Indian Gaming: Why is the Backlash Growing?
 Editorial:
Grand Forks Herald
Posted on Sat, Dec. 21, 2002
DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN:
Don't go betting the house on a tribal-gaming series
Despite disservice of Time magazine articles, Indian people
can learn something from them
Time magazine reporters Donald Barlett and James Steele missed
the mark on some issues in their December two-part series
about tribal casinos. The articles leave the reader with misconceptions
and new stereotypes that affect not just casino tribes, but
all Indian people.
Yet, tribal governments - real tribal governments - need
to examine some of the issues revealed in the series.
In Part I of the series, the reporters paint a picture of
select American Indian tribes that make billions of casino
dollars with non-Native backers, while feeding off the federal
government and cheating their own people out of casino wealth.
In Part II of the series, what seems to provoke and annoy
these reporters most is that Indian casinos have learned the
art of buying influence in Washington, D.C. Indeed, some tribes
have found money can put a senator or congressman in their
pocket.
Underlying this sweeping article that makes no cultural distinctions
between American Indians, there is a ring of truth.
Many Native people who live or work in Indian country have
heard the rumors about the "new tribes." They have
walked into an acre-sized casino filled with people, smoke
and sparkling lights and heard the "ka-ching" of
coins. They also have heard about the tribal millionaires
created from casino wealth.
Indian people know what's happening.
What Time's reporters understated is that some casinos did
endeavor to reduce welfare and unemployment on some reservations,
where those caseloads had been outrageously high. The casino
phenomenon started out in Indian country as a way for Native
people to move from shacks with 12 people, to modest houses
where they can live comfortably on a salary made from making
change, walking a cart of drinks around the casino or even
snatching a management position.
In some places, casinos means a job or a livelihood for a
man or woman who wants to live on their reservation - their
home. The casinos in these areas mean added funding for tribal
education, social services, housing, tribal colleges and other
tribal programs, taking the burden off the federal government.
This is where the tribal casinos have turned poverty into
a more comfortable life.
Time's article also didn't report that some of the wealthier
tribes have lent money to tribes who are trying to get a foothold
in gaming. Loans to tribes and Native Americans on reservations
are hard to come by. Some of the wealthier casino tribes support
universities with endowments and scholarships, provide educational
grants, support road and highway projects. In other words,
they use their wealth wisely.
Barlett and Steele point to the Bureau of Indian Affairs
as one of the culprits for the runaway wealth of tribes. The
bureau is understaffed, and rubber-stamps requests such as
federal recognition of new tribes, the writers say.
To Indian people, the BIA's ineptness is not news. The BIA
had its beginnings in 1824, under the War Department. It became
a powerful non-Indian organization that led tribes down a
path of wrong turns. The BIA was strong, and many times, the
BIA agency superintendent's word was law.
It took several years after the 1934 Indian Reorganization
Act to fully implement the Indian Preference policy in the
BIA. Slowly, Native people began to take control of the agency
until today, when 95 percent of the about 12,000 employees
are Native people.
Yet, as the number of Native employees increased, the power
of the BIA waned. Like the cracked and weathered buildings
of the old Indian agencies, the BIA has seen better days.
That erosion of their ability to manage the BIA is evident
in these rubber-stamp approvals of tribes such as the three-member
Maryann Martin tribe. Martin probably doesn't meet the criteria
of a federally recognized tribe, but with the help of Paragon
Gaming, she was able to create a reservation, according to
the Time article. The treasure chest contained gold, and Paragon
Gaming saw that Maryann had a key in her pocket.
The policies and cultures of some 540 tribes are complex.
These complexities are ingrained in the policies that surround
gaming issues. A quick sweep of words in a two-part series
does not do justice to the tribes.
But the question remains where is the line between what is
good for Native people and what is a racket?
Tribal leaders need to look at some of the issues spread
across the media's front pages and decide how best to protect
their people from some of the shenanigans that are going on
in the casino backrooms.
Tribal governments have a tall order. They must resist the
overwhelming draw of the power of wealth and remember the
reasons they decide to dance with the devil.
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Yellow Bird writes Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her by phone
at 780-1228, (800) 477-6572, extension 228, or by e-mail at
dyellowbird@gfherald.com.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforksherald/news/opinion/4787643.htm
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