The proceeds from the gaming operation have provided the Yavapai-Apache Nation with unprecedented income and the attendant benefits. The success of the enterprise has allowed the Nation to provide jobs, numerous services, and local benefits that would otherwise be unaffordable. While the benefits may be seen to outweigh the negative impacts, we must note that “hidden” impacts may also be present.

The Yavapai-Apache Nation has provided many economic benefits to its people since the establishment of Cliff Castle Casino. Prior to its opening, many of the tribal members were dependant on non-tribal government assistance or held low paying, dead end jobs. In the first four years after the casino opened, testimony before a Senate oversight committee by David LaSarte indicated that the casino employed over 750 people. Expenses from insurance, pensions, payroll and taxes exceeded $20 million in 1999. Any tribal members that are willing to work will have a job. All members employed by the tribe receive medical, dental, eye care, disability and life insurance. Members are provided with transportation for health related appointments, including those at the Indian Health Service in Phoenix. There is now a move to the practice of preventative medicine that insures a better system of health care for tribal members.

The Nation has established a corporate university to provide educational opportunities to tribal members and employees. A daycare center, owned and operated by the Nation, has been opened. Emergency loans are available to tribal members that provide up to $2,500 in the event of emergency. Housing has been upgraded, with more than 80% of reservation homes receiving some kind of remodeling. Homes of elderly and handicapped persons have been made handicap accessible.

Pages could be filled with the benefits that gaming has provided. Parks, infrastructure, tribal enterprise, police and fire protection is all provided. A non-state affiliated Tribal Court assists offenders with legal services and treatment and rehabilitation programs.

Children receive up to $450 per year for school supplies and clothing.

Programs have also benefited non-tribal causes. The Yavapai-Apache Nation donated two generators to the Hualapai Tribe for use in its dialysis machines. On Jan. 28, 2008 the Yavapai- Apache Tribal Council voted to donate $185,000 to five local communities and Yavapai County. Since 2000, the Yavapai-Apache Nation has awarded college scholarships to three, non-Indian graduating seniors, one from each of the Verde Valley High Schools.

The education of its tribal members in traditional culture also benefits. Traditional singing and dancing is now practiced again on the reservation. One of the few dances left from the Apache is the Sunrise Dance. It has been revived and was performed for the first time since 1947 after the establishment of gaming.

As mentioned above, a multi-paged document of the benefits could be written, but the accompanying problems are present also. The typical list of addiction, crime, and drug use are the usual ones mentioned. Gambling abuse and addiction and its offshoots are often brought up. This could result in a lack of proper childcare, funds to pay bills, and an overall depression. While the Yavapai-Apache Nation makes no statistics public, none of these effects have made the local papers in recent history.

A much deeper concern, not nearly as conspicuous, is rarely voiced. Many of the participants in Indian gaming are the Natives themselves. It would seem that the expenditure of what little funds are available to tribal members should be spent on gaming. The Yavapai-Apache Nation does not make distributions to individual tribal members. Time spent gambling may replace traditional social activities. Perhaps Native American values could be replaced with “materialism”. Domestic abuse and public corruption are ready companions to gaming. There may be a weakening of tribal culture and tribal values.

Wayne Taylor perhaps best voices an insight into this phenomenon on behalf of the Hopi people, who have rejected gaming. I would like to close with some quotes from his testimony before Congress.

“My name is Wayne Taylor, Chairman of the Hopi Tribe and on behalf of the Hopi people I want to express our appreciation to the study Commission for this opportunity to present my views on the impacts of Indian gaming on Indian people.

The Hopi view is, of course, the view of a non-gaming tribe. As many of you know, in 1995 the Hopi Tribe by a referendum vote rejected gaming as a means of revenue generation or economic development…. At the heart of this decision was a concern expressed by many of our people about the potential adverse effects of making gaming easily available to our people…

The effects of gaming activity on the entire tribal culture and society must also be considered. The impact on individual tribal members will always translate into impacts on the overall tribal culture. Indeed, it is not difficult to envision tribal gaming not only influencing but also becoming a significant part of tribal culture, perhaps even pushing aside in importance other characteristics of tribal culture that have long sustained us and which should be cultivated and nourished.

