Is there a generic Indian word for greed?

The jokesters call them "Katrina cottages" and there are 10,000 sitting empty in Hope, Ark. Ironically, these mobile homes now resting in the birthplace of former President Bill Clinton were bought by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (they bought 20,000 trailers for $440 million) to house the thousands of people left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, but only half of them were ever used.
The trailer debacle was just another mistake in the long list of mistakes chalked up by FEMA after Katrina. It seems that FEMA has established rules that disallow manufactured homes from being set up in a flood plain, and since New Orleans is below sea level, it is considered by FEMA itself as a flood plain.
But all of that aside, what would be the most advantageous way to make good use of the stranded house trailers? Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., has a great idea. Why not move them to where they are badly needed, say the Indian reservations? Many of the reservations in the west are housing poor. There are supposedly 90,000 families that are homeless or are living in substandard housing.
On reservations like the Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Crow Creek and Standing Rock, some homes hold as many as three families. People without a home see little hope for the future. Homelessness contributes greatly to the cycle of poverty so prevalent on Indian reservations in states like South Dakota.
The proposal by Johnson has merit. He has taken the time to visit Indian reservations in the west, particularly in his home state, and he has observed firsthand the horrific living conditions of so many Indian families.
Housing problems
I recall visiting the office of Andrew Cuomo when he was the head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington and scratching my head in wonder as Cuomo took me through the halls of HUD showing me the enlarged photos of the interiors and exteriors of the terrible housing problems on South Dakota's Indian reservations
Some of the photos showed the poverty stricken families sitting on makeshift beds that doubled as couches surrounded by all of the accoutrements of the very poor. All of the evidence of the harsh conditions existing on these reservations was there decorating the halls of HUD like so many trophies. Why even post these terrible photos? What purpose did they serve if nothing was being done to change the images?
The living conditions of the very poor Indians in states like South Dakota, compared to those very rich casino Indians, is analogous to people living in the poorest Third World country to those living in Beverly Hills, Calif. In fact, there is no comparison. Some Indian tribes are making so much money from their casinos that their members live in 4,000-square-foot mansions while in South Dakota many tribal members live in the worst squalor.
The very rich gaming tribes are not obligated to help their brothers and sisters on the poor reservations and in most cases, they don't. It bothers some of us greatly when we observe these rich tribes spending millions promoting boxing matches or buying professional women's basketball teams, or just squandering their money on golf courses and elaborate resorts.
And even when these rich tribes try to help, it sometimes causes more problems than even they anticipated. Case in point, the Shakopee Nation in Minnesota made a loan of $38 million to the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation recently. Perhaps the loan should have come to the tribe in the form of a grant because the entire financial obligations of the tribe to repay the loan was not explained thoroughly to the general population and once the rumor mills started chaos set in.
Sinking in debt
Tribal President Cecelia Fire Thunder requested the loan for all of the obvious reasons. The tribe was heavily in debt and sinking deeper every day. The loan would not only help the tribe lift itself up from the depths, but it would help them build an addition to their casino and, it is hoped, provide more income and jobs. As I said, these good intentions were not explained very well reservation-wide and soon rumors began to circulate that the tribal council and its president had put up the very land the tribe walked upon as collateral for the loan. Impeachment proceedings were started and Fire Thunder was suspended from office for 66 days.
Fire Thunder eventually set the record straight and her suspension was lifted, but all of this turmoil and loss of valuable time could have been prevented if the communications between the tribal government, the Shakopee and the people had been more specific. Although Shakopee's intent was good, the aftermath was not. With all of their millions Shakopee should have sent a delegation of public relations people to Pine Ridge to explain all of the intricacies of the loan, and when things turned so bad that Fire Thunder was nearly impeached, Shakopee should have intervened by removing the 6 percent interest rate it was charging the tribe for the loan, or by making the loan an outright grant.
Caring senator
All that aside, I commend Sen. Johnson for taking the initiative to find adequate housing for some of the poorest tribes in America and as I have written in the past, he is one of the very best friends the Indian people have in the U.S. Senate.
I also say shame on you to those rich tribes that squander billions on frivolity while their brothers and sisters live in extreme poverty. Is there a generic Indian word for greed?
Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is president of the Native American Journalists Foundation Inc. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.