So we weren’t going to find readily available press releases saying how much they have earned and how the earnings were distributed or spent tribe by tribe. Most of them treat the details of their casino operations as trade secrets. Eleven Indian tribes operate 18 casinos scattered across Minnesota. I found a wealth of news reports and studies marking the 10-year anniversary of the big casino-opening boom in Minnesota and other states. So I hit the Internet looking for material that might inform our search. When you partner with a teacher, you have to do your homework. Typically the stories were about natives who were proud but sad, desperately poor but stubbornly hopeful. As a former northern Minnesota correspondent for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, I covered pre-casino life on Indian reservations for years. What do I bring to the project? History, maybe. In other words, he approaches the subject with keen personal interest but also with some detachment. But he had never set foot on the White Earth reservation until last summer.

He’s fascinated by Indian life and culture. What’s great about working with him on this project is his rare perspective. Steve also is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, one of Minnesota’s largest Indian bands. And the best way to introduce Steve along with this project is to show an introductory video: On the side, though, he’s an independent filmmaker and video journalist.

Steve’s day job is teaching school in Minneapolis. So MinnPost’s editors gave Steve Date and me the summer and fall to search for answers. At least 100,000 Indians live in Minnesota, and their status is an important piece of the state’s economic, social and historic fabric. More than idle curiosity drives the questions. Are the stories broadly true? Did casino gambling propel Indians into enviable wealth or at least into solid middle-class prosperity? Did it give Minnesota’s Indians better lives with more control over their economies and their destinies? Did it restore cultural pride and empower their tribal governments to move effectively toward self-determination for a new generation of Indians?

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