One of the most dangerous oxymorons currently floating around in non-Indian America and particularly in Congress is the idea of the so-called rich Indian tribe.

Somehow I have never associated the word “rich” with the words “Indian tribe”. Many members of the public and Congress seem very comfortable with this phrase. …Most of us continue to struggle merely to provide the most basic governmental services to our people, protect our lands and the environment and provide meaningful opportunities for growth and advancement of our people.

This is perhaps the most stinging impact of Indian tribal gaming on non-gaming tribes. While tribal gaming successes have provided no direct tangible benefits to non-gaming tribes, the non-gaming tribes, nevertheless, share the brunt of the congressional backlash and unfavorable public perception. All the negative characterizations typically associated with gaming activities such as compulsive addictive behavior, the search for the illusive something for nothing, the desire to get rich quick and the reaping of financial benefits at the hands of human behavior, these characteristics tend to spill over to effect all Indian tribes whether gaming or not.”

The ultimate negative effect of Indian gaming is not an individual doing drugs, or becoming addicted to gambling; it is the destruction of a culture, a people, a tribe. Nations may become corporate enterprises existent only to produce a profit. Is the donation of money to surrounding local communities for the betterment of the community itself? Or does support for the nearby Chamber of Commerce only provide a “beneficent” advertising opportunity? The purpose of tribal government may be changing. Producing a profit, as opposed to providing a rich cultural and comfortable life, may become the norm. That would be the worst negative consequence of all.”

The Navajo Nation could be the next Arizona tribe with a brand new casino. Is it the right decision?

The clash of cultures of throughout modern and pre-history has often led to one culture attempting to dominate the other, either by forced assimilation or warfare. An attitude of “become one of us or die” has permeated our existence.

Native American cultures have developed, changed, and been exterminated over the course of time. Native American cultures have been subjected to change and extermination from a variety of sources. Battles between competing tribal cultures to invasions of their land by Spaniards, Mexicans, and Anglo-Americans have resulted in the annihilation of many Native American cultures. In less than 100 years Native American languages alone have been tragically been reduced from 300 in 1900, to a mere 180 in 1995. Many more will soon disappear, as they are not being taught to children.

Native American cultures developed over many thousands of years on the North American continent. From the crossing of Beringia by the Clovis people, to the landing of Kennewick Man, culture on this continent grew. In the now southwestern United States (hereinafter Southwest), language families like the Uto-Aztecan, Keresan, Zuni and Nadene blossomed and grew into hundreds of different dialects. Some are reminiscent of different cultures existing on different continents, while others have structures found nowhere else in the world.

Native Americans made their way into the Southwestern over 10,000 years ago. They found a land dominated by two large river systems, and water was absolutely necessary. Four major climate zones exist in the Southwest and the people had to adapt. The Colorado Plateau in the north is a ragged and arid place. The Rocky Mountain zone is made up of craggy mountain ranges receiving precipitation from rain and snow. The Central Mountains posed steep terrain and a short growing season. The Desert Basin and Range is low desert, desperately dry and hot. Various tribes occupied these zones and adapted their lives, and therefore, their cultures to fit the land.

A few of these tribes adopted village farming, allowing them create sociopolitical organizations to handle some aspects of their culture. With irrigation and dry-farming, fewer people were needed to tend to the raising of crops, and could spend their time creating, innovating, and inventing. An elaborate material culture emerged.

More of the Southwest tribes practiced rancheria farming. Settlements were more widespread, creating different influences in the evolution of their culture. Some cultures had more widely dispersed communities than others; some were more mobile than others. These factors led to the development of cultural differences apparent in their ceremonies, leadership, and cooperation.

Some tribes remained in the hunter-gatherer phase, moving from place to place in small bands. Membership in bands was flexible, so no real “leader” became apparent. This aspect of their culture allowed different individuals to lead when their skills were needed and others to lead when their particular skills were needed. Less elaborate ceremonial structure and material culture was developed because time needed to be spent on survival.

The land and the skills of the peoples shaped the culture of these tribes. Agriculture was a paramount factor in the shaping of ceremony, leadership, and material culture. More available time meant more complex and varied customs.

