Gambling and Indians....er...um...I mean Native Americans.

[HeXp£Øi±]

Am I wrong to think it's wrong to let them hunt whales just because it was their tradition in times before they even recoded their own history?

I won't bother getting into the entire gambling issue but i can tell you that my wifes family (inupiat eskimo) and their entire community along with dozens of other Alaskan communities depend upon whale along with many other types of subsistence to this day. They don't hunt whales to keep some tradition alive, they do it to eat.

 

[MrBishop]

They aren't restricted. That is their choosing. I've know several who lived in "our" world. Not enough and truthfully not a single one east of the Mississippi. Why wouldn't anyone hire them? Willing to work & able to do the job should suffice.

Sure...as long as you're willing to lose any and all rights the moment that you move away. The moment that you do move away, you (in Canada) lose out any and all claims from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, including self-governement and the right to vote on leaders, scholarships, economic development initiatives, etc etc...not to mention taxes.

The First Nations have economic and societal issues that need to be worked out. The jobless rate alone is astounding! The illiteracy rates, alcoholism, teen pregnancies etc...

 

[PT]

And that doesn't even include anything about HOW the reservations were located. They were put where they are because NOBODY wanted the land they are on. It was either too dry or too wet for growing, or the soil was just not good, but it was all land that nobody else wanted at the time. Don't wonder why there aren't very many reservations in the great plains, huh?

 

[markjs]

I won't bother getting into the entire gambling issue but i can tell you that my wifes family (inupiat eskimo) and their entire community along with dozens of other Alaskan communities depend upon whale along with many other types of subsistence to this day. They don't hunt whales to keep some tradition alive, they do it to eat.

I wasn't referring to Inuits and other Eskimos that essentially live and survive in the same time honored tradidtions they have for centuries. I am speaking of the Makah tribe here in Washington who haven't whaled for at least a century and got by fine. They hardly know what to do with the whales they are allowed now to hunt. Why was special permission given to them?


I am in favor of reservations and tax breaks, school grants, fishing rights (excluding whales) and subsidized housing for Indians but I am not in favor of paychecks just for being indian, and unfair business monopolies and the like.

I know this will be as popular as Scott Pederson, but how about the atrocities Indians committed against their enemies, both white and from differing tribes.....Scalpings torture, rape......It was all commonplace. wasn't that wrong too?

 

[Gato_Solo]

Scalping was invented by the British during the French and Indian war. They used the practice to 'prove' that they had the prowess to defeat a native American in combat. As for rape, that was a province of every culture that went to war and defeated an enemy since mankind first started fighting. The Europeans were just as guilty when they arrived in 'the new world' and started their invasion.

 

[Inkara1]

I should point out that Native American tribes and bands are soverign nations. I guess we could call them half-soverign, since they're kinda under the wing of the US government, they can't form their own currency or military. But the casinos are used as a fundraiser for the tribes. It takes the place of taxes to raise capital for them.