"In the casinos, Indians are not selling us their culture but our own toxic desires. Gaming adds up to nothing of value, and it can set family and tribal members and neighbors against each other.

But I love what casinos can do. They allow tribes to stand on their own two feet, without the killing legacy of dependence on the federal government. Through nearly 400 treaties, Indians turned over millions of acres of their lands to the federal government, which distributed them to white settlers and business interests. In exchange, the tribes got health care, farming implements, education, some land, and occasionally, protection from white intruders.

Thefts and trade left the Indian homeland -- which had once been half of North America -- reduced to an area about the size of Minnesota. Consider just a few pieces of productive California real estate that passed from Indian hands into white hands: San Diego (Kumeyaay), Marin County (Miwok) and Los Angeles (Chumash).

The federal government consistently failed to deliver its side of the trade, and as they lost their lands, tribes lost their livelihoods. People who had governed themselves, sustained their communities and carried on brisk trade across a continent became what were called "dependent nations" -- and poor.

Through gaming, Indians are regaining self-confidence in Indian ways. Yes, casino revenues are buying scholarships, schools and clinics. But there's more: physicians and Indian healers work together to treat heart problems, diabetes and substance abuse in their Indian patients; native nerds are wiring Indian Country; tribal museums tell the Indian story in Indian voices."

Get the Story:
Cathy Robbins: Selling the White Man His Vice (The Voice of San Diego 12/9)