The cultures of all these peoples were inexorably changed with the arrival of the Spanish in the Rio Grande Valley in the 1500’s. The drive to find gold to pay for the never-ending desire for conquest led the Spanish to move northward from Mexico and into the Southwest. The desire to impose their religion and to achieve economic security would forever change the Southwest. Governors, priests, and military leaders all had their own goals. Natives were enslaved, raped, and murdered in the furtherance of these goals. But each was looking out for himself and a premeditated plan for colonization began to unwind.

Native culture suffered greatly. Pueblo agriculture deteriorated as more and more people were forced to work in the fields of the governors, Franciscans, and military nobility. Thousands of Native Americans died from disease and famine in 1640, and many more thousands would die in the 1660’s. The seeds for revolt were planted, and they were nourished by Franciscan depredations of the ceremonial culture of the people. In 1680, the Pueblos exploded, attacking Santa Fe and removing the Spanish for over a dozen years. They did return, but their practices were considerably repressed. By 1725, Comanches and Utes were raiding their settlements. The Spanish eventually made alliances with the Utes and Comanche raiders, showering them with gifts and food to get them to stop their raids.

When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, the Spanish were out. But a lack of funds meant the end of gifts and foods to the Native Americans. Mexicans now enslaved Navajo and atrocity bred atrocity. Pueblos allied with Mexicans to fight the Apache, and Mexicans moved into the Rio Grande valley.

After the Mexican-American war, the US took control of the Southwest by virtue of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. Americans were moving west, creating trails that made inroads into the previously unreachable Southwest. The New Mexico territory consisted of present day New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah and United States forts were built in the territory.

Tensions between the North and South had been brewing for many years and Jefferson Davis recognized the importance of the New Mexico territory to the South. In 1861, the Confederate States of America recognized the Territory of Arizona (below the 32^nd parallel) as a Confederate Territory giving the South an unhindered path to California. United States forces were pulled from the Southwest to fight in the South leaving settlers to fend for themselves. The Natives took control of the area. Settlers organized militias for protection and the atrocities continued.

With the end of the Civil War, westward expansion grew. Americans had set out their cultural policy towards the Indians in 1823 in a US Supreme court case, Johnson v. McIntosh. It laid out the rationale for the treatment of Native Americans for tens of decades to come, including religious superiority and manifest destiny.

Reservations were turned to as a remedy to the “Indian problem”. Lands were seized and settled by Americans. Natives were taught to speak English in reservation schools and the erosion of their culture increased. America wanted to assimilate them into American Culture. Railroads were built and the American invasion began in earnest. The railroads provided the Natives with some opportunities. Trading posts where their goods could be used to purchase needed supplies were established. Tourism furthered the sale of locally produced Native products.

Into the twentieth century American policy continued to be forced assimilation. However, the attitude towards Native Americans began to change. Several legislative acts were passed, including the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which put forward the idea of self-government for the Natives. But the attitude changed again after World War II. Assimilation was pushed and this was the view until the late 1960’s. Again, self-determination became the policy and has continued to the present.

Native American culture has changed from the days of the Clovis people. Influences from tribal neighbors, sharing of knowledge, invasions of land, destruction of language, forced assimilation, destruction of burial sites, collection of artifacts, and ecological factors have all combined to shape present day culture. Renewed efforts to preserve what is left, remember what was, and shape what will be, will morph the Native American culture yet again.

Watching “The New Indian” is an experience of rebirth. A National Geographic film, this journey of four different paths ends in the same place. They, too, are connected. The fifth generation of the prophecy of Black Elk has arrived, and the 100-year-old vision is becoming real. The young people of the Natives have come full circle. The old people of the Natives have come full circle. The four seasons of earth, the four pages of life, the four journeys portrayed in the film, celebrate the life of the planet and its people; the death and the rebirth of the Native American are continuing as foretold.

“The New Indian” is an inspirational tribute to the cycle of life. It documents four journeys that show how the millennia’s old cycle continues. Youth from Chicago travel to find themselves. A sixty-something year old Indian celebrates his “chiefdom”. An artist/musician celebrates his culture in a new way. And an Anglo educated Native uses the Anglo way to get her people their culture back.

