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Yellow Bird: Are the Pequots really a tribe?
Tuesday, November 2, 2004

"The influence of Indian gaming probably is the reason I am seeing a new kind of Indian. For example, the tribal chairman from the Mashantucket Pequot, whom I saw at the press conference, looked black rather than Native American. His aide did, too.

I realize that for the past 20 or so years, I haven't gotten out much past Canada and the states surrounding North Dakota. The Indian people in this area usually are Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, Chippewa or from the Three Affiliated Tribes - Arikara, Mandan and Hidatsa. And I absolutely know there are Native Americans who are mixed blood; I have blond grandchildren, for example. But these two Pequot men certainly turned my head when they walked into the room. Since that press conference, I have paid more attention to Indian gaming issues.

Have these newly recognized tribes arisen solely for federal programs and the gaming business?"

Get the Story:
DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: On the 'Indianness' of Indians (The Grand Forks Herald 11/2)

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