Gaming 2015. NIGA Chairman Stevens pleasantly greeted the reception attendees and welcomed everyone to San Diego, CA and the tradeshow.
NIGA Associate Member, First Data President, Barry McCarthy graciously helped sponsor the event and addressed why First Data cares so much about Indian gaming. "We think you are leading the way and innovating all things around gaming payments and we really want tobe a part of it." Mr. McCarthy went on to extend an invitation to Indian Gaming 2015 participants and thanked NIGA for the opportunity.One of the evening's highlights was the Annual Charlie Hill Entertainer of the Year Award. Last year the passing of entertainer Charlie Hill was recognized and the memory of the comedy legend and longtime friend to Indian Country was honored. NIGA respects Mr. Hill's memory and a man who was always taking us to a happier place, interrupting the ordinary and historical upsets through his comedy. As a stand-up comedian Mr. Hill's quick wit, humor and Native wisdom touched all of our spirits and reminded us that we could change the world one laugh at a time. Charlie always advocated for Native American artisans to be more involved in Indian gaming.This year the 2nd Annual Charlie Hill Entertainer of the Year Award was awarded to Keith Secola.An award-winning figure in contemporary Native American music from the Anishinabe Nation of Minnesota, Keith Secola is an accomplished artist. The guitarist, native flute player, singer, songwriter and producer's famous song, "NDN KARS" is considered the contemporary Native American anthem. Mr. Secola reminisced about his days with Charlie Hill and thanked NIGA and the Hill family for the Charlie Hill Entertainer of the Year Award before he played a song in tribute to Mr. Hill.
The Chairman's Welcome Reception continued with a special presentation by the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Oneida Gaming General Manager, Louise Cornelius introduced the surprise unveiling of a portrait of NIGA Chairman Stevens and Rick Hill commissioned by the Seminole Tribe and BMM Test Labs by artist Laurie Schultz. The 2 warriors, who have sacrificed their time and efforts to promote and lobby for Indian people across the country, were honored and addressed the crowd. "I just want to acknowledge the artist and the people who've built this industry, it's the NIGA family that has made this all possible," said Mr. Hill. Chairman Stevens echoed the sentiment and stated, "The bottom line is we have a lot ofwork to do and this week we celebrate the 30 years of hard work that has been done in order to build a better future for Indian Country."The Northwestern American Indian College Fund Director Greg Masten, Deborah Parker, David Bean, Chairman Brian Cladoosby and others presented a gift to Chairman Stevens, an honoree member of the foundation board, for his support and continued fight for education. Mr.Masten said, "As tribes are becoming stronger in economic development education has to be hand in hand with that and we acknowledge all of Chairman Steven's hard work and advocacy." Mr. Masten announced they now have a Degree in Tribal Governance and Business Management with a key component of casino management. Our Northwest friends finished their presentation with the singing of a traditional song.
Wilson Pipestem and Notah Begay III also recognized Ho-Chunk Nation President, Jon Greendeer for his dedication to improved health, as he is an example of what the Notah Begay III Foundation stands for. The Notah Begay Foundation believes in our Indian youth and using sport as a way to prevent diabetesand the advantages it can provide. President Greendeer was nearly lost for words and thanked the Notah Begay III Foundation and said, "I'm taken back by this opportunity to bring this issue back to Indian Country and bring it to the people that it matters most to."
With desserts, coffee and a last call, attendees poolside at the Manchester Grand Hyatt wound down the night with a performance by long time NIGA friend Daniel Tucker's DT and the Love Po'Shun. Indian Gaming 2015 will continue today at the San Diego Convention Center.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
30th ANNUAL NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING ASSOCIATION INDIAN GAMING 2015 CHAIRMAN'S WELCOME RECEPTION
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Quapaw Tribe faces opposition to potential casino in Arkansas
This robe from the 18th century depicts Quapaw villages in Arkansas, where the tribe lived before being forced to leave. Photo from Shonagon / Wikipedia
The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma hasn't announced a casino on its former reservation in Arkansas but local officials are showing opposition to the idea.
