22 May 2005
Authority. Duty. Tribe.
The Libertarian Party of California supported Proposition 1A to give Native American tribes the authority to have Nevada-style gambling on tribal lands. We believed then and now that tribes should have sovereignty over their lands and the level of autonomy they the tribes choose to have, whether they choose national, state, or county status. Gaming has shown to be the economic engine that has been previously elusive for Native American people. Tribes should be able to generate and keep revenue with minimal interference from outside governments.
We also believe that tribal governments are just that, governments. They have a duty to behave as governments. As Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters suggested on May 6, tribes have alternatively asserted governmental sovereignty and the rights of private citizens, depending on which serves them best. As governments, tribal organizations should act with transparency, equity, and respect for the rights of citizens inside and outside the tribe.
The Fresno Bee chronicled today a gathering in Temecula, home of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, and the home of the Pechanga Resort and Casino, one of California's largest. Over one hundred Native Americans were organizing to overturn disenrollments -- expulsions from tribes -- served upon them by tribal governments. There have been an estimated 1000 disenrollments in California alone, most taking place since the passage of Proposition 1A. It is highly likely that at least one of the one hundred who met yesterday was one of those disenrolled from the Chukchansi tribe in the months preceeding the opening of the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino.
The Fresno Bee editors also opined that the North Fork Indians and Station Casinos should not be allowed to build a casino on Highway 99, forty miles away from their tribal neighborhood. The political process throughout the state and the nation has led to tribes being allowed to build off-reservation casinos or allow landless tribes to build casinos hundreds of miles from ancestral homelands. These maneuverings belie the spirit of Proposition 1A. The Bee got this one right (broken clocks once a day do).
The relationships between local, state, and national governments and native tribes needs reform. Tribes should be granted the authority to be sovereign, but should also be expected to heed the duties of sovereignty. No county or state can decide who is a citizen and who isn't, and neither should tribal governments. Casino ownership, if it is to be a monopoly, should be linked to geography, not ethnicity. If tribes can build casinos off tribal land, so should everyone else be allowed that right.
We also believe that tribal governments are just that, governments. They have a duty to behave as governments. As Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters suggested on May 6, tribes have alternatively asserted governmental sovereignty and the rights of private citizens, depending on which serves them best. As governments, tribal organizations should act with transparency, equity, and respect for the rights of citizens inside and outside the tribe.
The Fresno Bee chronicled today a gathering in Temecula, home of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, and the home of the Pechanga Resort and Casino, one of California's largest. Over one hundred Native Americans were organizing to overturn disenrollments -- expulsions from tribes -- served upon them by tribal governments. There have been an estimated 1000 disenrollments in California alone, most taking place since the passage of Proposition 1A. It is highly likely that at least one of the one hundred who met yesterday was one of those disenrolled from the Chukchansi tribe in the months preceeding the opening of the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino.
The Fresno Bee editors also opined that the North Fork Indians and Station Casinos should not be allowed to build a casino on Highway 99, forty miles away from their tribal neighborhood. The political process throughout the state and the nation has led to tribes being allowed to build off-reservation casinos or allow landless tribes to build casinos hundreds of miles from ancestral homelands. These maneuverings belie the spirit of Proposition 1A. The Bee got this one right (broken clocks once a day do).
The relationships between local, state, and national governments and native tribes needs reform. Tribes should be granted the authority to be sovereign, but should also be expected to heed the duties of sovereignty. No county or state can decide who is a citizen and who isn't, and neither should tribal governments. Casino ownership, if it is to be a monopoly, should be linked to geography, not ethnicity. If tribes can build casinos off tribal land, so should everyone else be allowed that right.
# posted by Rodney Austin @ 8:09 PM 
