"The Native woman and the casino
was a match made in a boardroom,
somewhere long ago.
Where else is there for her to go?
Where else can she pair seeds and beads around her neck,
dangle stones from ears without becoming a history teacher
to the white eyes that lay upon her?
Where else will they allow Native matriarchs
to command the room?
America takes power.
Grandmothers foster their right to rule
in the sea of whiteness that is corporate America.
Craving, understanding, silenced by history bound to it,
Shackled to soda-stained seats for slot machines,
The Native woman and the casino.
Where do other people go
to live and breathe their communities, to be seen
and to see?
At the casino, they know her by her mother.
They tell her that her father is a good man.
And each one really will love her for her.
She reminds them of their selves
when they look her in the eyes.
It is a quiet acknowledgment
of the weighted history that brings us to this neon place
three generations at a time.
Day shift swings, overnights,
glass ceilings covered by a paper sky
that keep us reaching for the stars
beneath the reign of a work from home white woman
who strolls along a beach or a hill
or a high class city street
because she is not bound to this corner of the valley
like the Native woman and the casino."
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]