"The living conditions of the very poor Indians in states like South Dakota, compared to those very rich casino Indians, is analogous to people living in the poorest Third World country to those living in Beverly Hills, California. In fact, there is no comparison. Some Indian tribes are making so much money from their casinos that their members live in 4,000 square foot mansions while in South Dakota many tribal members live in the worst squalor.

The very rich gaming tribes are not obligated to help their brothers and sisters on the poor reservations and in most cases, they don’t. It bothers some of us greatly when we observe these rich tribes spending millions promoting boxing matches or buying professional women’s basketball teams, or just squandering their money on golf courses and elaborate resorts.

And even when these rich tribes try to help, it sometimes causes more problems than even they anticipated. Case in point, the Shakopee Nation in Minnesota made a loan of $38 million to the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation recently. Perhaps the loan should have come to the tribe in the form of a grant because the entire financial obligations of the tribe to repay the loan was not explained thoroughly to the general population and once the rumor mills started chaos set in."

Get the Story:
Tim Giago: Is there a generic Indian word for greed? (The Native American Times 5/8)

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