FACTOID: CALIFORNIA USED TO PAY A 25 CENTS BOUNTY, EVENTUALLY RAISED TO $5, FOR EACH SCALP OF AN INDIAN

By Bob Walsh

There are two more-or-less competing ballot propositions in CA this November, Prop 26 and Prop 27.  Both would legitimize sports betting in CA.  Depending on who you listen two one or the other would give tens of millions of dollars to "solve" homelessness and drug addiction in CA, would send 100s of millions of dollars OUT of CA to large sports betting corporations, would aid small, impoverished Native American Tribes, would aid large, wealthy Native American tribes or would turn 11-year olds into degenerate gamblers.  Who you gonna believe?

All that being said, here are a few facts.  There are currently about 770,000 self-described Native Americans living in CA.  When Anglo settlers first started moving into CA there were roughly 200,000 Native Americans in the whole state.  There are right now a tad over 100 federally recognized native tribes in CA.  The smallest has five members.  The largest has over 6,000.  There are "several dozen" native reservations within the state.  Early on CA paid a bounty of 25 cents for a Native scalp.  That eventually went up to $5.  Somebody finally figured out that was pretty reprehensible and the practice stopped.