Letter: Don't force wealthy tribes to share casino revenue

Wednesday, April 28, 2010  

"The April 21 column “Supreme Court folds on gambling” stated that the Supreme Court’s denial of a writ of certiorari in Wolfchild et al. v. United States added another sad chapter in the relationship between the government and American Indian tribes.

The petitioners in Wolfchild originally made an honest claim against the federal government for past trust mismanagement. The moment that revenue sharing got involved, the suit changed. The current revenue-sharing program is a ploy used by one group of American Indians to capitalize on others. As a Native American who grew up on a Minnesota reservation, I think the denial of cert in this case is beneficial to Native Americans because of latent flaws in intratribal revenue sharing vis-à-vis Wolfchild.

The column said, “over the past 30 years, American Indians have been granted unprecedented sovereignty.” The columnist then goes on to suggest ways he thinks tribal funds should be relegated: i.e., intratribal revenue distribution. This is exactly the paternalistic attitude that has plagued Native Americans since colonization.

A key component of sovereignty is the ability to choose how revenues are spent. The proposed intratribal revenue model would hinder sovereignty by taking the ability to relegate revenues out of the hands of tribal governments and into the hands of non-Indian governments or courts.

Ultimately, why should one tribal community benefit off the success of another? The honest claims presented in the original Wolfchild suit have been hindered by greed and have caused further infighting between Sioux communities."

Get the Story:
Phil Brodeen: Hands off reservation revenues (The Minnesota Daily 4/27)

Related Stories:
Dakota descendants to press trust claims in lower court (4/20)