Gambling On Nation-Building, The Economist

HAN-DAH White Mountain Apache Casino. Photo credit: Snowflake News.

The question of sovereignty is still unclear for many tribes. Sovereignty appears to be based on several factors. The strongest being the foundation of an efficient tribal government. The next factor is one of economics. Does the tribe have enough money to support its members? Naturally, this is where casinos come into the picture. This article explores this issue of sovereignty, tribal government, and the effects gaming  has on some Indian tribes. Excerpt:

“Meeting  Ronnie Lupe, the chairman of the White Mountain Apache tribe, is rather like an audience with the chieftain he would once have been. At 82 he has a sage’s bearing, takes his time speaking and does not allow himself to be interrupted… Mr Lupe has been in tribal government, off and on, since 1964. His career thus spans several historic changes for Indian tribes, each of which affirmed and increased their sovereignty…That sovereignty is still a topic of discussion at all should be surprising… America’s constitution names three sovereigns: the federal government, states and tribes…The biggest step towards de facto sovereignty came in 1975, with the Indian Self-Determination Act. It began the transfer of administration from the BIA to the tribal governments…It also made possible the biggest economic change of the past century, the entry of tribes into the gaming business.

This began with the Seminole tribe in Florida and the Cabazon Mission Band of Indians, a tiny tribe in southern California. The Seminole took their case for running a bingo parlour to a federal appeals court, and won it in 1981.Soon tribes all over the country built casinos. Mr Lupe’s Apache opened theirs in 1993. Called Hon-Dah (“Welcome” in Apache), it is, like most casinos in America, a somewhat depressing place, with people in track suits yanking on slot machines in clouds of cigarette smoke.Almost half of the tribes—239 out of the 565—are now at it. A few, including the Cabazon Band, are rolling in money, whereas others make hardly anything. The key, not surprisingly, is location. Casinos on reservations near cities (the Cabazon are near Palm Springs) get many customers, whereas those in the middle of nowhere (the majority, like Hon-Dah) get few.

Fantasy Spring Casino-The Cabazon Mission Band of Indians. Photo credit:Destination 360

For the tribes with lucrative casinos, gambling has become the biggest thing since the fur trade of the 19th century… When the proceeds are used wisely—to build schools, provide health care, and so forth—gambling can indeed help with tribal nation-building…But casinos also bring problems. Some tribes consider gambling a vice. This is why the Hopi, for instance, have rejected gambling, and why the Navajo repeatedly voted against it in referendums before grudgingly accepting it for the revenues… Indirectly the casinos have also highlighted some bizarre, sometimes unsavoury, aspects of tribal sovereignty. One of the biggest problems has always been deciding who is or is not a member. Most tribes do this with blood-quantum laws…The motive is to share gambling revenues among fewer members. For the outcasts, this can mean losing tribal housing, education, welfare and sometimes cash payments, not to mention identity and community.

The biggest factor, says Mr Begay, is the government institutions tribes have chosen to build since then. Is their administration efficient? Are the courts clean, fair and strong? When it comes to governance, American Indians are still all too likely to make news of the wrong sort… The bigger question is whether sovereignty in general and gambling in particular have, on balance, improved the lot of tribes…”

Read the article in its entirety and share your thoughts with us.

“When I was first elected, I received no financial reports, no letters, they all went… to a branch of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), … Over the years I took their power away…I’m not responsible to you, I’m a sovereign nation.” ~ Ronnie Lupe~  Chairman, White Mountain Apache.

Tags: Casinos, The Economist, White Mountain Apache

Foxwoods Is Fighting for Its Life, By Michael Sokolove, The New York Times

The Pequot Tribal Council. Photo credit Tribal Home

The Pequot tribe, owners of the famous Foxwoods Resort Casino, are proud people. The tribal members built Foxwoods  through hard work, keeping their population low (there are only 900 members)  and by smart planning. It is amazing how this tribe almost driven to extinction, has turned itself into one of the largest American Indian conglomerates known throughout the western hemisphere. Although it appears that the tribe is in debt, they are hardly going “under”. In fact, in many ways they have gained valuable insight from this experience which will make them stronger.

