Editorial

CERA rears its ugly head. Win or lose, it is time for CasinoFacts to disavow them and their message once and for all!

7/27/07 (updated 7/28/07) I had no intention of writing another editorial today, but after reading an article in The Enterprise today I feel compelled to do so.

I didn't think the reporter planned to quote me in an article about CERA. Had I been asked I surely wouldn't have bothered talking about Harry Potter when asked what I planned to do at the Town Meeting.

That is hardly the important part of this article.

The article said that the national president of CERA, Elaine Willman had been talking to members of CasinoFacts. I had no idea that Elaine Willman was either here or talking on the phone to CasinoFacts. If she was here it shows how important they think this is. This woman is considered by those who study anti-Indian sovereignty groups like Public Eye and the Montana Human Rights Network to be notoriously anti-Indian rights. Some Indian publications go as far as to liken them to hate groups.

It also said that Carol Kelly (or Kelley) was coming to meetings, and we know this to be true. If Carol Kelly had been involved with CasinoFacts members, formally or informally, this should be forthrightly admitted. Since the article said she plans to be at the Town Meeting (or try to be there) holding a sign it certainly seems to me that the member of a group identified as being racist certainly is trying to create a presence. One person, if that person is unique in who they represent can in my opinion be a presence.

The quote from Carol Kelly that CERA has no position on the casino and no plans to get involved is an outright lie as she has been a supporter of the anti-casino group and has come to a number of meetings here and expressed positions against the tribe's desire to have a casino in Middleboro.

CERA is known nationally for getting involved in communities where tribes are attempting to develop casinos as a way to get their anti-Indian sovereignty message noticed.

I question the attempt at distancing CasinoFacts from CERA coming from Jim Reynolds saying that his organization "has no official connections to CERA, but he wouldn't be surprised if there were some “instigators” at the meeting." If CasinoFacts felt strongly about CERA they would have done what I urged in an editorial (link below), that is, repudiated their racist message and stated unequivocally that they had no association PERIOD with them. From this Enterprise article, they do have an "association" with them. The question is how deep does it go?

Read:

A call for CasinoFacts to repudiate bigotry, prejudice and hate and any connection with a national group called by a major Indian magazine "The Ku Klux Klan of Indian country"

Here's a reference I just found: The New Terminators: A Guide to the Anti-Sovereignty Movement