"About 140 years ago, my Lakota Grandfathers and their allies won a great victory in a battle over the U.S. Seventh Cavalry at the Greasy Grass River (Little Bighorn) in Montana. Less than 10 years later, the massacre at Wounded Knee took place. Lakota elders, women and children were slaughtered and the remaining warriors forced to sign another treaty. Our community life changed forever and our culture was about to be taken brutally from us.

From this we have learned that victory is hollow if it does not bring lasting peace and security for our people. We have learned that when defeated, our people are devastated for generations.

Our grandfathers learned a bitter lesson: what the U.S. government gives, it can and most likely will take back, if not by overt means, then through deception. Deception is made manifest in policy and legislation that denies us our lands and denies us the basic dignity of adequate healthcare and social services promised in ignored and devalued treaties. The policies themselves perpetuate a view held by some that Tribes are beggars needing only a misanthropic push out the door to stand on our own two feet.

It is a given that powerful groups consider gambling to be an activity that is immoral and wrong. It would be well to remember the passage in the Christian Bible where Roman soldiers are drawing lots for the clothes of Jesus. New age charlatans use Tribal culture and beliefs as a source of income and mock a Tribe’s very way of life in the process. It must also be remembered that, until recently, in popular literature and films Tribes and Indians were often referred to and shown as godless savages."

Get the Story:
Joe Valandra: Custer Rides Again (Indian Country Today 4/16)