Excerpt:

Nearly everything about the Foxwoods Resort Casino is improbable, beginning with its scale. It is the largest casino in the Western Hemisphere — a gigantic, labyrinthine wonderland set down in a cedar forest and swamp in an otherwise sleepy corner of southeastern Connecticut. Forty thousand patrons pack into Foxwoods on weekend days. The place has 6,300 slot machines. Ten thousand employees. If you include everything — hotel space, bars and restaurants, theaters and ballrooms, spa, bowling alley — Foxwoods measures about 6.7 million square feet, more than the Pentagon. The owner of this enterprise is the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. Once powerful and even feared, the Pequots were nearly extinguished in one day — in fact, in just one hour — when English colonists and their Indian allies attacked and torched the main Pequot village near Mystic in the spring of 1637. The survivors were sold into slavery or given over to neighboring tribes…

Foxwoods Resort Casino. Google images

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the early 1970s, just one resident remained on a Pequot reservation in Ledyard, now the site of Foxwoods — an elderly woman named Elizabeth George. Her grandson was Richard Hayward (known as Skip), a pipe welder and a former short-order cook with an audacious vision, innate political skills and a flair for dealmaking. Through his efforts, the tribe won federal recognition in 1983. In 1986, it opened a high-stakes bingo hall. Full-blown casino gambling came to Foxwoods in 1992 and in the two decades since has produced not millions but billions of dollars of revenue. Not surprisingly, the casino and its largess rejuvenated the tribe, whose population is now about 900…[In the beginning] $100,000 was given to each adult member of the tribe…they built new housing, a child-development center, ballfields and tennis courts, a spacious community building with a health club and an indoor-outdoor pool…The pièce de résistance was a $225 million museum to commemorate the Pequots’ tragic history and stunning resurrection… Children began getting the disbursements when they turned 18. Luxury automobiles abounded… The payments stopped… in late 2010, and more Pequots have been going to work at Foxwoods. You had this big moneymaking enterprise with a limited amount of mouths to feed…But everything’s about austerity now. It’s no different than what a family would do. You’ve got to get rid of the cable TV. You’ve got to get rid of the Cadillac. You’re not going to go out to eat anymore.. [With strategic guidance and planning] the casino’s profits have been increasing… Foxwoods had been an early mover, built to stand astride a huge geographic area — much like the Pequot tribe once dominated a big swath of New England… Foxwoods will expand…”

The Pequot Museum and Research Center at Foxwoods.

A good article about the tribe, and about the casino industry in general. Kudos to the Pequots for holding their own, and for taking care of their tribal members, especially their young. They have demonstrated true leadership and sovereignty.

It was a vision that would not die, one that endured through years of hardship and loss. It was the dream of a small group of Mashantucket Pequot Indians to rebuild their nation and to bring its members home. That was the legacy of Elizabeth George, who protected the Pequots’ right to live on the Mashantucket reservation and who instilled in those around her a love for and desire to keep their land, at any cost…~Pequots Museum~

Tags: Foxwoods, The Pequot Nation

Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age, By John Markoff,  The New York Times

Steve Jobs-1955-2011 photo: Wired Magazine

Osiyo,

We here at Talking Feather send our sympathy to Mr. Jobs’ family and friends. He will be missed.

“doh-na-da-go-huh-i…”

“The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.”

~President  Barack Obama~ 2011

Tags: Apple, Steve Jobs

K. Hansen, [The Arizona Republic] USA Today News

High-Speed Internet service is scheduled for installation for residents of four Native American reservations in Arizona.The good news is that new internet connections will provide service for some of Arizona’s more remote areas on the reservations. They either had slow dial-up service or no access to the internet at all. More importantly, the new broadband service will promote job, and business opportunities for the poorest sections, as well as a chance for better education for students. The not-so-good news is affordability. Very few residents own lap-tops or computers, and the cost for the broadband service would be too expensive ($45 per month) for most. In addition, the traditional members worry about the negative influences of the internet on their culture. Jonathan Adelstein, administrator of Rural Utilities Service states,

“If their children want to stay where they grew up and maintain their culture and their heritage, they need opportunities to make a good living, good wages…They need access to the world.”

