White-eye Congressman wants to break another promise

A new commentary every Wednesday - April 29, 2015

White-eye Congressman wants to break another promise to Native Americans

Encouraging Native Americans to invest in casinos may not be the fairest way of recompensing them for the manner in which we "aliens" took their land and subjugated them for at least five centuries, but I think it's the best thing that has happened so far to all parties concerned, since Columbus walked out of the surf onto this continent.

I personally don't care to go to a casino. My Scottish genes rebel at the idea of being engaged in any sort of exchange guaranteeing that, given enough time, I will lose my savings. I am weakened in this resolve from time to time by advertised invitations to attend a live performance by a musician or musical group I would enjoy seeing. Perhaps someday I will not mind trading a few dollars in a good cause, for good food and entertainment—especially if the crowd is half as happy and enthusiastic as those portrayed in television advertisements. Somehow, I feel that sometimes those at the machines and gaming tables are not as deliriously happy and excited as always portrayed.

Nevertheless, in the past half-century, I have seen the transformation in housing, health care and education that casinos have made to the lives of people of the Tohono O'odham (Translation: Desert People) Nation, owners of a huge tract of land contiguous to Tucson in southern Arizona. The benefits brought by the casinos to Native Americans are spectacular.

In 1993, or thereabouts, the federal government settled a claim by the Tohono O'odham that a federal dam had caused unanticipated flood damage to 10,000 acres of O'odham reservation land, and awarded them $30-million.

Then, in 2002, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure giving the tribes in Arizona the exclusive right to operate casinos in exchange of a share of profits.

In 2009, the Tohono O'odham tribe purchased some 200 or so acres in Maricopa County, 135 acres of which was within the west Phoenix suburb of Glendale. In 2010, The Department of the Interior declared it Tohono O'odham tribal reservation land. After nearly five years of meetings, conferences, agreements, threatened and real litigation, with and by various agencies and governmental bodies, the tribe recently broke ground for a casino and hotel. It would compete with other "Indian" casinos in the state, particularly those east of the Phoenix metro complex.

Now comes U.S. Congressman Trent Franks, Republican, who lives in Glendale and represents Congressional District 8 of Arizona. He has proposed federal legislation in the House that would block gambling in the casino until 2027. Attorneys for the tribe say that if Franks' proposal becomes law, it amends the 1986 law retroactively and will cause the tribe to lose at least $100-million a year in revenue and could amount to damages in the order of $1-billion, if gambling is blocked for that length of time.

How is the legislation introduced by Representative Franks going to benefit anyone?

Should the law be enacted, taxpayers could be liable for recompensing the tribe for any loss. Since the Tohono O'odham have been so successful in federal courtrooms so far, I'm betting they would win that battle also. Since the carnage at Wounded Knee, they've been winning one battle after another.

It's about time.

-Phil Richardson, Observer and Storyteller.

Phil's current post can be read at: http://www.imrightagain.com

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