The Meskwaki and Anthropologists: Action Anthropology Reconsidered

Epilogue

Epilogue More than five decades after the first University of Chicago anthropology students came to the Meskwaki settlement, much had changed in the community. And much had not. Some issues that had bedeviled the community in the 1940s remained to be settled. New ones emerged. Old ones re-emerged in slightly different form. The tribal council government created under the auspices of the Indian Reorganization Act functioned for several decades as the undisputed legal authority on the settlement. It oversaw a growing Meskwaki fiefdom that included a profitable tribal casino, bingo operation , hotel, and convenience store. The largest employer in Tama County, the gambling operation and hotel employed more than 1,250 people. The hereditary chief, Jack Old Bear’s son, Charlie, remained an important symbol on the settlement, though he held only a janitorial position in the tribal center.1 Along with prosperity the gambling operation also apparently brought temptation. In October 2002 Meskwaki residents signed petitions recalling the entire tribal council, complaining, “They were not listening to the people.” Members of the community accused the elected council of holding closed meetings, hiring relatives, and behaving like dictators. The council accepted the petitions but refused to schedule recall elections and fired top tribal employees. The tribe’s constitution, adopted under the Indian Reorganization Act, had no judicial system to operate as a check against the council and no other provisions for situations in which the council defied the constitution. At a contentious community meeting, Charlie Old Bear rose and announced that he would appoint a new council. He 276 epilogue did, and the new council took over the tribal center and the casino, reinstated the fired employees, and took up the reins of government, on the strength of a petition signed by 60 percent of adult tribal members. The elected council members, however, remained in office, if not in charge, and refused to recognize the appointed council.2 The elected council and appointed council remained in a stalemate after the U.S. District Court refused to take jurisdiction in the case, in recognition of Meskwaki sovereignty, which the tribe has so jealously guarded for years. The Bureau of Indian Affairs also refused to intervene, but by doing so continued to recognize the elected council. Meskwaki sovereignty counted for nothing, however, when it came to the decisions of state and federal agencies that regulate the tribe’s casino. The National Indian Gaming Regulatory Commission threatened to close down the Meskwaki casino if the elected council was not put back in control. Further pressure to settle the matter came from allegations that the chairman of the elected tribal council had pressured the tribe’s lobbyist for kickbacks. After a series of negotiations, the competing councils appeared to be moving toward agreement on holding elections in late spring of 2003, to be supervised by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In the meantime auditors for the state of Iowa pressed for reinstatement of the elected council by threatening to terminate the tribe’s compact with the state that permits gambling on the settlement.3 Unfortunately, an agreement on elections never materialized. The appointed council held elections, but the elected council would not recognize the results, and neither would the bia. With the federally recognized elected council not in charge of the casino, the National Indian Gaming Commission ordered the establishment closed. Federal marshals enforced the order, and gambling stopped. The closure put more than 1,250 people out of work and stopped the flow of $3 million a week in gross revenue into the tribal accounts. White observers were stunned that the Meskwaki would let the casino close and lose its revenue rather than compromise their principles in the dispute. Chairs at the casino’s slot machines and black jack tables stayed epilogue 277 vacant, however, until the regularly scheduled tribal elections were held in October. Meskwaki voters tossed out the elected council members who were up for re-election and approved the recall of the four others whose terms were not yet expiring. At a special election in November, those four were replaced. In both elections Meskwaki voters chose the council members appointed by Charlie Old Bear. The Bureau of Indian Affairs recognized the election results, once again putting a federally recognized council in charge of the casino. After an audit the National Indian Gaming Commission allowed the casino to reopen on December 31, 2003.4 Throughout...