Montini: Politicians treating herd better than tribe

I received a call recently from a member of the Tonoho O’dham Nation who was disappointed I had not made the connection between his tribe and the wild horses at the Salt River.

“You’ve written many things about our tribe’s casino issue (in Glendale) and many things about the horses,” he said. “Think about the connection. The politicians don’t want us to build a casino on trust land that we own, saying that we don’t belong there. But then those same politicians fight to keep the forest service from rounding up the Salt River horses, which the government says don’t belong there. Why do these politicians treat a herd of horses better than a tribe? And who are these politicians to say, anyway? Native people were here first. Then horses. Then the U.S. government. I thought for sure you would pick up on this.”

I should have.

Because he is correct.

Following a public outcry over the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to relocate free-roaming horses near the Salt River, members of Arizona’s congressional delegation, along with Gov. Doug Ducey, sprang into action.

Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake sent a letter to the Tonto National Forest supervisor and the director of the Arizona Department of Agriculture, asking them to delay the relocation plan. They were joined by members of the House of Representatives and by the governor.

“Wild horses are an integral part of the history of the America’s West,” said Rep. Matt Salmon in a statement.

And it’s true.

They are.

Then again, native people also are an integral part of the history of the American West. And they continue to make the desert Southwest their home.

We are the newcomers.

Back in 1986, Congress passed legislation meant to compensate the Tohono O’dham for land that was flooded by a federal government project. The land the tribe purchased afterwards is outside the tribe’s traditional borders, but that doesn’t make it any less their land. Tribal land.

So they are building a casino on it.

This upsets the politicians. And the arguments used by Sen. McCain and others – who are trying to block the casino by way of federal legislature and other measures – sound very much like the language used by those who want to relocate the Salt River horses.

There is a holier-then-thou tone from elected officials about the tribe and its casino not belonging there.

There is a we-know-what’s-best-for-you superiority about it. A measure of condescension.

In his statements against the casino Gov. Doug Ducey accused the Tohono O'odham of a pattern of "fraud, fraudulent concealment and misrepresentation."

Other politicians have used the same argument.

How nervy is that? Representatives of the U.S. government with the gall and the historical ignorance to accuse a native tribe of not being forthright and honest.

As if the U.S. government has honored treaties.

"The irony is enormous," Rep. Raul Grijalva told me a while back. "But the risk to taxpayers – a billion dollars (should the casino be stopped and the tribe sue) – that's even more enormous."

The Tohono O’dham made a clever move. They outfoxed the government’s lawyers and now the politicians want to pass laws to stop them from opening the casino. If they pass a law there will be a lawsuit.

Meantime, the Gila River Indian Community and the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, each with their own casinos, also are trying to stop the Tohoo O’dham. I get that. Tribal rivalries go back to a time before the rest of us arrived.

The argument belongs with them. We should leave it with them.

They were here first, even before the horses.