"This week, we're going to take a look around Indian Country in New York. Taxing native smoke shops have grabbed headlines lately. But we're going to look deeper at some of the political, economic, and social trends shaping New York's native tribes and nations.

Today, the Seneca Nation, south of Buffalo. Casinos and tobacco sales have turned it from an empoverished territory to one of the top ten employer in western New York.

The Nation's new president, Robert Odawi Porter, has taken a lead role in negotiating native issues with the Cuomo Administration.

Porter wants the Senecas to go beyond smoke shops and slot machines. He's a Harvard-educated lawyer and academic. And he wants to recast one of the darkest moments of the Seneca people into an economic boon. David Sommerstein has this profile.

To understand the modern Seneca Nation – and its president of 9 months, Robert Odawi Porter - start here, in Allegany, one of the Seneca’s two territories in southwestern New York near the Pennsylvania border. A paved road turns to dirt and disappears into the woods."

Get the Story:
Seneca president redefining native leadership (North County Public Radio 8/8)