The Key Word is R-E-S-P-E-C-TRespect is a word an Indian could never expect to hear in the towns bordering their reservations. But it is amazing the amount of respect that money can buy. Those ragtag Indians scraping by on little or nothing now have an abundance of cash in their pockets. Or at least some of them do. Those casino dollars now make the Indian people much sought after consumers. They can now buy new furniture; clothing, automobiles, appliances and they can now open bank accounts.
I recall that not too long ago when I owned a weekly newspaper one of my advertising sales people went into a local carpet store to solicit an ad for the paper. The haughty sales manager quipped, "Oh, I didn't know Indians had carpets in their tee pees."
From a lady who prepared taxes for the IRS my sales lady heard, "Well, I know that Indians don't pay taxes," and from a local new car dealership, "Your readers just don't have the credit to buy our new cars," and finally from the manager of an upscale department store, "I don't think your readers are the kind of people that would be comfortable in our store." As Rodney Dangerfield used to say, "No respect, I don't get no respect."Comment: Giago says his views on casinos have changed 180 degrees. But it's not clear he has any new information. It seems he finally noticed what gaming proponents have been saying for at least a decade. Namely, that gaming lets Indians join the economic mainstream.
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