Leaving Chicago to join the intertribal encampment in Canada, nine youths set out to find themselves. Over two thousand Natives, from over 50 tribes gather to share the “old ways”, the stories, the myths, and the culture of North American Natives. Removed from their land and their culture, modern Natives have fallen into poverty. Lacking the appropriate training to survive in the white-man’s world, they have landed in the streets, suffering from drug and alcohol abuse, and the lack of knowledge of themselves. These intrepid youth set out to find the thing that made their people great; their connectedness with the earth, the ability to survive inside. They erect a wigwam. They build the ceremonial center. They do things their ancestors did to survive. They build the sacred fire that endures day and night; they learn to build their lives. Many have realized that they are not on the right road, that the white man’s path is not their own. The elders are helping to show them the path, the way to “right living”, and they are more receptive than many others in the past.

Camping with their relatives, these youth touch the ancestral ways. A heavy and continual rain dampens spirits at the intertribal encampment, but they chose to stay. Entranced by their cultural heritage, they realize that mundane daily tasks take on a new significance. They cook meat from animals they watched die. They sense the connectedness of the animals and themselves. They learn that thanking the animal for its life is essential to the harmonious co-existence of both themselves and the other life on the planet.

The past comes alive for them. We watch as they sense the connection of all things; an essential teaching of their ancestors. They realize that they and their ancestors, relatives, and peoples have each other. That they are connected. That they are connected to the earth, the stars, and to “other worlds”.

It is truly a riveting part of the film to see these young people come alive to something new to them. Just as “reborn” Christians get touched on the head and find Christ, these youth see their past and their connection to it. All things are connected. They see their place. A time is told of a day when an Indian leadership will arise that will teach the world that there is another way, a better side of life. There is a way to live in harmony with all of creation. These young Natives found part of that. They left Chicago expecting little, and returned having found much. They learned that we are all one. Everything is connected.

Steven Tiger is a musician and an artist. He uses his talents to connect his Miccosukee people with the world of the white man. His young family lives in the white man’s world, while his father’s family retains their connection to the earth. The film portrays his attempt to integrate his life into both worlds. His father is afraid. He believes his son has lost touch with his ancestry. Traveling to the Everglades, the place where his ancestral people fled after they were removed from their homelands in the 1800’s, he visits his parents who continue to survive using the “old ways”. This visit provides us with a glimpse of how a culture survives; a family refusing to give up its culture for that of another. Steven’s father is suspicious; driving a car is not traveling like an Indian. But Steven, like his people, is striving to live in both worlds. The Miccosukee are educating their children to survive in the white man’s world, while teaching them to speak the native language. They instill the attitude that they want to make their own mistakes, find their own way, and live the life they hold precious. This is the fifth generation. They are integrating themselves into the white man’s ways, while finding themselves. Everything is becoming connected.

James Seaweed (spelling?), is a chief in his own time. The traits exhibited by all great leaders of the Native Americans are apparent in this man’s life. Wisdom, knowledge, and generosity abound. He volunteers his time, money, and knowledge to keep his people’s culture alive.

The Potlatch ceremony was an ancient tribal tradition. The white man forbade it when they arrived. Assimilation of his people was forced upon them and they were jailed if they were found to be performing its dances or songs. His people burned their ancient totems in fear. These were the crests of their clans. Dances that had survived for centuries became a crime. Original masks used during this ceremony were confiscated and destroyed. The white man thought they had subjugated these people; yet the ceremony continued in secrecy. Certain dances belonged to specific families and they were passed down from generation to generation even though they were forbidden to be practiced. In the 1960’s, James Seaweed held a Potlatch. Using $15,000 of his personal savings, this great leader allowed his people to rebirth their culture. He shared his wealth with the less fortunate of his people. The first communal longhouse of the 20^th century was built in 1965. His family performed its ancestral dance. He connected to his culture. He connected with his people. He kept the tradition alive. He espoused that it is not what you take from life, but it is what you give to it. He was connected. Everything is connected.

Claudine Arthur fights for her people. A white-man trained attorney, she uses the white man’s laws to protect her people’s way of life. As a Navajo in New Mexico, she deals with all kinds of problems. Domestic issues, criminal issues, and more mundane problems are the recurrent theme in her life as a legal assistance attorney. Yet there are times when she has the opportunity to make a more ethnocentric impact.