Tohono O’odham Nation member Lucida Hughes-Juan teaches business at the community college and makes the following observations,

“By having access to online classes, lack of transportation would no longer be an impediment to obtaining higher education. That’s their best opportunity as they’re trying to learn, and eventually they can go into business in e-commerce or somehow engage the Internet to help them…”

The article did not mention any more information from the members who are against having the service installed, however it does pose several interesting questions concerning the effect the internet has (or will have) on cultures, poverty, and education in rural Native Indian areas. Read the article, and share your thoughts with us!

Post Comments Here

Fun: visit ESLVoices!

Tags: Arizona, Internet, Tohono O'odham

The Daily Times by staff

The Shiprock Home for Women and Children located on the Navajo Reservation in  Shiprock New Mexico, provides  shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence.  Currently, there are approximately one hundred residents, and eighty-four of them are children.

To improve the  living conditions (over-crowded and cold during winter) the old shelter was torn down and a new one was started.  The construction for the new shelter has been on hold since August of 2010, due to legal disputes mainly over property ownership.

“RJN Construction of Mancos, Colo., claims the land as its own until completion of the project, while the home claims it possesses ownership under the Navajo Nation. But the Nation itself claims it is the “true and legal” owner.

Meanwhile, with the old shelter torn down at the beginning of the construction on the new site, families are being boarded in a cramped complex of trailer homes with no end to the legal fight in sight.”

The confusing part about all of this is that the Navajo Tribal Council has the authority to allow the construction work on the site to be completed, but refuses to do so. The reason for the Council’s decision is not clear. There is more information about the Council’s decision here.

The saddest part of this story is that the needs of the women and especially the children are being overlooked.

As the article states they [the women and children] are victims of domestic violence.

They are now  victims of greed.

Read the article and speak your thoughts!

TF

Tags: domestic violence, Navajo Tribal Council, Shiprock Home for Women and Children

Mireya Navarro, The New York Times

With the coming election for president of the Navajo Nation on November 2, one major topic is environmental healing.  Candidates feel that it’s time for people to build more solar farms to replace coal mining.

Here are several reasons stated in the article for why the tribe should  go green,

“…At the grass-roots level, the internal movement advocating a retreat from coal is both a reaction to the environmental damage and the health consequences of mining — water loss and contamination, smog and soot pollution — and a reconsideration of centuries-old tenets.”

“…In Navajo culture, some spiritual guides say, digging up the earth to retrieve resources like coal and uranium (which the reservation also produced until health issues led to a ban in 2005) is tantamount to cutting skin and represents a betrayal of a duty to protect the land.”

There are also economical reasons for the change,

“…Tribal leaders say the Navajo Nation’s income from coal has dwindled 15 percent to 20 percent in recent years as federal and state pollution regulations have imposed costly restrictions and lessened the demand for mining.”

An important article — read it and share your thoughts with us.

Tags: coal mining, elections, Navajo, Solar Energy

Staff, Indian Country Today

The high-speed internet provider Hughes Network Systems, will install a satellite uplink enabling distance learning in the Havasupai Elementary School,  located in the Grand Canyon.

Larry EchoHawk, assistant secretary of Indian Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Interior commented,

“Education is a key component of successfully building nation-to-nation relationships and promoting safe communities in Indian country…”

Tony Bardo, assistant vice president for government solutions at Hughes, stated,

“Hughes is honored to work with the NIPTC [National Indian Programs Training Center] to enable distance learning for Indian nations and the federal agencies that support Indian programs…”

Interesting topic, great article.

Tags: Distance Learning, Education, Havasupai Elementary School, Hughes Network Systems, National Indian Programs Training Center

Manuel Valdes, Native American Times

It appears that members of the Quileute Nation have become famous as a result of the Twilight vampire movies. The area where the Quileute reside (La Push, Washington)  is where the vampire/werewolf  sagas by  Stephenie Meyer takes place. It is also the home of one of the movie’s main characters, the popular werewolf Jacob Black. The members plan to capitalize on this sudden fame and interest in the tribe’s culture.

“At their Oceanside Resort, the tribe is opening a cabin decorated in a wolf theme (this is in recognition to both the tribe’s folklore story of its origins from wolves transformed into humans, and to the Jacob character) …At a Quileute store in the reservation town of La Push, handmade beanie hats with “Jacob” stitched on them sell for nearly $35. There’s also a “Jacob’s Java” espresso stand.”

