-----------start-------------
INDIANS CAN'T RELY ON WHITE MAN
by Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)
New Orleans, La. - It was one of the strangest Indian conventions I've ever
attended.
There were more non-Indians present than Indians and clearly more
white exhibitors than Indian exhibitors.
The conference, staged by the National Indian Gaming Association,
drew nearly 1,000 people.
As I looked around the beautiful convention center, I thought about
the days when some Indian tribes were rich in oil and how the carpetbaggers
descended upon them like so many locusts to separate them from their wealth.
But we (Indians) have grown so much more sophisticated and educated
since then; haven't we?
I mean we have more lawyers per square mile than most nations have
teachers.
I remember when the so-called "cultural vultures" were robbing Indian
burial sites for plunder. Is this new breed of invaders the "gaming vultures"?
Here we have tribes by the huindreds cashing in on the financial successof
their casinos and bingo halls by hiring all sorts of non-Indian men and con-
sultants to do what most of them could easily do for themselves, given the
confidence.
And that's what it must be.
Tribal leaders have depended upon the white man for so long to do thingsfor
them they have little if any confidence in themselves or their people.
Granted, much of the start-up money for casinos had to come from
privateinvestors here and abroad simply because the American bankers were too
conserva-tive to (a euphemism for "prejudiced") to lend the tribes the money to
do it
themselves.
Those investors didn't put up the big dollars because they loved
Indians. They saw an opportunity to make much money, and they jumped at the
chance.
Some viewed the Indians as children who needed to be cared for, and
in providing that care, they signed some of the tribes to long-term contracts
that gave them a fairly good slice of the pie for years to come.
Even after the tribes gained the expertise to run their own casinos,
they soon discovered that they were locked into iron-clad contracts. Many
ended up in costly litigation trying to break free of investors.
What is even more appalling, many tribes hired white consultants willy-
nilly without insisting that they hire Indians as a stipulation of the agree-
ment. Failing to realize that they swung the big hammer, gaming-rich tribes
did not seize the opportunity to open doors for their own tribal members.
Believe me, there isn't a consulting firm out there that wouldn't have bent
over backward to hire Indians if it meant getting a juicy contract.
Sort of reminds me of the New York-based American Indian College Fund,
which supposedly raises money for the Indian community colleges and yet has
one token Indian on its board and doesn't have a single Indian employee working
at its headquarters. Visit the offices of the United Negro College Fund, and
you'll see the diference.
Many of the companies financing Indian casino development, either by
direct loans or by partnership agreements, do not employ Indians. Many of the
companies selling the gambling paraphernalia (slot machines, 21 tables, cards,
etc.) do not employ Indians.
In a way, though, the tribes are lucky there are a substantial number
of greedy people out there because in looking out for their own interests many
of these "gaming vultures" have come to the aid of the Indian tribes. They
have supported legislation favorable to the tribes and have actively lobbied
for successful gaming compacts between the tribes and the state government.
Far be it for me to tell these investors they should be working them-
selves out of their contracts and assisting the tribes into becoming totally
autonomous. This is not about to happen in the near future because Indian
gaming is just too lucrative.
And what about those very successful small tribes that employ 1,200
people or maore? Many have exhausted the supply of employees within their
own tribes and have turned to hiring hundreds of non-Indians from the sur-
rounding communities. This is well and good. It gives those tribes a lot
of financial clout in their own neighborhoods.
There are some tribes, however, with unemployment running as high as
80 percent. Wouldn't it be nice if some of these very rich tribes would set
aside a certain number of jobs for unemployed Indians from other tribes?
Charity always begins at home, they say. Every time I mention this, Indian
casino operators look at me as if I just landed in their midst on a space
ship.
Instead of creating a new form of dependency by handing out per-capita
payments in monthly checks to tribal members, why not start an American Indian
United Way? An organization like this could sure help some of the tribes less
fortunate.
Maybe the damp air of the New Orleans swamp has mildewed my brain, cut
[oops- 'but'] these are just some of the thoughts that occurred as I watched
the three-ring circus at the National Indian Gaming convention.
/Tim Giago is publisher of Indian Country Today. Nanwica Kciji, Giago's
Lakota name, means "Stand Up for Them."
------end----------
-Pat Crowe, SUNY at Buffalo