by Carol Harper
Editor, Amador Community News
To me lately, the air fills with a sense of irony that can probably be felt all across the United States in the counties and states that are filling up with Indian casinos. An irony that reflects upon a shameful past, casts a shadow on the present, and carelessly disregards the future.
A friend of mine, Debbie Dunn, and I were chatting in the halls of the new county administrative building one evening, and she had mentioned a very good point. In the Pledge of Allegiance with our hands over our hearts, we recite: “…one nation, under God, indivisible…” Debbie and I agreed about the significance of this pledge, and gave me food for thought these past few weeks as I sat through two full workshops and three presentations regarding the Buena Vista casino.
The United States government made many treaties with the Indian tribes in the 1700’s and 1800’s. To get a good feel for the terms and condition the United States government put upon my tribe, Northern Arapaho, click here: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/nor1012.htm. Treaties totally redefined and changed the Indian way of life. I encourage you to read through some of the treaties on this Web site, and try to get a feel of what it was like to have your family, your tribe, your crops, your hunting grounds, your language, your medicine, your culture – your way of life completely altered and redefined forever. Try to understand the impact of the Removal Act of 1830. Try to understand the magnitude of the Trail of Tears. Try to get an inkling of that feeling of irony that I, as an American – a Native American – sit in these workshops, sit in these city and county meetings, listening to the Amador County public rant and complain about how their way of life will be impacted, how their landscape will be marred, how their way of life will be changed, how the reason they chose to move to Amador County was for a simpler, quiet, peaceful hometown way of life.
Now…do we consider ourselves one nation, or many sovereign nations? Are we a nation “under God”, or the Great Spirit? Are we indivisible, or easily divided when it comes to decisions that affect us and desperately feel we have no control over? Have we learned nothing from our history lessons?
At the same time, I am most grieved at the disregard and disrespect that the Buena Vista “tribe” (one woman and her kids living in Sacramento) and the New York investor has, not only for the voice of the American people, but for what has been deemed – even Federally recognized – as Indian land. Then again, they have no reason to care. Greed has no color, race or ethnicity. Greed is cowardly, and hides behind whomever and whatever it can to come off looking as if it were a philanthropic boon.
But would the ancestors of the Buena Vista tribe be proud of a casino jutting up from rolling landscapes, blocking the sunsets that peer over the hills of Ione? Would the ancestors of the Buena Vista tribe be proud of all the negative impacts associated with the casino placed upon the surrounding communities? Would the ancestors of the Buena Vista tribe be proud of how it has divided the communities of Amador County, how it is now viewed as “the enemy”? Again, have we learned nothing from our history lessons?
As I release another big, heavy sigh, I ask myself: Why another casino? Why couln’t the Buena Vista tribe be a hero instead of a villain? There are so many other things that all Indian tribes could do as “one nation, under God” beside plop casinos here and there. Why not bring something else to the county, something better? Why not a cultural and/or performing arts center with an awesome library? How about a career center, or a vocational school? Why not work together with some of the existing organizations, like the Amador Community College Foundation, and bring a community college here? Talk about improving the economy! A community college would not only bring jobs, but bring post high school and continuing education, something we need! Why can’t the Buena Vista tribe, investors and developers bring something like that to the table? Want to improve Amador County? Educate its residents! We need more text book, not more slot machines. We need a place to enrich our culture and preserve our historical treasures, to hear the sounds of birds, to get on a horse and ride toward a beautiful sunset…not the sound of cop cars, or dodge drunks driving towards the glowing lights of the next casino.
If only you’d be our hero! If only you’d care, if only you’d listen! Instead, here we sit as citizens of Amador County and as Native brothers and sisters, divided…wasting tax payer dollars, with 85% or more of the county losing faith in a public voice and vote that obviouly counts for nothing. The Federal and State governmental system ignoring us, failing our supposed “one nation under God”.
Is it too late? I don’t know. It seems like it is. The county leaders care enough to go out tirelessly to every city, to every meeting opportunity to communicate this dilemma, with even their counsel sharing in the collective frustration of a broken governmental system. And should the tribe care? Ironically, given the treaty history, I can see how they wouldn’t have to care. But the past is the past, and I for one don’t live in the past. They should care, and shame on them if they don’t. And all I can say is, when that unwanted casino goes in, the name and legacy of the Buena Vista tribe will be forever scarred. Is that what your ancestors wanted? A legacy of greed? I hope not.
May the Great Spirit, Who watches over this nation and all of its people, spread His hand from the hills and valleys of Amador County to the streets of New York and listen to the voice of the people…because it appears we’ve forgotten how to listen to each other.
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Carol is a musician and freelance writer living in the Sierras of California’s gold country. She is the Editor of Amador Community News (ACN) and coordinator for Local Musicians’ Network Online (LMNO) and Amador Citizen Media.
Her debut book, Through the Eye of A Needle, soon to be released by Tate Publishing, is about her spiritual journey after leaving the religion she was raised in (Mormonism).
Carol and her husband, David Harper, are active in the worship team at Calvary Chapel of Amador in Pine Grove. They have a mixed family of five children–Hayley, Kevin, Rachelle, Scott and Rob–and two cats, Stella and Zoe.
2 Comments
March 22, 2008 at 9:36 pm
very nice article. raised good points, however very difficult to judge one woman as greedy until you have walked in her shoes, fought her battle, and plan for a Tribe’s future that was nearly exterminated. Do you know how many bands existed before the greed for gold in California? Should you wonder why there are Tribes with few members? Has anyone asked any business owner how many people are in your family because that will be the determining factor of whether you can open your doors…
October 11, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Many thanks for the time and effort put into this. I have a deep personal interest in any info concerning the Great Spirit and the Native American beliefs concerning the Great Spirit. It of course varied from tribe to tribe, and from culture to culture. Any info that anyone has on this will be greatly appreciated. Please email me at sawdcm@yahoo.com. Also, are you aware of the casino built on the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina? Another addiction for our people. Even the counsel of elders is not to be trusted. The Eastern Cherokee Language is now know by only 1000 members of this tribe, and NONE of them will agree to even consider teaching it. They do not trust Universities, etc., even their own counsel is corrupt…the language will die out at this rate. The Western Cherokee language is all that is taught now, and it is a corrupt language. A damned shame. Take care.