In the country where the pursuit of wealth is deemed more than laudable, practically an obligation, huge sums of money paid in the United States to sportsmen, film stars, corporate executives and the like are unremarkable. Family fortunes often built from less than pure past business practices do not cause the recipients to become social outcasts. Everyone admires a winner – except when it comes to tribal nations with successful gambling businesses.

Tribal leaders are said to be worried about public perception of their nations. On Monday, at the Native Voices conference held at the Pechanga Indian Reservation, former chairman of the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, Anthony Pico, said, "The future preservation and prosperity of American Indians will not be decided in the halls of Congress or state legislatures, nor will it be adjudicated ... (at) the U.S. Supreme Court. It will be decided by the voting public in the court of public opinion."

It would seem that concern over image is not without cause. A newspaper article on the US$22 billion tribal gaming industry drew several comments from its readers, and not one was complimentary. These ranged from “US$30,000 per month for doing nothing, that might contribute to perception,” to irritation that tribal officials should have brand new top of the range automobiles, which apparently meant that the tribes only have themselves to blame for public perception.

In a consumer-mad society where wealth is frequently ostentatious, it is odd that driving an expensive car should be something perceived as bad. However, there still remains lingering hostility towards the Indian nations. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a former Senator and tribal leader, commented that most tribal people still live in poverty and only a few of the 400 Indian casinos generate large revenues. Pico added that lawmakers’ perceptions of wealthy tribes have led to cut backs in programmes for Indian governments.

According to Campbell, Native Americans are not accustomed to self promotion but must become better advocates for themselves. Tribes need to be more open to the public about their economic plans for the future as well as their culture and history. Talking with local communities is the way to educate public opinion and gain progress in Congress. At present studies show that the public, on the whole, is in favour of Indian gaming as a means for tribes to support themselves. After all, some of America’s wealth was attained at the expense of those tribes.

Memories are notoriously short, but the tribal nations are still suffering from past injustices. One comment from a reader of the newspaper article said, “No more casinos should be approved until revenues from the casinos are shared with the other poor Indians in or out of California." Practically a Communist sentiment from someone in a nation of capitalists, and it would be a shame if the attainment of wealth, so admired in other sectors of the US, became the cause of contention. (E-09.26.07)

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