"One of the early expressions of democracy in the United States was predicated on the idea that once all the "Indians" were killed there'd be plenty of time to talk equality.

But that was long ago, wasn't it? The shame of it has just about been forgotten. Only historians, poets and fast-fading descendants of the victims of genocide, the Indians --- native Americans --- seem to remember now. They do so in shame and sorrow.

But they are alone, and they know as well as the next person that history marches on; that that was then, this is now; that it was Manifest Destiny for the whites to kill the tenants of the time in order to steal mountain, plain, river and forest, the better to lay in a New World.

That's history, buckaroos, and tough noogies for the natives, resident here for 10,000 years.

But wait. What is this? Last week, in the year 2006, America, California and North County got a reminder ---- muted but real ---- that native-American life and spirit still stir, and powerfully. Both have risen from the killing fields, in a manner of speaking, and are finding revenge or perhaps solace in the resort and casino biz."

Get the Story:
John Van Doorn: 'Survive gene' in the descendants of Luiseno (The North County Times 12/3)