When former Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell was serving with the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War in 1952, he was given a form to indicate where he’d like to be posted after returning to the States.
Campbell didn’t take the form seriously. “I wrote, kind of as a wise guy, downtown Las Vegas,” Campbell said Monday at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. “I’ll be darned if I didn’t get assigned to Nellis Air Force Base as an air policeman, working with Las Vegas police officers on the Strip.”
Campbell spoke during the session “Honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day: A Special Look at Tribal Gaming” hosted by Indian Gaming Association Chairman Ernie Stevens.
Stevens, who said he passed up an opportunity to see his beloved Green Bay Packers play in London in order to attend the conference, emphasized the importance of recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day.
Citing treaties that tribes signed, only to be broken by the U.S. government, Stevens said it’s hard to talk about how much land Native Peoples have lost. “But today we heal,” Stevens said. “We don’t forget, but we look forward. Our ancestors persevered. They fought and many made the ultimate sacrifice to protect tribal sovereignty and our way of life and still they continue to move our nation forward. So this Indigenous Peoples Day, as we reflect on the history and the contributions of our ancestors, I feel some comfort in knowing that their sacrifices are being honored.”
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Chairman Reid Milanovich noted that honoring Christopher Columbus always seemed problematic to him, while Indigenous People’s Day seems more authentic. “How can someone discover a land that has been here since the beginning?” Milanovich asked. “… We’re finding artifacts in downtown Palm Springs (where one of Agua Caliente Band’s three casinos is located) that are 8,000 years old. That’s long before Christopher Columbus came.”
Holly Cook Macarro, a political consultant and strategic advisor based in Washington, D.C., noted the appointment of Rep. Deb Haaland from New Mexico Native as Secretary of the Interior as a landmark for Native Americans and a sign of progress. But she added that Haaland and other Native Americans working in the administration aren’t lifetime appointees. “Elections can change that in an instant,” Macarro said. “That’s a reminder of how far we’ve come and how much work we still have left to do.”
Campbell told stories about the Vegas Strip in 1952, saying it was populated by “cowboys, showgirls, veterans, and gangsters.” “I’m not kidding,” he insisted. “There was a strong contingent of people from Chicago in those days. Everybody knew who they were and they seemed to stay in their own group — unless they were beating somebody up.”
Campbell said the lessons of that iteration of Vegas are applicable to tribal gaming and how it’s evolved into a $39 billion industry in 2021.
“I think there are some lessons to be learned in the city of Las Vegas,” Campbell said, noting the situation at Lake Mead, where water levels have reached a historic low. “Growth has an upside, but it also has a downside,” he added. “I’d like to think that if we’re observant Native People, we’ll see the upside and capitalize on that, but recognize the downside and try to stay away from it.”
