Today is my Mom's birthday and she wants to go to the Tualip casino for some fun gambeling. I told her how the casino is on the reservation and she was shocked. She had the same stereotypes about Native Americans, that they're poor and all they do is smoke and drink all day. I told her how that was a common misconception. And she came up with a question that I wish I had the answer for: "Where does the money go from the casino if it's located on the reservation? Shouldn't it go to the Native American families? Because they make a lot of money at that casino but yet, they're still poor right? So where does the money go?"
Can anyone answer this for us?
I am just learning, so I don't know for sure. Yet I do know in some communities all tribal members get "per capita" checks-which is like a dividend for share holders. I also know some put the per capita money for anyone under 18 into an account that they can't access until the graduate from high school or earn a GED.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are many ways they do this, yet the basic answer is that some of the money does go directly to tribal members, and it also pays for health care and education and other benefits for tribal members. Like I say, I'm not an expert, this is just the little I think I know.