Indian Gaming

"This piece was a struggle. Our first worry was for you, the reader. You could expect to be engaged in our earlier questions of whether casino profits have helped ease poverty on Minnesota’s Indian reservations, whether they have provided more jobs for adults and better educations for kids.

This installment, though, is supposed to explore questions of whether casinos have helped Indian tribes become more self-sufficient with stronger governments.

This is treacherous journalistic territory. In part, it calls for assessing a new spirit rising up on reservations, something one could sense rather than measure: New confidence and the will to fight the many problems that plagued Indians in the pre-casino days.

Karen Diver expressed the spirit during an interview with my colleague Steve Date. She is chairwoman of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa."

Get the Story:
Casino profits give tribal governments a surge of confidence (MinnPost 12/13)

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