I want to say thank you to Elmer Savilla for ”In a mirror, darkly: Survival vs. casinos” [Vol. 27, Iss. 38] on the erosion of sovereignty and inevitable extinction of our tribes based upon what he and some of us in Indian country are now witnessing. Elmer is right when he implies that tribal leaders today are more interested in the dollar signs from their gaming operations than they are about what is really imperative to our continued existence as American Indians and our communities.
As young attorneys, we focused relentlessly on treaty rights, sovereignty and combating state and federal governments to counter any assault upon our internal and external regulatory activities. All we hear now is how much per capita some of the smaller, wealthier tribes are distributing to their membership. Those tribes happen to have a small number of enrolled members and are lucky enough to be located near large demographic areas.
Take a glance at California today: large gaming tribes are fighting small gaming tribes. More disturbing is that some of these large tribes are fighting against non-gaming tribes [from] even obtaining an executed compact with the state of California. These same tribes retain non-Indian attorneys, lobbyists and, in my opinion, whatever other scam artist they find at their front door that can bring support to the table for whatever exploit the current tribal leadership believes is important at the time. Clearly, the main purpose behind the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was and is to generate financial resources to improve the economic infrastructure of the tribes, but as important is [that] the act was promulgated to ensure employment opportunities for tribal members and other Natives.
My companies estimate about 88 percent of tribes in California, Connecticut, Arizona, Minnesota and Wisconsin retain non-Indian gaming management, attorneys and other professionals. This reality should not exist after some two decades of tribal gaming. Tribal gaming operations should be managed by American Indians and not non-Indian management personnel who have no vested stake in the sovereignty and future well-being of Natives. Again, the dollar signs have blinded our leadership. When Wendell Chino and Roger Jordain stated in the mid- to late-1980s that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act would erode sovereignty, violated treaty rights and current case law, they were right!
Yes, we live in dire times and some of us who remember our humble beginnings and what our elders taught us as young Natives can truly say that extinction is around the corner. Our leaders have much to accomplish to protect our sovereignty and the seventh generation if we are to continue to exist as American Indians. The answers and solutions are certainly not going to be found on a golf course or from rubbing shoulders with non-Indians. You would have thought that the Abramoff scandal should have opened some eyes and ears in Indian country, it certainly did mine; but some, as my grandmother would say, have ”wooden ears” and never will hear Mother Earth as our elders and brave spirits that came before us did.
– Gary J. Montana
Attorney at lawMontana & AssociatesOsseo, Wis.