Word: trumps
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Donald Trump, a man not exactly known for his sensitivity, came to a 1993 Congressional hearing with a mission. In the face of increasing competition from American Indian tribes opening casinos on their reservations, the gambling mogul angrily told Congress that his new competitors, who don't have to abide by the same state gambling regulations he does, "don't look like Indians to me." Later, The Donald, still peeved, elaborated for The New York Times: "The Indians are only a sovereign nation when it comes to gambling...I have seen these Indians, and you have more Indian blood than...
...Trump's bluster set off a predictable avalanche of condemnation from American Indian groups. But it also rang uncomfortably true, at least for some of them. "Indianness" is a touchy subject. He could have phrased it a little more elegantly, but Trump did strike a nerve: calling many of the American Indian groups running casinos these days "tribes" can require a creative definition of tribe, with certain tribal identities extinct or disappearing fast...
...Mashantucket Pequot reservation, home of the elder statesman of Indian casinos, Foxwoods, Trump is not a popular man. His lawsuit against the government in 1993 charging preferential treatment for American Indians was, at least implicitly, an attack against Foxwoods, which is now the largest casino in the world. So, some speculate, were his comments about the ethnic appearance of his competition. Indeed, there hasn't been a full-blooded Pequot since the turn of the century; members only have to prove they are one-sixteenth Pequot to be admitted to the tribe. Not that they don't try to make...
...Cultural continuity" is supposed to be a condition of federal recognition for American Indian tribes, but are the tribes in Southeastern Connecticut stretching it? As Trump found out, it can be a taboo topic. But even among American Indians, there's disagreement on how legit some of the newly recognized tribes are. At the time of Trump's lawsuit, one lobbyist for Western Indian tribes complained to The New York Times that tribes pursuing recognition in order to build casinos were making a mockery of nations that had legitimately clung to their identities despite centuries of adversity: "The whole question...
...their old identity, and gradually they recreated the tribe. Three hundred and fifty years later, revenge is sweet: Foxwoods pulls rank on upstart Mohegan Sun. Entering a new era in the tribe's saga, the descendants of the last of the Pequots have resurrected the tribe once more. But Trump's question remains: instead of the continuation of a tradition, is the tribe's latest, capitalist recreation just an embarrassing parody--even an exploitation--of its own past...