The Setup: Richest People on Earth
In the early 20th century, the Osage people of Oklahoma became filthy rich. Why? Because when oil was discovered on their land, the tribe had smartly retained the mineral rights even after the federal government forced them into allotted plots. This meant every barrel of oil pumped put money directly into Osage pockets.
We’re not talking middle-class. We’re talking chauffeurs, mansions, and Paris shopping sprees rich. Headlines called them the richest people per capita in the world.
But to white America? That was a problem. Apparently seeing Native people succeed causes a kind of allergic reaction—somewhere between jealousy and genocide.
Enter the Guardianship Scam
Rather than celebrate the success of the Osage, the U.S. government decided they must be “incompetent” to handle their own money. So they created the guardianship system—a grotesque legal framework that assigned white “guardians” to manage Osage wealth.
Let me translate that: You’re a millionaire, but you have to ask a white banker for permission to buy groceries. And that banker probably wears a bolo tie, smells like cigar ash, and thinks mayonnaise is spicy.
These guardians—local lawyers, businessmen, politicians—used their roles to bleed Osage families dry. Fraud. Embezzlement. Overbilling. Exploitation. All legal under the system. Think of it as the original multilevel scam, but with fewer supplements and more bodies.
And when that wasn’t enough?
The Reign of Terror
Enter William Hale, a cattleman with ambition and zero conscience. He groomed his nephew Ernest Burkhart to marry an Osage woman named Mollie Kyle. Then he systematically orchestrated the murder of her entire family so the headrights (oil royalties) would funnel to Ernest—and eventually to himself.
Poisonings. Car bombings. Shotgun murders. And all of it wrapped in polite society’s silence. Because nothing says “good Christian values” like murdering your in-laws for their mineral rights.
This wasn’t one bad guy. It was an entire network of respectable white men—doctors, coroners, lawyers, sheriffs—who looked the other way or actively participated. Think of it as LinkedIn for sociopaths.
So Where Was Law Enforcement?
Nowhere. The local cops were compromised. The state did nothing. It took the brand-new FBI (back when it was still called the Bureau of Investigation) sending in undercover agents to finally expose the plot.
They uncovered not just one family targeted, but dozens of Osage murdered in a quiet campaign of greed.
And guess what? The killers got parole. Because apparently white privilege also includes a punch card for murder.
Not Ancient History
This happened in the 1920s and ’30s. Mollie Kyle lived until 1937. Ernest Burkhart was walking free by the 1940s.
If you’re under 60, your grandparents were alive when this happened. This isn’t ancient history. This is a live wire that’s still humming under the surface of American life.
And It Wasn’t Just the Osage
The same guardianship scams, land thefts, and wealth stripping happened to other tribes, especially in Oklahoma and the Plains. Millions of acres stolen. Millions of dollars siphoned. All done legally, through systems designed to look like help but function as a noose.
The Takeaway
This is what systemic racism actually looks like:
- Written into law
- Backed by courts
- Hidden behind polite society
- And never truly accounted for
So yeah, when people say “get over it,” remember that this wasn’t slavery and it wasn’t ancient history. This was your great-grandpa’s era. And it was murder with a fountain pen—and a ledger, and a sheriff’s badge.
This is why historical truth matters. Not to shame, but to understand what we’re still standing on.
It’s not ancient blood. It’s fresh ink.
Stay mad. Stay loud. Stay learning. And if you’re white, maybe sit with the discomfort a little longer before reaching for that “but not all white people” throw pillow.
#KillersOfTheFlowerMoon #OsageTruth #SystemicRacism
