Schwarzenegger Makes Casino Expansion Racial: "the Indians are Ripping us Off"

• says "the Indians are Ripping us Off"
  

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a warning for state voters: "The Indians are ripping us off." Schwarzenegger has taken up the line to convince them to reject a tribe-backed initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot that would allow rapid expansion of American Indian casinos in the nation's most populous state and derail the governor's own effort to manage casino growth. Some critics say the governor is going too far with his campaign -- tapping a deep vein of hostility that dates back to the settlers' conquest of the U.S. West. "His statement touches on racism," said Virgil Moorehead, chairman of the Big Lagoon Rancheria tribe in northern California. "It's so uneducated and so far-fetched to say that we are ripping off the state." Added Victor Rocha, an American Indian who edits a Web site related to casino gambling: "I don't think it is racist but it sure fans the flames of racism by going and saying that and just having that type of hatred of Native Americans." [more ]