The Dark (Skinned) Side of Indian Casinos

[Kire]

Cherokees kept black slaves up to 1866. Then their slaves were made full citizens of the tribe. But now it’s time to divide Indian casino profits...

Blood Feud
These are boom times for the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma. But bad times for thousands of black Indians battling for tribal citizenship. Now the Freedmen are turning to genetic science for help.
By Brendan I. Koerner

Even by the pancake-flat standards of Middle America, Stick Ross Mountain is an unimpressive peak. It's more of a gentle hill, really, poking out from behind the Wal-Mart just west of Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

But to the Cherokee, the 900-foot crest was remarkable enough to be named for a revered 19th-century member of the tribal council. Stick Ross is thought to be the illegitimate grandson of Chief John Ross, who led the tribe along the Trail of Tears. Ross the younger was a respected Native American and a skilled diplomat who acted as a liaison between tribes and local townsfolk. "He knew sign language and spoke Cherokee and Seminole. He was a trapper and a farmer and a rancher," says Stick's great-grandson, Leslie Ross, a 56-year-old retired civil servant whose greatest joy is recounting the Stick trivia he learned from his family in Muskogee. "And he was sheriff at one time, too. He was pretty renowned in Tahlequah."

Stick may have died an exemplary citizen of the Cherokee Nation, but he was born into slavery.

More: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.09/seminoles_pr.html

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Fascinating reading

this is an area of which I know nothing, having lived in the east all my life. Thanks for posting it.

[Kire]

2. thanks for the gratitude

I was wholly ready for someone to kill the messenger.

I frequently cruise the internet for interesting things like this and I post it around the various DU forums and I often get yelled at, "how dare you come in and disrupt this peaceful forum with such controversy?"

I believe that all of the forums are free to post threads related to the topics they are based on. If sometimes they're controversial, so be it. They're carefully researched academic and news worthy items. It is the intolerance to these posts that offends me much more deeply than any apparent discomfort they may cause.

I'll wait and see if any daggers are still to come.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. No, this was just plain good reading.

Of course I can afford to be "interested" because I am not a black native American fighting for my rights.

First, I had no idea that there was intermarriage on this scale between the two ethnic groups, and I also had no idea that these folks owned slaves.

I wonder if native American groups had a history of taking slaves after wars and were therefore open to the slavery concept? It seems they certainly assimilated the slaves successfully into their culture.

Until now.

I have always been under the impression (born of ignorance, perhaps) that most native American groups live in poverty and have a lot of problems with health and substance abuse issues. I wonder to what extent this influx of money has alleviated that? In other words, I wonder if money solves anything.

It would be nice to hear that it did because that is the easiest fix, pour a bit of money on it. But I know that often it doesn't work.

[oneold1-4u]

4. Many tribes-

are accepting any progeny that can trace back to Native American. They are also buying back their lands both for investment and for their people to live and work on. They are once again evolving into their own sovereignty and someday will take on the establishment if they are threatened. Be proud if your ancestors once joined with these people because they are the only "real" Americans!

[oneold1-4u]

5. wonder if money solves anything

Seeing with my own eyes, a small (under 100 tribe) intelligent group who is now operating their own casino, resort, hotel and properties, and have built a whole community with a medical clinic and school within 10 years. They are a lot better off than ever before! Their youth has a lot more to look forward to than booze and drugs! They are being challenged with their own history of greatness and will soon have great leaders around the nation in every tribe!
The US Government has kept them behind closed doors of poverty far too long!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

6. That is wonderful news

because their lot seemed so hopeless to me before. If they could become leaders in this country I wonder if they would also be green leaders, because after all, they really knew how to take care of the land.

And this land is their land.

We're the guests.

[NVMojo]

7. it's amazing how many ways racism lives ...it's not just white on others

[NVMojo]

8. now wait a minute, why did the Bush administration file a brief on

behalf of the tribe against the woman who sued them over the clothing allowance for her child?

[noiretextatique]

9. not just the cherokees either

other tribes are also trying to exclude the "black" indians.

[Broken_Hero]

10. Very...very Chad Smith like....

Cherokee's, and damn...most tribes of Oklahoma throw me for a spin. Its sad, but again, one of the hot button issues is blood quantum for sure. I see tons and i mean TONS of cherokee's who are as white as casper, who are cherokee (cherokee has decendency laws, if you can prove you super great great grandpa was a cherokee, you can get on the rolls). But they are denying the Freedman? But again, being born and raised around indians, i can say that indians can be just as racist as the backwards rednecks.