Aside from generating money for the members,  many believe that this recognition places the Quileute Nation and other American Indians into a more contemporary  (and much needed) light  (see the Rick Kerns article Who Are American Indians in the 21st Century?)

The members of the Quileute Nation seem very happy about the total experience.

Says tribal chairwoman Anna Rose Counsell-Geyer,

“The interest in our tribe was a surprise, a good surprise. I thought to myself, people are going to actually get to know the Quileute and we are going to be recognized as a people. The real Quileute…This is going to be imprinted on people’s lives for generations to come.”

This is an interesting approach to American Indian recognition that many view as positive. Read the article and share your thoughts with us!

Tags: Quileute Nation, Twilight saga, vampire, werewolf

By Tom Robertson, Minnesota Public Radio News

A high percentage of Native American Indians are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, a disease linked to obesity. The growing concern is that obesity is increasing among Native children. Iris Sherer, a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and a diabetic states,

“Obesity and diabetes used to be considered adult problems. But increasingly they affect more of the nation’s young people. In the past 30 years, childhood obesity rates in the United States have tripled. Nearly a third of children are overweight or obese. The rate is even higher among Native American children, approaching 50 percent.”

Roxanne Robinson, who is the coordinator of the Cass Lake Hospital Diabetes Center, explains the seriousness of the situation.

“When a person has Type 2 diabetes, their body does not produce enough insulin. Without insulin, blood sugars get too high. Diabetes can be controlled with insulin injections, exercise and a healthy diet. But if left unchecked, the condition can lead to kidney problems, amputations, and blindness.”

The positive news is that there are signs of improvements. One reason for this improvement is that tribal members (especially women) from various tribes are creating support groups in Indian communities with the help of health educators. These groups educate tribal members about the seriousness of unhealthy eating, and ways to take better care of themselves, and of their children.

Another reason for the improvement among tribal members involve organizations such as the  “Bemidji-based Indigenous Environmental Network, which obtained a $250,000 grant for a multi-pronged approach to diabetes prevention.”

Other organizations included are the Ojibwe Language Immersion Program, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Steve Rith-Najarian a diabetes expert with the federal Indian Health Service in Bemidji states,

“Diabetes rates among Native Americans appear to be stabilizing… The rates of kidney complications and the need for dialysis are on the decline. Limb amputations that were once commonplace in Indian communities have declined on some reservations by as much as 80 percent…”

The article continues to provide interesting and very useful information. It includes a short historical report about American Indians and their original diets.

I highly recommend (and urge) everyone to read this article.

A big plus for Minnesota Public Radio! Thanks for helping to spread the word.

Tags: children, diabetes, Health Services, insulin, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, obesity

By Elizabeth Abbott, The New York Times

It is known that Native Americans lived in every state in this country, including Narragansett, Rhode Island. New archaeological evidence of the Narragansett Indians’ presence in that area has been discovered.

Some people were  exhilarated by the discovery:

“The discovery of the Indian village has excited archaeologists because of the insights it may give into how Indians lived in pre-Columbian times. To find the remains of an entire village is rare, according to archaeologists; only one other village similar in scope and complexity has been found on the East Coast, in Virginia.”

Others,  such as the development firm, Downing Salt Pond Partners, who own the property, are not exactly jumping for joy over the discovery. The firm has  already built a shopping plaza and 26 single-family homes on the land, and  they intend to  build 53 additional houses.

“The state is seeking to create a public archaeology park out of private land that Downing had already started to develop, not only violating the developer’s private property rights but also causing it considerable financial harm, the lawsuit states.”

The company is claiming that the state does not have the right to take the private land owned by Downing without compensation. Unfortunately, the state does not have the money, and is appealing to the public for support. So, the question is do we value the preservation of history and traditon, or  the rights of  the private property owners.

We at Talking Feather believe in the old adage “knowledge is wisdom”-

In other words, leave the Narragansett Indian site as it stands.

Read the article and leave your comments which are appreciated.

Tags: archaeological evidence, Downing Salt Pond, Narraganseet, Narragansett Indians, Rhode Island