Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D., Tim Giago Column Story-Date: 11:24 a.m. PST Saturday , October 31, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------ Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D., Tim Giago Column By Tim Giago, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Oct. 26--SAN DIEGO--Many Lakota people talk about "many years ago," mixing the Lakota with English and say, "Tona years ago." Tona years ago, in this case 1952, when I was going through basic training, I was stationed at Camp Elliot near San Diego. One weekend I was lonesome and wanted to see some of my own kind (Indians), so I took a trip out to the Kumeyaay Indian Rancheria in eastern San Diego County. Born and reared on one of the poorest reservations in America, the Pine Ridge Reservation, I immediately felt at home on the lands of the Kumeyaay. Their homes were mere shanties. They had no running water or indoor plumbing. They lived in poverty, just as we did on the Pine Ridge. Now, because of the success of a tribal casino, they have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and are headed toward economic success. This transition from poverty to being well-off -- or at least comfortable -- is one of the true stories of a financial turnaround unprecedented in the history of Indian America. Many Indian tribes went from rags to riches in a matter of 10 years. There has never been anything like it. In those days, the state of California cared little for the abject poverty suffered by the Kumeyaay, Viejas, Barona or Sycuan tribes. It was the same across the width and depth of America -- out of sight and out of mind. That was the impact of the poor Indian people of America on the social consciousness of this nation. Struggling to make a better life for themselves and their children, the Kumeyaay and the other tribes of California couldn't know they would stir a hornets' nest of resentment by opening and operating gaming casinos. They discovered they had enemies in Gov. Pete Wilson and many members of the state legislative body. They also quickly discovered gaming industry forces in the neighboring state of Nevada would not spare the whip or the money to stop them. Gov. Wilson had a plan. He would negotiate with a few tribes such as the Pala Indians, a northern San Diego County tribe, and he would lay down such stringent rules and regulations that all of the other tribes desiring to continue or start gaming operations would be obligated to sign compacts identical to that of the Pala Band. When the Lakota and Dakota people of South Dakota finally got their case for the Black Hills of South Dakota before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981, Justice Harry Blackmun wrote when standing behind the claims of the Indians, "A more ripe and rank case of illegal dealing may never be found in our history." The totally unfair negotiations as practiced by Gov. Wilson can well be added to this "ripe and rank" rating. Gov. Wilson placed a gag order on the tribes he decided to negotiate with and he absolutely refused to allow other tribes to participate or to have input in the negotiations. Then, according to an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, he "devised a compact that damages tribal sovereignty, limits casinos' viability, pits tribe against tribe and even foists labor contracts on the casinos. And then the kicker: Wilson said all the tribal casinos had to agree to the Pala compact or shut down." The tribes of California, at least the majority of tribes, refused to buckle under to this blatant action that bordered on blackmail. They set out to get enough signatures on a petition to legalize gaming in the state of California. This action will be on the Nov. 3 ballot as Proposition 5. During this long year that saw Indian tribe pitted against Indian tribe, advertising dollars on both sides have run into the millions. Casino owners in Nevada do not want the competition and are not afraid to finance those who feel as they do. Even some of the tribes signing compacts with the state of California were not embarrassed to take dollars from Nevada gaming establishments to attack other Indian tribes. California horse-racing tracks joined in the battle to stop and defeat Proposition 5. As an editorial in the San Diego Union-Tribune put it, "The opposition is self-serving: It doesn't want Indians horning in on the action." I've said it before and I'll continue to say it until I can make some sense of it. Where in the hell was the state of California when the Indian people of the state were among the poorest people in America? Why does Gov. Wilson feel he should undermine tribes who are trying to lift themselves out of the worst poverty in America? My God, I just don't get it. I hope all of the voters of California take the time to get out and vote "Yes" on Proposition 5. Keep in mind that the tribes of California were some of the richest in America before the arrival of the Spaniards and the gold miners. Not rich in material wealth, but rich in the things that really mattered. They were hunted down like wild animals after that and nearly destroyed. Rupert Costo, a Cahuilla Indian man, saw his tribe reduced from thousands to a mere handful in his lifetime. Now is the time for the people of California to restore dignity to the most oppressed people in the state. When I visited the Kumeyaay people "tona years ago," I didn't see the poverty: I only saw a beautiful people trying to survive as do thousands of other Indians in this land. They, and all of the other tribes of California, deserve that chance. ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ (c) 1998, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------