Officials concerned about potential Arkansas casino (THV11 3/23)
Quapaw Tribe open to casino on historic homeland in Arkansas (3/23)
Quapaw Tribe promises fight to protect casino rights in Kansas (03/19)
Community in Arkansas reacts to possible Quapaw Tribe casino (02/25)
Quapaw Tribe won't rule out casino on historic land in Arkansas (2/21)
BIA Puts Land Into Trust for Cowlitz Tribe
Courtesy Cowlitz Indian Tribe via Facebook
BIA Regional Director Stanley Speaks and Chairman Bill Iyall sign the Cowlitz Reservation into trust.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs moved 152-acres of land into trust for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to build a casino near La Center, Wash. The tribe celebrated the good news on Monday.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that for more than a decade the tribe had sought the land, but its opponents had barred its progress in court. In December, federal judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein ruled that the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 gave the government the authority to take land into trust for a reservation. Rothstein’s decision was appealed, but, Monday, Stanley Speaks, regional director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, signed the final agreement for the establishment of the tribe’s reservation, moving the decision into action,Casino Daily News said.
“It is very much a historic moment for the Cowlitz people, who have been waiting 160 years for the return of part of their homeland,” tribe Chairman Bill Iyall toldThe Longview Daily Newson Monday. “We are no longer a landless tribe. … The Cowlitz reservation offers new opportunities in our aboriginal land and the community which the tribe will deliver from generations to come,” Iyall toldThe Columbian.
The opportunities on this newly returned land include the tribe’s plan to build a 134,000-square-foot casino, and a 250-room hotel and space for shopping and dining. The first phase of the project will produce at least 3,000 construction jobs, and the venue will add at least 1,500 jobs, Iyall said.
But some say that the tribe’s celebration might not last long. Brent Boger opposed the land deal, and toldOregon Public Broadcastingthat he wasn’t surprised by the BIA’s act on Monday. Boger, Vancouver’s assistant city attorney, also said that the plaintiffs’ appeal could still change things.
Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/03/10/bia-puts-land-trust-cowlitz-tribe-159545
BY
ICTMN Staff
Indian Country Today Media Network compiled a list of business executives, managers, attorneys, board members, medical professionals and others making big moves in Indian country: ...
Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/department/indian-gaming
Connecticut Tribes Propose Casino Partnership to Battle Competition, Lawmakers Support
BY
Gale Courey Toensing
Once robust rivals for the region’s gaming customers, the Mashantucket Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribe will join in an unparalleled business partnership to manage new Connectic...
Connecticut Tribes Propose Casino Partnership to
Battle Competition, Lawmakers Support
Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/department/indian-gamingGila River's Vee Quiva Hotel & Casino Opens July 2
Vee Quiva Hotel & Casino in Lanveen, Arizona
At Vee Quiva Hotel & Casino, the newest attraction of Arizona’s Gila River Indian Community, the welcome mat is in place with a creative invitation to “Let Us Q You In.”
Doors officially open on July 2 as part of week-long festivities to highlight the stunning Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired architecture by the Friedmutter Group, an award winning architecture, interior design and master planning firm that also designed the Navajo Northern Edge Casino and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
The copy35 million facility has been under workman’s saws and hammers for a year, energizing the local economy by creating more than 500 construction industry jobs. The casino, open 24-hours a day, year-round, is expected to provide more than 300 new part-time and permanent staff positions once interviews are completed.
Tribal Governor Gregory Mendoza was not available for public comment about the new facility and its anticipated overall impact on Gila River members. At the casino’sground breakingin June 2012, he said the casino would “result in increased services to our elders and to our young people.”
Melody Hudson of Gila River Gaming Enterprises noted that estimated economic impact to the tribe “is considered confidential,” but she added, “The new property is expected to continue the long-term sustainability and growth to the Gila River Indian Community and its people.”
The resort will feature the first Ditka’s in the Valley. The steakhouse was founded by former Chicago Bears football coach Mike Ditka.
