American Indian Culture and Research Journal

One of the most important—and often most vexing—questions in Indian Country today concerns the creation of reservation economic bases, which produce necessary cash income while being culturally appropriate and sustainable. Casinos sometimes produce mountains of money as they transform parts of reservations into annexes of the non-Indian economy, with all of their imported artifices and vices. Thirty years ago, the New York Oneidas’ landholdings were down to thirty-two acres east of Syracuse, with almost no economic infrastructure. Three decades later, the New York Oneidas own a large casino, the Turning Stone, which has incubated a number of other business ventures. Many of the roughly 1,000 Oneidas who reside in the area have received substantial material benefits. There has been, however, a substantial dissident movement among Oneidas who assert that Ray Halbritter, “nation representative” of the New York Oneidas, was never voted into such an office. This group, centered in the Shenandoah family (which includes the notable singer Joanne Shenandoah and her husband Doug George-Kanentiio) believe that the New York Oneidas under Halbritter have established a business, called it a nation, and acquired the requisite approvals from New York State and the United States federal government to use this status to open the Turning Stone. The dissidents’ tribal benefits were eliminated after they took part in a “march for democracy.” To regain their benefits, those who had “lost their voice” were told that they would have to sign papers agreeing not to criticize Halbritter’s government, not to speak to the press, and to pledge allegiance to Halbritter and his regime.