The Four Corners power plant is located on land leased from the Navajo Tribal Council. The council leased the land from Emma, a Navajo woman living a traditional life; she raised sheep, had no electricity, and honored the land. This woman has been paid $327.97 for this lease over the last twenty years and she has lost her way of life. Claudine came to her aid.

With no idea of what would happen to her land, Emma agreed with the Tribal Council to lease it in 1957. Soon fly ash coated her sheep. The water became polluted. Sulfur dioxide filled the air. Coal was strip-mined and the land lost its shape. The power plant provided millions of white people power, while less than one-in-three Navajo had lights. Less than one-in-five had indoor plumbing. The connection to the earth was disappearing.

Claudine Arthur immersed herself into the issue. After decades of abuse to the land of her ancestors, she made a case for her people. A new gasification plant was being proposed. It was time to fight back. The plant would require more coal, more water, and more land. Claudine pointed out that Navajo water rights had been disregarded for scores of decades. The reclamation projects had failed. The new plant would require a 60,000-person city to be built on Navajo land, with no promise of remuneration. She fought for her people and she won. There was no lease extension granted. The right of the Navajo to decide life for themselves was protected. Their connection to the earth was saved for another day.

These four stories of the “New Indian” are truly inspiring. Narrated by Robert Redford, this documentary shows us the rebirth of the Native culture. Individuals making a choice are making a difference. Health issues, educational issues, and economic issues are making their way to the forefront of Native American’s attention. These issues bring the Natives into the “new world”. People like Claudine Arthur, Carlos Nakai, and James Seaweed are making a difference. Indian gaming is making a difference. Education is making a difference. But most importantly, recognition of the validity of a culture nearly lost is making a difference.

Terry Sanders, co-writer and director of “The New Indians”, has done a wonderful job with his portrayal of the revival of Native American culture. The enigmatic journey of the Indian is intriguing. The producers, Frieda Lee Moch and Terry Sanders, chose tales of modern day Natives that show how important their culture is to them, and what they are willing to sacrifice to retain it. I would recommend this film to anyone interested in history, culture, or life. It limns the connectedness of the people, the earth, and the cosmos. The rise of Native American culture, and its resultant decline is a reflection of the four seasons. Birth, youth, maturity, and death. It is spring for Native culture. It is the time of rebirth. Now is the time that the young Natives rediscover their heritage, their ancestors, and their future. This film reminds us of this cycle; the four seasons, the four pages of life. Birth, youth, maturity, and death. This all repeats itself , and it has throughout human history. It reminds us that these things are connected. Everything is connected.

Photo New York Public Library

These people shared a common language connection, though they adapted to their own particular environment in different ways. The Navajo and Western Apache moved through and settled in areas near the Puebloans, and their resultant acculturation of some of the Puebloan ways is a clear indication of this. The assumption of matrilineal descent, the use of agriculture, and the semi-sedentary lifestyle they began living are all examples of the influence of Puebloans that the Navajo and Western Apache shared. The eastern Apaches had begun to take on the traits of the Plains Indians, and a split developed.

The Navajo and Western Apache shared other common traits. The use of sand paintings in curing, the menarche rituals, and horror of the dead were all parts of Navajo and Apache culture. The White Mountain Apache had clans like the Navajo. With the arrival of the Spanish, animals were introduced to the Natives. The Navajo and the Apache began to slowly part ways.

The Navajo had begun to rely on agriculture more than the nomadic Apache. The Apache were casual farmers and would leave their crops to grow on their own as they continued their migrations, hunting and gathering. The Navajo adopted a more sedentary lifestyle and with the introduction of domesticated animals their lives became even more diverse than the Apache. They became herders. They changed their settlement patterns as they moved their animals from summer to winter pastures, establishing summer and winter residences. They continued to practice hunting and gathering, intensive farming and raiding to supplement their herding.

Raiding was a traditional Navajo and Apache way of life. It appears to have been taking place before the horse was introduced. The Apache, Navajo, Zuni, and Ute all raided each other at one time or another, but at other times were at peace. They all raided the Spanish and Mexicans. As the Navajo began to rely more and more on herding, they began to raid with more frequency and intensity. The Spanish attempted to drive a wedge between the Apache and the Navajo, and to some extent this was successful, but the two eventually allied again to kick the Spanish out.

