Tribal biases easily formed ultimately dismissed BY JODI RAVE LEE Lincoln Journal Star
BARONA RESERVATION, Calif. When Tony Pinto of the Barona Band of Mission Indians arrived at the Kumeyaay Summer Solstice gathering, he was given the respect I would expect a tribal elder to receive. The 87-year-old man was quickly tended to at the gathering in the foothills 30 miles east of San Diego. He was escorted to a seat under towering eucalyptus trees, his presence acknowledged before the assembled group. He also was asked to speak, and the first to be fed. All this took place as the Barona Band brought its community together in recognition of the summer solstice. Normally, I wouldn't be attending any event on a California reservation never had a reason to, never thought about it nor did I feel any connection to the land or people. Or so I thought. The only thoughts I had were preconceived notions. California tribes, California reservations and California casinos held little interest for me. So when a fellow journalist -- a member of a California tribe -- invited me and two friends to accompany her to the Barona Reservation, I had to think about it. But as the 18th annual Native American Journalists Association conference in San Diego began to wind down, welcoming summer through ceremony seemed a good idea. We decided to go. I went to the summer solstice gathering with an open heart, not knowing what to expect from the Kumeyaay. All I had were my uninformed impressions of California tribes: practically landless, virtually cultureless, nearly anonymous. Well, they had been nearly anonymous until 1998, when California voters passed a measure to increase tribes' casino markets with Las Vegas-style gambling. Tribes have since been building a casino empire. The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians last week opened a $262 million casino resort, effectively creating the largest tribal casino in the West. In truth, if not for gambling, I would likely know far less about California tribes. It was their gambling enterprises, after all, that opened the door to Class III gambling in Indian Country. The Cabazon Band of Mission Indians near Palm Springs tested gambling's tepid waters with its bingo operations more than a decade ago. Asserting its sovereign rights, the then-25-member Cabazon tribe landed favor with the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 after the state of California attempted to regulate the tribe's bingo enterprises. The high court concluded: "Tribal sovereignty is dependent on, and subordinate to, only the federal government, not the states." The Cabazon Band's early bingo halls have since dramatically changed the political, social and economic landscape in Indian Country. As we drove to the Barona Reservation, my biases of California tribes as mere casino entities were reinforced each time we passed what seemed like hundreds of smiling Kenny Rogers billboards, each letting us know we were getting closer to the Barona Casino. We were getting near the tiny, 8-square-mile reservation that represented about 450 tribal members. Again, my prejudices were reinforced considering my own tribe -- the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation -- consists of about 8,500 enrolled members of which about half live on our sprawling, million-acre Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. We drove past the casino making our way to the tribe's museum, community and cultural center. It was new. The smell of crisp dollar bills blended with the aromatic scent of eucalyptus. Once we stepped out of the car and into the community center, it was evident that no billboards were needed here to proclaim the tribe's evident pride in its culture and people. I had entered another world, not much different from my own. The four of us walked past the new swimming pool, past the baseball diamond and to a tree grove that met an open field, where a much larger group had gathered for the greeting of summer. With the casino out of sight, my preconceived notions were quickly fading. When you live in Indian Country, it's inevitably a small world. The commonalities shared among 550-plus federally recognized tribes often outweigh the differences. Once at the gathering, we were quickly welcomed and recognized as visitors. One of their community members quickly associated us with a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation who is involved in repatriation efforts -- our ongoing attempt to protect ancestral remains and cultural artifacts. After the museum visit and listening to tribal speakers, it became evident that this small California tribe had kept its traditions, language and culture intact, persevering through hundreds of years of assimilation efforts like hundreds of other tribes across the country. We were welcomed with prayer in their Kumeyaay language. We were treated to their traditional songs and dance. I was surprised to learn later that the tribe succeeded where hundreds of others didn't. They still lived in their ancestral area, where archeological evidence places them for at least 20,000 years, one of the oldest inhabited areas in the United States. And like scores of tribes across the country, we learned of the band's efforts to keep its language alive. We learned of tribal efforts to recover ancestral bones from university and museum shelves. One of the tribe's speakers told the gathering of Tony Pinto's quest to get his grandmother back from a museum, only to have her disappear again before she could be brought home. "To this day, we don't know where this gentleman's grandmother is," said Steve Banegas, a tribal council member whose voice quivered as he explained how he told Pinto he would help bring his grandmother home. Banegas said he felt like he had failed because she wasn't home yet. But he and the tribe's repatriation committee hadn't given up yet either. Pinto might not live to see his grandmother returned, but the Kumeyaay seem destined to live on. Jodi Rave Lee writes a monthly column for Lee Enterprises. She can be reached at 402-473-7240 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Andr� Cramblit: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians and operates an art gallery featuring the art of California tribes (http://www.americanindianonline.com) COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INDIANS/NATIVE AMERICANS/ALASKAN NATIVES & HAWAIIAN ISLANDERS News of interest to Native Americans & Alaskan Natives (Native News). To subscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit and show your support for the Grass Roots Oyate http://members.tripod.com/GrassRootsOyate Clemency for Leonard Peltier. 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