Indian peoples have cultures that generate economies. Tribal planning and enterprise, what came to be called self-government, has been going on a long time. Aboriginal or indigenous society, including culture, language and identity in history and place, as well as distinct spiritual expression, the underlying base of what has come to be called sovereignty, is quite ancient, quite well-experienced and quite resilient. Judging from the spirited response to Indian Country Today’s call for commentary on tribal development, present-day tribal leaders and observers are obviously thinking and acting directly on these questions.
Indian country is in the beginnings of a recovery from the sordid and often debilitating history of dispossession. It is a recovery based on inherent rights and hard-fought over dispositions of law that go back a century and more, but became increasingly energetic in the latter part of the 20th century. This nascent recovery clearly predates and goes increasingly beyond the gaming industry, though there is widespread understanding that the Indian recovery is being greatly fueled by the robust revenues produced by casinos.
One very important factor of the tribal recovery is that there are more Indian college graduates ready to work than ever before. Following decades of severe deprivation, new opportunities for young Indian people make it possible to conceive of prosperous futures for Indian families. Yet, many Native communities remain today mired in wrenching poverty and isolation. The moment is ripe for Indian country to think deeply about the social, political and economic causes of tribal impoverishment; and to seek the best avenues to solutions, models and resources to upgrade the quality of life and to boost the strength smoldering from within into bright flames of hope and new energy.
As can be seen from the news and perspectives pages of this special edition on American Indian economics, there is no lack of good thinking about what constitutes community development, nation-building and other approaches to improving the economic life of our communities, tribal nations and peoples. Tribal leadership, in connection with the growing national base of Native professionals, agencies and firms that are analyzing these issues, can now find models and experiences of community empowerment that can be used as teaching tools. America’s 600-plus tribal nations and some 2 million American Indians deserve still a great infusion of resources from which to deploy winning strategies that emerge from and fuel their own cultures and strength of identity among their peoples.
While some in the national press regularly and virulently attack Indian business development for its gaming component, the true and quite inspiring story of the recent new financial turn does not often emerge in its interesting and largely positive detail. This special edition is offered to those seeking primary knowledge on issues and trends in contemporary American Indian community development and nation building. Thus our contributors have zeroed in on the potentials and pitfalls of economic development that will require the very best thinking to properly navigate. For instance, consider carefully Lance Morgan’s concern of an Indian country increasingly divided into the “Have’s,” the “Used-to-Have’s” and the “Never-Had’s.” Nevertheless, in terms of its approach to business, Morgan, the CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., writes that tribes should emulate the United States. For businesses to succeed and thrive on Indian nations, he asserts, they need to build social and political structures conducive to economic success that include, “a relatively stable political environment, [with] easy access to capital, a well-developed system of laws, and [a] government [that] is very business friendly.”
In another exclusive contribution, Maurice B. Lyons, Tribal Chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, points out the wide range of tribal economic diversification that is emerging behind the economic powerhouse of gaming. In California alone, tribes have invested in RV parks and mobile home development, retail stores and gas stations, energy recovery and recycling programs, banking ventures, agri-businesses including alfalfa, citrus and avocado farming, potable water industries, fisheries and forestry operations, sand and gravel businesses, golf courses and real estate. Building a financial and economic base beyond gaming is very much a core discussion in Indian country.
Another contributor, Pete Homer, President and CEO of the National Indian Business Association, rightfully calls for a high priority on “job creation.” The importance of early opportunity to work in a business or enterprise, where an owner or skilled manager can train and place young people in income productive activities, can not be overstated. Homer advocates more efficient use of government programs, tribal hiring practices, and private sector initiative to create real and lasting job opportunities and new training of Indian leadership in business management. We couldn’t agree more.
William H. Largent, President and CEO of Dibaa Group, Inc. and board member of the Native American Business Alliance, refers to the challenge made in Phoenix last year to create 100,000 new jobs in Indian country by 2008, and of the long-term plan for tribes to “attain economic self-sufficiency” by 2020. Wisdom nugget from Largent: “It is as critical [for the tribes] to understand corporate culture as it is for the corporation to know and appreciate the tribal culture.”
Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation Representative and CEO of the Nation’s business enterprises (including Indian Country Today), floats an idea for a national Indian purchasing cooperative. With the high volume of purchasing currently being conducted by separate tribal enterprises, pooling their purchasing, he suggests, would establish “a united group,” whose “buying power multiplies incredibly”and in turn”will yield savings that benefit us all.” Thus, even the smaller Indian business operations across the country could benefit from the buying power of the higher financed nations. The concept would also help create new business opportunities for those Indian nations and peoples where gaming is not a viable or significant option. It is a simple idea, writes Halbritter, “Each time we work together, we become stronger.”
Other contributors, such as Jacob Coin, executive director of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, remarks here on the need for give and take and utmost care to preserve community well-being. Coin quotes Clifford Lyle Marshall, chairman of the Hoopa Valley (Eureka, Calif.), and UCLA Law School graduate, who said recently, “We don’t want the door to our paradise open too wide.” In the modern context, Coin reminds us, successful tribes have “backed up their assertions of self-governance by taking full advantage of the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, which gave tribes the option of assuming responsibility for managing law enforcement, fire prevention and other federal trust services funded by the BIA.” Coin warns against the “jobs and income” strategy, which “seldom ventures beyond establishing a casino, creating a tribal gaming commission to regulate the operation and forming a development corporation to invest the gaming revenues.” Single-minded or tunnel vision in this context, Coin rightfully reminds tribal leaders, can “lead to onerous revenue sharing pacts with state governments that fly in the face of prohibitions against taxation set down in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.”
These and many other exceptional contributors have combined their talents to research, write and produce this special edition of Indian Country Today, dedicated to the idea that Indian economies can and must now be strengthened through innovation and cooperation among our re-emerging nations. The old borders and barriers, some real and others perceived, are disappearing. In particular, the advancement of intertribal trade and commerce holds great hope for a sustainable Indian future where financial might is applied where it is both needed and can be profitable.
Entrance and success in marketplace economics is as necessary and crucial to tribal futures as is the sustenance of culture and defense of place and territory. These are not always easy bedfellows, but they need not be, in fact should not be, antagonistic. Good things are happening as tribal peoples wrap their cultural imagination, creativity and practical sense around the new economic opportunities. Tribal leaders who stay accountable and work to improve the political and economic quality of their respective enterprises and social programs, and continue to build their nations, fan the flames of hope for an Indian country recovery that will grow and last into the distant future.