Kit Carson arrived to battle the Navajo in 1863. They were a defeated people within months, while the neighboring Western Apache were left alone. A division was made. The Western Apache remained free, while the Navajo were treated as a herd of animals, driven on a 300-mile journey into captivity. They were forced to live with their traditional enemy, the Mescalero, who had been greatly influenced by the Plains Indians. As they began to starve, the Navajo returned to raiding to survive. The stole the crops of the Mescalero. The Mescalero retaliated. The Kiowa attacked. The wedge was driven in.

The Navajo were eventually allowed to return to their homeland; they were a broken people. The Apache were still roaming their lands, still raiding and fighting as they always had, even though it would not be for long. The Navajo began to rely on the U.S. government for rations and animals. Their economy became tied to the white man. The Apache were proud resistors; the Navajo were subjugated and defeated.

Jealousy on the part of one people, and disgust on the part of another people may have been the forces that drove these peoples apart. While the Apache have gone through a period of abject poverty and disease, they have rebounded and to this day do not have the severe economic hardships of the Navajo. Bitterness and resentment die hard. They can last for decades.

Americans in most recent times have seemed to eschew the characteristics identified by political science researchers. We have had recent leaders who flout these traits. And when we have been given the opportunity to remove these persons from office, time after time, we have chosen to re-elect them. The following is a list of attributes that political science has set forth as ideal in a great leader:

• Has experience in office
• Energetic and aggressive leader
• Faithful to spouse
• Forceful public speaker
• Moral character
• Talks about nation’s problems
• Honest
• Younger than 60/65 years of age
• Remains calm and cautious
• Has solutions to problems
• Served in the military

A similar list from the Apache might look something like this:

• Industriousness
• Generosity
• Impartiality
• Fairness
• Forbearance
• Conscientiousness
• Eloquence

Political culture has been defined as the inherited set of beliefs, attitudes, and opinions people have about how their government or leaders ought to operate. The similarities in the above lists is remarkable. It seems apparent that the same traits must have been recognized across cultures for hundreds of years, yet so few renowned Anglo leaders seem to have possessed all of them. However, from what is known about Cochise, it appears he can be counted as one leader who had it all. Comparing Cochise and the most recent American presidents, makes the Anglos look foolish.

All great Indian chiefs led their men into battle, shunning personal safety. None of the recent Americans has. Apaches valued and kept their word. Enough said. Cochise was known for his generosity, always sharing his food and belongings with those who were without. Poverty is growing by leaps and bounds in this nation, and people without means are losing their houses. An Apache chief always valued the opinions of others in making a decision; some recent Anglos don’t even ask or care what others (lawmakers) think. There was no secrecy in Apache leadership. They led by strength of character, not with an iron fist. It is interesting that “forceful” public speaking and eloquence appear on the above lists. Reading the words of Geronimo and Cochise is like hearing a poet; George Bush made a mockery of the English language. An Apache chief never showed favoritism when arbitrating disputes or appointing U.S. attorneys.

All leaders should serve as role models for their people. It is amazing that this country has chosen over and over again, leaders that lack moral character. From presidents to governors to mayors, infidelity is rampant. Greed and lust, power and pride, these are the motivating factors in American leadership. An Apache chief protected and fed his people, he worked for consensus within his group and he was recognized for the commendable way he lived his own life.

If the Apache bands had been led by American presidents the people would have been squashed decades before they were or the people would have ostracized them within a few months. If only America could be led by one of the great Apache chiefs, or a succession of them, how different would things be. Imagine a string of presidents with the qualities of Mangus Coloradas, Cochise, Victorio, Juh, and Geronimo. Imagine an America that would be respected by the world. Imagine an America that cared for its land and cared about its entire people being fed. Imagine. I’ve just spent a couple of hours doing it.

It would be a remarkable place.

We ignore shared nuances, commonalities, and values. We attempt to make divisions where there are none, and emphasize differences that only make “Americans” diverse from one another. For most, white is “American”, and “others” are Mexican, Black, or Indian. It is rare that we residents of the United States refer to all of us as “America”.

Pre-historic Natives organized themselves as groups of people that lived together in small residential units. They might have lived together based on kinship, maybe shared ceremony, or perhaps shared values. The reasons they were living together, as a group is unimportant here; the fact that they lived together in a small group of 5-50 is important. There was no recognized leader. Whoever was the most knowledgeable for the immediate situation, led the group. There was no political structure. This may be called a rancheria. This was typical of nomadic, hunter-gatherer groups.