The Laveen, Arizona-based facility features a 70,000-square-foot gaming floor with 950 slot machines, numerous table poker opportunities, three dozen oversized tables games and a 500-plus-seat Bingo Park (where one lucky card holder recently pocketed $96,000).
Guests are invited to end their night at the three-story, 90-room boutique hotel with pool and fitness center.
Once the ribbon is cut over the holiday weekend, tickets will go on sale for the inaugural musical performance at the Vee Quiva Event Center, two nights of performances by the Jefferson Airplane spin-off, Jefferson Starship, on tour since the early nineties. “The hits that made the group an integral part of the 60s and 70s psychedelic music scene can be heard at West Valley’s newest music venue in a weekend of incredible rock and roll, July 12-13,” state casino promotional materials.
Casino CEO John James is a 20-plus-year seasoned casino executive brought on board in 2011 to guide the Vee Quiva project and future tribal expansion plans. “John understands the role of Gila River Indian Community’s culture in the company success,” said Kenneth Manuel, president of the Board of Directors.
Another industry veteran, Louis DiCampli, who hired and trained Gila River community members as blackjack dealers, will oversee gaming operations.
In an interview withPhoenix Business Journal, James outlined his management philosophies in the gaming industry: “One of the big motivating factors is passion and obsession about your company, all that you do and how you do it. The tone gets set from the top in an attempt to exceed the expectations of all our guests. My goal as coach, mentor, and leader is to take the team and get them across the finish line.”
To see how James and his Vee Quiva Casino team are doing, log on to the website for Gila River Indian Community’s three Phoenix-area casinos,www.wingilariver.com, for interactive maps and up-to-the-minute information about casino promotions—as well as current totals in the Gila River Riches jackpot.
“From the time the Gila River Indian Community and Gila River Casinos embarked on this world-class visionary project, we knew we would offer guests an unparalleled experience that will create lifetime memories,” James said. “This is a one-of-a-kind destination that will be one of the Arizona hot spots to see and be seen.”
Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/06/20/gila-rivers-vee-quiva-hotel-casino-opens-july-2-150015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Photo courtesy Simon Moya-Smith
Sarah Sunshine Manning leads a presentation in February in Sisseton, South Dakota of the many forms of dehumanizing mascots in sports and media.
Blackhorse: This Is What Dehumanization Looks Like
Quite often when speaking out and educating others about the mascot issue, the same question is asked, “Why are you people worried about mascots? Don't you have bigger issues to worry about on the reservations?”
Native people, likewise, will also ask, “Why are we (indigenous peoples) fighting the mascot issue when there are bigger issues to fight?”
Oh yes, the bigger issues question. What most people seem to be referring to are the many issues which plague Native American communities. Societal problems such as violence against women, suicide, alcoholism, high unemployment rates on reservations, poverty, etc. Many of these issues have been highlighted throughout the history of Native American people, through various studies, articles, documentaries, movies, so on and so on.
I grew up in this ever-so-familiar way of poverty and destruction, in all those ‘bigger issues’ people talk about. My very existence is a symptom of that. I understand it very well; I’ve been accustomed to it, and in many ways it has made me the very resilient person I am today. I understand the struggles of ‘poverty’ and in many ways, I continue to live in that struggle.
So when people tell me we should be worrying about those “bigger issues,” a part of me smiles within, not because it's funny, but because I empathize and further because I know it all too well.
Indeed, these are all very important issues to address and they should be addressed. Many Native American leaders, allies, and the like have worked on addressing these issues and, today, continue to address them. The mascot issue does not take away from the work happening towards making positive change; rather the mascot issue is allowing for those issues to be addressed in an easier way.
If we are not respected as human beings how can we be respected when dealing with politics and/or economics? It makes it harder to be seen as leaders, advocates, and people who want real change to happen in our communities if you are seen as just a person who dances at pow wows and viewed as a mere relic of old cowboy and Indian movies. Of course this is not the case in every situation when dealing with non-Natives and government, but it seems to be a common misconception of Native people, which transcends into politics and government.
Not only are we looked at as just those Indians, but we don’t seem to be heard by the viewer either. Native people have been struggling, advocating, protesting, and trying to invoke change in our communities, but, again, we are not heard!