Its funny, though...Cherokee's doing this, but again, the tribes of Oklahoma throw me for a spin (i'm from alaska, haida) i don't understand much of what they do. There is a lot of inner fighting within Cherokee nation, but there is another Band of cherokee, called Keetowah. My wife dropped her role with Cherokee band, because her people were Keetowah band, and since she made the move, its been a lot more, well, a lot more healthy environment for her and her family. The Cherokee Nation to me, under Chad Smith and former Wilma Mankiller, have taken the tribe down the proverbial toilet. I go to the clinics and what not in Claremore and Jay Oklahoma, and I see full bloods, who can't speak english, get treated badly, and yet i see rich white people who have like one drop of cherokee(sometiems not even a drop) get seen quickly, and dont' get harrassed.

What i mean by rich white people, i have seen, no joke, this proclaimed Cherokee's (well, theya re techinically cause the got a cdib card) pull up to the clinics and hospitals driving escalades, tahoes, damn, very expensive cars, and they are totally decked out in their attire, nice rings, watches...but of course, these people who CAN afford better health care than IHS, are there first in line to get what they think is deserved for them. Personally, i can't wait for my wife and I to earn enough money so we DONT have to deal with IHS anymore...but anyways.

Very good article, I have heard this before, but only about the Seminole Freedman, but very good article....

[turtlelowe]

11. Let's get clear on one thing . . .

"But now it’s time to divide Indian casino profits..."

I don't know what "Indian casino profits" you think are being divided up, so you may want to make yourself a little clearer on that point. I have an immediate knee-jerk reaction to any post that refers to supposed benefits that Indians get.

The link you refer to contains the following, "The casino profits and make-good money have increased the standard of living for the recognized members of the tribes who make their homes in some of the poorest areas in the US." My mother is a full-blood Cherokee who lives in Missouri. She has her tribal enrollment and CDIB which both list her as full blood. However, because she lives outside of the tribes' 14 county area in Oklahoma she receives absolutely no help from the tribe--and believe me we have tried getting help in the past from the tribe. My mother is disabled, and when my father lost his job, we asked for help. Nothing. My mother is a recognized elder of the tribe who speaks the language fluently. And they won't even help her. The tribe is more than happy to accept money from the federal government based on her enrollment, but adv idly refuse to help anyone outside of that 14 county area. I guess living in Missouri reduces her "Indianness." My point here, Cherokee Nation is not just being difficult with their freedmen, they do it to their own full-blood tribal members too. I don't know if their unwillingness to help is based on racism as much as you think it is. I attribute it more to nepotisms and greed. If you have family working in the tribal office, then and only then can you get any "benefits."

Then the link says, "Cherokee Nation Enterprises allocates 25 percent of profits to the Cherokee government, which distributes the money in ways designed to help end the cycle of poverty - college scholarships, health care, and low-interest home loans." Once again, unless you live in that 14 county area in Oklahoma and have family in the tribal office, you will not get any help. As a graduating senior and enrolled member of the tribe with a 3/4 blood quantum and a 4.0, I asked for help with college. Once again I got the whole "You live outside of the 14 county area." However, when I graduated from college there was a story on me in the tribal paper talking about how the tribe has helped people like me with casino money to go and graduate from college. A few phone calls and choice words later, a retraction was printed indicating that the tribe never provided me any scholarship money. Oh and on the whole "low-interest home loans"--they may be low interest but unless you have the initial $16,000 down payment, you can kiss the loan goodbye. When my husband and I were buying a house, we got a better deal through a federal rural development loan (no-money down and 30 year fixed 5.6% interest rate) than was ever offered by the tribe.

So just let me say this, before anyone believes the hype about the benefits that Indians supposedly get just for being enrolled, you may want to check the facts first. And don't believe everything you read. Go to Indian Country and talk to the people. I am not saying that the freedmen don't deserve to be tribal members, in fact I believe to the contrary. However, they need to know what to expect if they ever are allowed to become tribal members. Most of the battles they have now will still not end.

[Broken_Hero]

12. Very good post...

I didn't know much about the Cherokee nation, or the creeks, or any of the 5 civilized tribes, so I didn't say much about it...I know Cherokee's have decendency laws, but wasn't sure about the others...

Very nice post...the indians i have met, and dealt with hardly get any help for college, I didn't get much help from my tribe, but i did get help...most of the help they get is from the Pell Grant, and they get that cause they are so damn broke, they qualify for it...its sad...