There’ssomething a leader whose ancestors were driven from their homes wants others to understand about Oklahoma.
“This is our home,” said Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, the largest tribe in the U.S. “There’s not a risk that we’re going to move somewhere else.”
Nearly twocenturies have passed since the Indian Removal Act forced tribes from their ancestral lands and moved them into present-day Oklahoma. Since that upheaval, the tribes have rebounded to rebuild their lives,businessesand governments.
“When we were forcibly removed … that was destructive of our political system. It was destructive of the economy we had built,” Hoskin said. “So,restoring that ushered in the golden age of the Cherokee Nation.”
The tribes initiallywerehandcuffed economically and politically in their new homeland. But no more.
Today, the state’s 38tribes have created nearly 100,000 jobs and delivered a nearly $13 billion economic lift in 2017 to Oklahoma. The CherokeeNationalone, whichlost about 4,000 peopleon the Trail of Tears march into northeastern Oklahoma, now employs about 11,000 people and contributes more than $2 billion to the state economy, exerting an impact Hoskin described as “one of the biggest drivers of the economy in northeast Oklahoma.”
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Political power of Oklahoma tribes
And politicalclout? Today’s tribes enjoy monumental influence.
Thatcloutextends beyond the 30-plus Oklahoma Native Americanselectedor appointed to influential state and federal positions over the past two decades.
One of thosetribal members, Cherokee citizenand OklahomaGov. Kevin Stitt,got a dose ofthetribes’ political power shortly after taking office in January 2019.
Stittentered intoa high-stakes battle against his own tribe and others over how much casinos pay the state.But last July, a federal judge handed tribes a victory, ruling tribal compacts automatically renewed on Jan. 1, 2020, stopping Stitt from trying to renegotiate the current 4% to 10% fee on gambling revenue that tribes pay to exclusivelyoperatecasinos.
And the U.S. Supreme Court’s McGirt rulinginJuly 2020may be one of the greatest tribal sovereignty victoriesyet.Stitt called the decision “the most pressing issue for our state’s future.”
The courtultimately declareda 3-million-acre chunk of eastern Oklahoma, including much of Tulsa,remainsas an American Indian reservation.
“Anyone that thinks the McGirt decision is big, is understating how big it is,” Hoskin said.
The ruling is based on sex crimes allegedly committed on Oklahoma reservation land and tried in state court. The ramifications appear broader than just beefing upthetribes’ law enforcement and court systems to accommodate an influx of new cases. For example, the decision could potentially cutstatetax revenues up to $132 million yearly, the Oklahoma Tax Commission reports.
Hoskin saidthetribes’ key concern is whether the U.S. Congress will overreact anddisestablishthe reservation.
“We’ll make sure they don’t do that,” Hoskin said.
“We have also amassed quite a bit of political capital over the years,” he added. “And if there is atimewe need to use that, it is now.”
The tribes have built that political capital primarily through their 130 gaming operations dotting Oklahoma’s landscape. The facilities range from an annex to a gas station to casino resorts featuring live entertainment, luxurious hotel rooms and glittering Las Vegas-style games.
Last fiscal year, despite coronavirus shutdowns, American Indian tribes collected$2.04 billionin revenue from their casinos.
Tribes' tremendous social impact in Oklahoma
Fueled by casino revenue, the tribes have not only built schools,hospitalsand clinics for their people but also banks, pharmacies, small business support, fiber-optic networksandhomes andcreatedjobs thatbenefit American Indians and non-American Indians alike.
Andthat’snot all.
“We could have many of our major industries to shut down. But if we ever lost our tribal government, I really feel like the impact would be devastating to the state of Oklahoma,” said Janet Reed, executive director of Durant Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Choctaw Nationbuilt its headquarters, culturalcenterand newly expanded casino resort in Durant.
The Nationis the city’s biggest employer, accounting for about 3,500 jobs, Reed said. Most of those employees report to the Choctaw Casino and Resort, where another 1,000 jobs are expected to be added by the time the casino’s new, 1,000-room tower 19-story tower opens this spring.
“Locally, they have made a tremendous impact on our community,” Reed said. “As they have continued to grow their business, it has allowed us to continue to grow our community.”
Across the state, Native Americans are sharing the wealth with non-Native Americans by payingnearly $123 millionin casino exclusivity fees to Oklahoma in fiscal 2020, with most earmarked for public education.
Tribes also have invested an estimated $200 million in highway improvement projects across the state. The Cherokee Nation already has a health care system serving1.4 million peopleandrecentlyopened the nation’s first tribally affiliated college of medicine in Tahlequah in partnership with Oklahoma State University.
Hoskin said the medical school is trainingbadly neededdoctors for rural areas.
Beyond the flagship Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa in Catoosa, the Cherokee Nation has helped countless businesses in rural Oklahoma.One business is Tahlequah-based Backwoods Food Manufacturing Inc.,started by Mike Coursey and his wife, Danielle, in 1998 as a side gig making gift baskets.
With the help of $350,000 in loans from the Cherokee Nation, Backwoods has grown to become a co-packer for more than 70 companies shipping products across the U.S. and overseas.
OtherOklahoma tribes have created or assisted numeroussmall businesses across the state. Recently, a Chickasaw Nation small business partnered with another business to land a $223 million contract toprovidecomponents for rocket-propelled vehicles for the Navy.
The Chickasaw Nation is well positioned to create and grow such businesses, thanks tothe world’s biggest casino.The tribe’s stable of 21 casinos includes WinStar World Casino, just off Interstate 35 in the small town of Thackerville, population about 440. WinStar offers anearly 400,000square-foot gaming floor with more than 8,500 electronic games.
But sometimes the smallest tribal investments attract the biggest fans.
McSwain Theatre rises again in Ada
McSwain Theatre may lack some of the WinStarglitz, but the theater’s old-fashioned glamour draws eager crowds, said manager Jae L. Stilwell.
Back in 1920, Ada area residents clamoring for post-World War I entertainment swarmed the grand, three-story theatre towatchsilent films.
Over the years, the theater transitioned to “talkies,” and went on to host several big world premieres. The most remarkable was the 1946 film premiere, Home in Oklahoma, starring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. The stars’ appearance drew such crowds that 40-cent ticketsreportedly soldfor as much as $5 on the local black market.
Stilwell’s uncle, Paul Alford, bought the theater in the early 1990s. He encouraged Stilwell to take to the theater’s stage with her bandandbook other musicians. For 10 years, music stars such as Ada-native Blake Shelton, and Pake and Susie McEntire, siblings of Reba McEntire, performed on the McSwain stage.
But the theater’s curtains nearly closed forever two decades ago.
“The Chickasaw Nation came in and saved the day,” Stilwell said.
Chickasaw Gov. Bill Anoatubby visited the theater as a child.Soafter Alford passed away in 2002, the tribe bought the McSwain and began the theater’s third renovation to restore its grand Spanish mission style.
Due tothecoronaviruspandemic, Stilwell holds virtual performances every third Saturday on Facebook and on the McSwain website. But Stilwell said the movies and live entertainment soonwillhave the theater rock 'n' rolling again, something she says would have been impossible without tribal help.
“The business could not have survived,” Stilwellsaid,“had it not been for the Chickasaw Nation.”