Some groups speaking the same language, or related by territory, or shared ceremony might join with each other in the matter of defense of their territory. They might band together to accomplish a repulsion of common enemies. They might join to arbitrate between individuals of the different groups who were having a dispute. They might become a band. They might begin to adopt similar dress, ceremony, and values. They would inter-marry. Families may move from one group to another, and a co-mingling of culture may occur. The might become a “political” unit. They might become a “band”.

There might be no strict political function of a band. One band may go join together with another band; their connection was tenuous. There was no central leader over collective bands. Sometimes two or more bands might choose to live together. Sometimes several families might leave one band and join another. They would join together as a matter of convenience or necessity, with no permanent tie that was observed.

The Spanish did not understand. This was not how peoples ruled or organized themselves. This was not the way the world existed. There was a strict hierarchy to be recognized. There was supposed to be a leader, and there were supposed to be followers. To their regret, their mere arrogance in this concept brought about the deaths of hundreds of their own.

Bands came together in defense of their common culture, land, and ritual. While initially receptive to the Spanish, bands of people might come together to remove the invaders from their territory because of shared abuse. Recognition of common language, ceremony, and tradition may have turned bands into tribes. Leaders of bands came together to form tribal councils. Political organization became more centralized. A unity of purpose may have united previously independent people.

While they had a shared language, it never made them one people under one leader. While they had shared ceremony, it never made them one people. While another culture defined them as one people, it never was so. Their commonality of purpose, of territory, and of survival, did. They became a tribe.

Time has passed and tribes have survived. They have joined together to make separate treaties with the “American” government. They realized their tribal identities. And this failed them. They recognized the need to coalesce.

They have melded their cultures to become one. As in the instance of the Pima, Papago, Akimel, Maricopa, and Hia C-ed, they have joined together to become one. The former tribes are now the Tohono O’Ohdam Nation. “Nation”, in “American” legalize, has come to describe a legal status. It is the interface that the Spanish imposed on the groups, then the bands, and finally, the tribes. It brought about a unification of all the tribes.

Tribes have come together now as Nations to set a new agenda for all Native peoples. Legislation has been passed in the U. S. Congress that applies to all Native Nations, including Seminole, Navajo, Hopi, and hundreds of others. Antiquities acts, restoration of lands, and rights to cultural remains have been recognized for all Native peoples.

Native Americans have just begun to realize themselves again. They have come to support one another as a people, as a Nation. They have a common agenda. They hire the same lobbyists. They each support each individual Nation across different languages, cultures, and territories.

They have evolved together as a “Nation”.

Yet “Americans” choose to see themselves as separate groups living in the same space. We are a still a conglomeration of bands and tribes (Anglos, African-Americans, Mexicans, Christians, Jews, Muslims and many others), as yet unable to organize ourselves into a coherent whole. Such divisions are superfluous. The Native Americans have learned this lesson. They have banded together. They have survived thousands of years. They are one Nation.

One day, perhaps, “Americans” can recreate this phenomenon. Perhaps we can set aside differences, distinctions, and divisions. Perhaps Irish, Mexican, and Jew can become one with Anglo, Christian, Black, and Muslim. Perhaps that self-recognition of “us”, a united force to exist as one with the earth and all other people, would herald an acknowledgement of recent history.

Perhaps one day our time will come.

Perhaps the “Spanish” will arrive one day, and we will truly become a Nation.

Let’s have a discussion; leave a comment.

The premise for discussion here is to compare and contrast “my society’s” beliefs about death and afterlife with that of the Mojave. While I tend to inherently disagree with the Judeo-Christian cultural belief system, I will do my best to accurately depict its position, as it is “my society’s” generally accepted thought. The Mojave traditionally lived along the Colorado River in western Arizona.

Creation myths and cultural ideas of the afterlife exhibit similarities and variances that span a wide spectrum of cultures throughout the world. The comparison of just two cultures narrows the spectrum, but displays the differences that can separate one people from another. The perpetuation of a cultural belief that is different from another culture in contact with it is what defines an identity for its people.

