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Don't confuse Native cultures

To the editor,

I'm sure Jennifer Redhorse means well with her crusade to promote good old Christian morals and doctrine, but I had a few problems with her letter. The letter Ms. Redhorse was responding to was written by Wileen Begat, who happens to be Navajo. In her condemnation of the "hell-on-earth-institution of the Desert Diamond Casino," and all those involved in that institution, Ms. Redhorse may have overlooked the fact that there is not one casino on the entire Navajo reservation.

Ms. Redhorse asked if "those Native Americans involved in the Desert Diamond Casino" could call their industry moral. Well, I would suggest she take that up with someone involved with that casino, or with casinos in general. Ms. Redhorse humbly asked Wileen Begay to "please stop your hypocrisy and stop preaching morality ... " I failed to get the sermon on morality out of Ms. Begay's letter (I'll take a closer look, out of respect for Ms. Redhorse's obvious expertise on the subject), but I can tell you what I got out of Ms. Redhorse's letter. I saw the common generalization that all Native Americans and their cultures are generic and inferior to the "moral" ruling class that has oppressed Natives and other minorities for centuries. I also found elements of this sentiment in the editorial that prompted Wileen Begay's letter, and in the "workshop" and "ceremony" held by Lewis Mehl-Madrona that prompted the mentioned editorial, and I anxiously await the forthcoming letters soaked with this sentiment.

Travis Dotson

Tucson resident