Ugh, Chief Puts-Foot-in-Mouth in heap-plenty trouble (sweeps hand)*

Bernero/Sag Chips (0.00 / 0)

I was working within the Native American community and had more than one opportunity to observe and cope with the power structure of Isabella Co. so disagree with your opposition to the Tribe's casino. Without that casino the Tribe would still be at the mercy of that old power structure.

The resentment and efforts to subvert anything the Tribe did to better itself were appalling. The banking system and courts there were long accustomed to dictating and imposing their beliefs, i.e., prejudices, on the Tribe only changed when that casino brought in monies that made the Tribe a power player in the county also. It's amazing the changes that took place once the affected players wised up to the shift in power that money brought to the Tribe created.

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by: cueball @ Tue Jan 31, 2012 at 19:41:56 PM UTC

It's a bit more complicated than that... (0.00 / 0)

First off, the relationship between the tribe and the rest of Isabella County is a bit more complicated than just the tribe vs. the existing power structure. There's quite a lot of racial prejudice towards both the tribe by the community at large, and towards the community at large by the tribal membership. I don't condone anyone's racial prejudices for whatever "reason" they give for harboring them.

Second, many of the Tribe's wounds over the last decade were self-inflicted. When the Soaring Eagle opened, their leadership picked the stupidest, greediest way imaginable to distribute profits, which was through per capita payments directly to members. This lead to regular cycles of disenrollment from Tribal rolls based on which of the two families were in power, and although a good deal of money was diverted towards laudable things it also created serious problems of drug/alcohol abuse and squandering of money. There was a good deal of political turmoil, too, with huge turnover and instability on the tribal council.  None of this was the fault of the Isabella County power structure (also, per treaty, the individual tribal members were allowed to excuse themselves from being subject to state and local laws and instead work their legal problems out in Tribal court).

Third, the casino hasn't been terribly good for the community at large. The 2 percent disbursements required by the compact with the state were decided entirely by the tribe and oftentimes didn't go to the things they were intended to go towards, like public safety and road upkeep. Oftentimes, they were given to fund stuff like statues created by -- ta-da! -- members of the tribe. That is, money intended to help defray the costs of having the casino here was instead cycled right back to members of the tribe through the 2 percent disbursement program. Meanwhile, we've still got bad traffic problems when the casino is busy, petty stupid crimes increased and have stayed elevated, and the casino has regularly decreased its workforce in part due to competition from downstate. It's added some extra cash in some places, but taken it from elsewhere, has helped suburbanize the city and surrounding township but managed to get some very nice houses built on the reservation, which is a de facto enclave because for the most part, tribal members and non-tribal members don't mix socially.  It's because of this last paragraph that I mostly regard casinos as terrible tools of economic development.

Among the Trees

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by: Eric B. @ Tue Jan 31, 2012 at 21:05:33 PM UTC

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