"For much of my life, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe was one of the poorest tribes in the country. There were few job opportunities in east central Minnesota for band members on the reservation, and those who ventured off the reservation were generally the last hired and first fired.

Poverty was all we knew.

The only things we had that anyone wanted were our handmade birchbark baskets and handpicked berries, which people bought as they drove to and from the lakes during the summer.

Generation after generation of my people lived like this -- in poverty, often dejected, even hopeless.

Finally we got the opportunity to start overcoming our impoverishment when Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and we signed gaming compacts with the state of Minnesota.

The goal of these compacts was to create jobs and boost the economy in greater Minnesota."

Get the Story:
Marge Anderson: New gambling will harm Ojibwe (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 4/6)

Related Stories:
Editorial: Joint tribal-state casino a better idea for Minnesota (3/29)
Opinion: There's definitely room for more gaming in Minnesota (3/28)
Column: Breaking the monopoly of tribal gaming in Minnesota (3/25)
Editorial: It's time to renegotiate casino compacts in Minnesota (3/8)
MPR: Minnesota tribes oppose expansion of non-Indian gaming (2/24)