The idea of a heaven and hell are at the forefront of Western religious thought. The extremes of behavior seem to define our “American” culture: good and evil, pious and decadent, the Spartan and the greedy. The evidence of the Mojave culture does not seem to suggest that such dichotomies existed, except in their perception of the malevolent shaman, the innocent victims of witchcraft, and the un-tattooed. Our differences could not be better defined.

The contrast begins with the beliefs concerning the beginning of human existence. “God” created Adam and Eve, the symbols of good that are transformed to perform bad acts that are a result of temptation by Satan. This creates “original sin” (evil). Thereafter, all men are doomed to hell (below the ground: the rat hole?), unless they accept a symbol of a “savior” (the coming Messiah, or Jesus). In Mojave culture, Matavila and Mastamho create the world where all, but a very few, pass onto sala’ahta, the land of the dead. This is the world of the Mojave, regardless of an individual’s behavior on this plane.

While resources do not allow me to know of the nature of the “rat hole”, it is somehow not the equivalent for me of the fiery inferno of brimstone and eternal pain that is suggested by “hell”. The Mojave did not go down the “rat hole” for failing to revere, invoke, or worship Matavila and Mastamho. For some fundamentalist Christians, such a failure to bestow fealty to God results in eternal damnation in that conflagration below. It is interesting to note the notion of “below” the earth (rat hole and hell) to the place where “evil” persons go. The place where “good” persons go is much different in the two cultures, however. For the Mojave, sala’ahta was just down river from the Mojave Valley. For Christians, good people go to heaven above, a place off the earth. The soul of the deceased Mojave does not live eternally, but is eventually, after many incarnations in the spirit world, returned to the earth. For the Judeo-Christians, life is eternal in heaven in the company of God.

Sala’ahta is a place of freedom from pain, sickness, and trouble; heaven is a place of eternal light and peace. The Mojave feared the mention of the deceased; Judeo-Christians celebrate feasts of revered, long dead, named saints (commemorative mourning ceremonies?). Differences or commonalities?

Does the “rat hole” continue to the center of the earth where “fire and brimstone” are the norm? Is that the hell where all evil things return? If our spirit is somehow associated with our “matter”, don’t we all return to the earth as a piece of “charcoal”? Eternal questions unanswered are always the most intriguing, and the most personal. Cultural differences and similarities seem to define who we were. Answers in the afterlife will tell us who we are.

Shaman was responsible for the connection between the spirits and the now living. He was the conduit; the tube through which the worlds connected passed through him. He could converse, see, and be in all the worlds. He called upon spirits in the higher and lower worlds to speak to him and tell him what they desire. Often a homosexual, he didn’t just know the landscape of the metaphysical; he lived it.

In his life experience of the 18^th and 19^th century, the shaman encountered many present-day dilemmas. He became a scapegoat for the disease of the whites that killed many people (vioxx). He was persecuted as many as seven times for epidemic sicknesses in a 70-year period (Pfizer). He, at times, became the cause of a problem, as opposed to being the solution.

The shaman in Pima and Papago culture was therapist, diagnostician, and metaphysical guide. He used smoke, dream, and vision to diagnosis illness. Over the last century, shamanism has survived and made a strong comeback. The shamans have moved from a place of “doing the public good”, to one of “private practice”. They have shared a history of doing good, doing bad, and looking out for themselves with psychological therapists, doctors, and metaphysicians. While the latter suffer monetary and material penalties, shamans often paid with their lives.

Knowing and diagnosing internally as shamans, has become, in the Western world, performing every empirical test now available to man. That is because cultural differences result in different outcomes. The shaman paid with his life; doctors and therapists pay with their wallet. Ultimate outcomes are now weighed as monetary, not life-threatening. And our cultural values of the shaman, as opposed to the psychological therapist, the MD, and the metaphysician, are all one. We just choose to separate them by virtue of the culture we adhere to and the consequences we apply to them. While different, they are all one, and they all serve the same purpose; they allow us to see ourselves as victims, because of a symptom, or “a strength”, and make us feel better about ourselves even though we are sick. Perhaps we should get back to the “real” world, the melding of the lower, middle, and upper worlds that the Creator gave us. Then the shaman can return and have an impact in today’s western world.