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From: nrh@inmet.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: Indians and state law - (nf)
Message-ID: <1619@inmet.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 13-Jul-84 19:13:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: inmet.1619
Posted: Fri Jul 13 19:13:02 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Jul-84 02:24:26 EDT
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#R:dataio:-15400:inmet:16000010:000:1481
inmet!nrh    Jul 12 19:36:00 1984

My father is handling PR (Public Relations) for the Miami Indians of 
Oklahoma, a tribe of 1,260, most of whom live in poverty.  They want to
establish trust lands on a small parcel of land in a Cleveland, Ohio, 
suburb.  

The area is part of the aboriginal homelands of the Miami Tribe.

When it was announced that the tribe intended to establish a high-stakes
bingo game on the land, charitable bingo operators protested loudly,
saying the Indian game would put theirs out of business because there
are no restrictions on Indian bingo, while charitable games are tightly
controlled by the state.  The Catholic Diocese in Cleveland charged that
the Indians would create unfair competition and said that the Indians
should not be allowed to play by different rules.

The Indians responded that the Catholic Church plays by different rules
from other organizations in that they don't pay taxes, and pointed out
that the laws governing the Indians have been used to cheat the 
Indians, steal their land, and deny them opportunities for 200 years.
Now that they have found a way to use those same laws to their advantage,
there is great gnashing of teeth by the white men.

The Ohio Attorney General thinks the Indians should be state controlled.
The Indians are not about to accept state compounding of the historical
unfairness of federal control.

The lawyer for the Tribe said in a recent radio interview:
"The biggest mistake the white men ever made was educating the Indians."