Tohono O'odham: Encyclopedia II - Tohono O'odham - The Present

Tohono O'odham - The Present

Now numbering over 24,000 enrolled members, the Tohono O'odham Nation gains most of its income from its two Desert Diamond casinos. This source of income is barely a decade old. It has paid for the tribe's first fire department, but the casinos cannot cover tribal members' numerous basic needs. Housing, emergency services, medical, and educational needs require expensive infrastructure, including transportation, personnel, and technology.

The proximity of the U.S.-Mexico border incurs further costs to the tribal government. Many of the thousands of people crossing the Sonoran desert to work in U.S. agriculture or to smuggle controlled substances, seek emergency assistance from the Tohono O'odham police when they become dehydrated or get stranded. On the ground, Border Patrol emergency rescue and tribal EMT coordinate and communicate. However, the tribe pays a disproportionate amount of the bills for border-related law enforcement and emergency services. The governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, and Tohono O'odham government leaders have repeatedly requested that the Federal government repay the state and the tribe for the costs of border-related emergencies.

Reimbursement could significantly help tribal members. Since the 1960s, adult-onset diabetes has become commonplace among tribal members. Half to three-quarters of all adults are diagnosed with the disease, and about a third of the tribe's adults require regular medical treatment. Federal medical programs have failed to prevent or minimize the devastating effects of the disease.

Rather than await the "quick fix" diabetes cure, which medical authorities have promised to develop for 30 years, tribal members have turned to traditional foods and traditional games for inexpensive, effective, management of the disease. The cultural resources of the Tohono O'odham are endangered -- particularly the language -- but are stronger than those of many other Native American nations in the United States.

Over the past fifteen years, a cultural revitalization of traditional basket weaving, the native language, desert foods, and traditional games, have gained momentum. Elder Danny Lopez and the nonprofit organization TOCA (Tohono O'odham Community Action) have been at the forefront of these movements. Each February, the Sells Rodeo and Parade is held in the capital of the Nation. The rodeo has been an annual event for 80 years.

In the visual arts, Michael Chiago and the late Leonard Chana have gained widespread recognition for their paintings and drawings of traditional O'odham activities and scenes. Chiago has exhibited at the Heard Museum and has contributed cover art to Arizona Highways magazine and University of Arizona Press books; Chana illustrated books by Tucson writer Byrd Baylor and created murals for Tohono O'odham Nation buildings.

At the National Museum for the American Indian (NMAI), the Tohono O'odham were represented in the founding exhibition. Mr. Lopez blessed the exhibit. In 2004, the Heard Museum awarded Danny Lopez its first heritage award, recognizing his lifelong work sustaining the desert people's way of life.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Present", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki