Openings & Closings | Opinion

Dale Miles: San Carlos Apache Tribe desecrates site with casino

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Leaders of the San Carlos Apache Tribe of Arizona held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the long-awaited Apache Sky Casino on February 5, 2016. Photo from Apache Gold Casino Resort / Facebook

The San Carlos Apache Tribe of Arizona finally broke ground on the long-awaited Apache Sky Casino earlier this month but historian Dale Miles isn't happy because the site was the location of a massacre on April 30, 1871:

I saw the recent photos of the ceremony honoring the building of the Apache Sky Casino in the local newspapers and was appalled and ashamed. Why? For this very simple reason: The Arivaipa country where the tribe is going to build its new casino is hallowed ground; our peoples’ blood was shed there in one of the worst massacres in tribal history. There on April 30, 1871, 150 Arivaipa Apaches (mostly women and children) were killed by a civilian militia from Tucson, Arizona made up of Anglos, Hispanics and Tohono’Odham tribesmen and armed by the territorial government of Arizona. It was not done by the army; the army was supposed to protect the Apaches but failed to do so.
So why are we Apaches making a casino where our people were murdered so terribly? The descendants of those who survived this massacre still live here in the tribal area. To dishonor the area around Arivaipa (one of the most beautiful riparian zones in Arizona) is an act of dishonor and ignorance that I (and others I have talked to) cannot understand. I mean, do our tribal leaders know their own tribal history or should we just blame the persons who chose to dishonor this site? Do we even respect the memory of the 150 Apaches who lost their lives there or the 27 children who were captured and sold into slavery in Mexico — never to see their families again? (General George Crook tried to get the children back but only found two.) Instead remembering our past history with respect all our leaders seem to think of is making another casino. Seems like we are always saying that those greedy non-Indians just want mining so they can get money, but isn’t a casino built on the same questionable principal of making money? If we follow a shady idea like gambling, then we have very little foundation to call other folks greedy.

Get the Story:
Dale Miles says Apache Sky Casino is a disgrace to the people (The Apache Moccasin 2/16)