They Are Left to Stand Alone

In a small corner of lower East Texas, the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation stands. Hollowed out of the wilderness of the Big Thicket, the tribe of approximately eleven hundred people remains rich in its traditions.
In the 1800’s, the Republic of Texas gave each tribe a league of land, 640 acres each, along the Trinity River, but the land was encroached upon by white settlers. At some point, the two tribes united into one, however, part of the tribe moved away and settled near Kidder, Louisiana.
The Alabama-Coushatta Indians were peaceful and lived in relative isolation and without government assistance for seventy years. Their land proved to be too poor to raise crops and the cost of modern machinery to help them expand was too expensive, so the tribal leaders looked for a better way to support the tribal members.
The Federal Government finally began to provide assistance, providing a hospital and school for the children and additional land. Although the aid was both needed and appreciated, there was still the fact that the tribe had no way to support itself. In order for the tribe to maintain its heritage and tradition, the tribal council worked out a plan to provide jobs and money for its members.
In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, the tribe opened its gates to tourism. Each June there is an annual powwow which demonstrates to visitors some of their native culture. Native dances are performed for the visitors, and handcraft items are displayed and sold. They began providing guided tours for those guests who admired the nature and a campsite was established for tourists to relax in the wild. The stands of virgin timber held mysteries to the city dwellers of Houston and other nearby cities. Unfortunately, the tribe no longer operates the camping facilities, gift shop or the guided tours. The yearly powwow is their major attraction now.
The opportunity for a real boom to their tribal economy and prosperity of the tribe came in 2001 when they opened their casino. For a life of only nine months, the casino brought in a million dollars per month. The unemployment on the reservation went down from 30 percent to a mere 3 percent.
The Louisiana branch of Alabama-Coushatta Indians has operated a casino successfully for years, and still maintains a prosperous business. The tribe has become quite wealthy. Unfortunately for the Texas branch, the then Texas Attorney General John Cornyn ruled the operation of a gambling facility was illegal, in spite of a ruling by the Supreme Court in 1987 which ruled that since federally recognized Indian tribes are considered sovereign entities, they could have casinos outside of state jurisdiction. The casino was shut down in 2002 and remains closed.
While their fellow tribe members in Louisiana prosper, the tribe in Texas is again dependent mostly on tourism and government assistance. These proud people are still treated as inferior in a nation which proclaims equality for all. The tribe now encompasses 4600 acres of mostly uninhabitable land. The leaders reinforce their native language and rituals to their children to preserve their heritage and instill pride.
How much longer can the influx of modern society further erode their efforts? Every year the young generation leaves the tribe in search of a better life. The reservation system in America was a form of mandated poverty. The out-of-sight out-of-mind policy of the early 1900’s is still in force today. The reservation is something that could be a positive to the nurturing of tribal life, has also isolated them and kept them at bay of a chance at prospering.
There is one tribal operated casino still in operation in Texas. It is located in the El Paso, Texas area and has been allowed to operate. Where is the fairness of the law when one casino is closed and the other is left open? The Bible belt citizens of East Texas are against gambling and have a large political clout.
An effort to reinstate gambling on the reservation was unsuccessful recently and it may be some time before another attempt will be pushed forward. Until then, the Indians are on their own.
To learn more about the Alabama-Coushatta Indians history, I am including a link below.
www.texasindians.com/albam.htm - Texas Indians
www.alabama-coushatta.com/ac/index.php - Tribal history
www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/007619.html - Tribe sues State over casino closing