Letter: Casinos causing slow death of Indians

Monday, October 16, 2006  

"I can't think of anything more annoying or degrading than a huge billboard sign with the allusion of ladies gambling and a huge caption over it reading, "Are You a Dreamcatcher?"

Amazingly, this eyesore of a sign can be viewed right before one takes a little journey on Highway 49, into a beautiful, quaint valley with a historic significance all its own. I suppose the only more annoying thing would be a Home Depot plopped within the view shed of historic Jackson.

The popping up of American Indian casinos all over the nation is causing a slow, inevitable death of real Native American culture and tradition-a tragedy, for sure, almost as tragic as the genocide of Native Americans themselves. Quite frankly, I wish more cared.

I'm not saying that I'm against Native Americans having their casinos. Even my own tribe has a bingo hall soon-to-be casino, too. What I am saying is that those who own and run these casinos should stop and think about what they are using as their marketing ploys. Using and abusing elements of Native history and traditions that many in our dwindling tribes still hold sacred is not only ridiculously cheesy, it's just plain disrespectful and damaging to the depiction of our rich heritage."

Get the Story:
Carol Harper: Are You a Dreamcatcher? No. (The Amador Ledger-Dispatch 10/13)