The mascot issue has been going on for more than 40 years and we are only now beginning to see our people and topics on the national level. Just because it doesn’t make headlines does not mean the battles are not being fought somewhere in Native America. Our voice doesn’t seem to be strong enough, so protest, lawsuits, and movements are necessary so that we can be heard, loud and clear.
By telling Native people they should be worried about more important issues tells Native people their voice and their feelings are not enough or they are unimportant. It tells Native people that the voice of the non-Native is far more important and more powerful than the true voice of the indigenous population.
Native American people have been targeted for their race, their land, and their resources. So when the dominant culture believes they are superior to the indigenous population they will dehumanize and dominate us for their own good. This includes the dehumanization of our entire being, especially our identity.
Dehumanization of indigenous people is:
1. The land grabbing of indigenous lands
2. The raping, violence, and hatred directed at indigenous women and children
3. The poisoning of our water
4. The desecration of our ancestor’s bones and graves
5. Each “redskin” (hair, scalp, nose, ears, genitals, and skin) taken off of an indigenous person
6. Each child taken from the arms of their parents and grandparents for the sake of “killing the Indian and saving the man”
7. Each treaty that was not honored
8. Every acre of land stolen from indigenous people
9. Every law passed since the Doctrine of Discovery for the sake of Manifest Destiny
10. Every religion stuffed down the throats of indigenous men and women for the sake of colonization
11. Each small pox blanket
12. Every head of hair chopped off in boarding schools and residential schools
13. The forced mining, fracking and desecration of indigenous lands yesterday and today
14. The sterilization of Indigenous women by Indian Health Service
15. Each tribe which no longer exists due to the attempted extermination of Indigenous people
16. Each tribal person who was exiled and relocated to urban communities
17. Each person who has been subjected to alcoholism in the name of poor business or poor treaty deals
18. Each Native person who has been experimented on and exploited for their blood, bodies, and DNA
The dehumanization of indigenous people continues today. Each example is how Native Americans, First Nations, and indigenous peoples of this continent have been subjects for acts of genocide. Each example has occurred in some variation in Native American communities and indigenous communities throughout North and South America. If you have no respect for a person's dignity, wellbeing, and physical well-being, you will not have respect for their identity therefore making it easy to mascot them. As long as the populace refuses to see Native people as real, living, breathing and resilient individuals, the easier it becomes to demean, degrade and mascot them. If our very existence or presence has been stripped away it is easier to create a multi-million, if not billion dollar industry off of the very identity of these people for entertainment purposes.
What people don’t realize is there arerealNatives out there who have been truly affected and psychologically damaged by sports mascots. There are real children and youth out there who have fought with their blood, sweat and tears to remove these racist mascots and names. Those children are real and are tribal members and citizens of nations. Although you may not see it or have been affected by it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Just because it is out of sight and out of mind doesn’t make it any less real, any less hurtful to those who have been affected by it.
Any attempt to humanize indigenous people is a step in the right direction. Eliminating Native mascots may not be the complete answer, but it is a step in the right direction.
The mascot movement has empowered millions of indigenous peoples around the world because for once we have a voice; for once they can stand at the national level and be proud to be indigenous.
And allow me to drive home this point: using the 'bigger issues' excuse is just that, an excuse. It is an excuse that is counter-productive and does nothing to solve the greater problem of the oppression of Native people and racism directed at Native people. It’s an excuse to be apathetic and to deny a problem really exists. If you are not engaged in addressing those bigger issues you should not be using the bigger issues excuse. If you happen to be working on those bigger issues and still do not agree then let's agree to disagree, and also understand that just because this isn’t your struggle, it doesn’t mean it isn't a struggle for your fellow Native people.
The questions we should be asking ourselves are: “Why have we not achieved true self-determination as indigenous people?" and "Why is it that in this day and age are we still fighting for common decency to be respected by our non-native counterparts?” Those are the real questions.
Amanda Blackhorse. Photo courtesy Malcolm Benally.
Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/03/20/blackhorse-what-dehumanization-looks-159694
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