One of the clues in Backwater Glades is handed to Kurt in the form of a list of names with percentages next to each. He’s not sure if it’s a red herring or good intel, but like a good detective he follows up on it.
The list leads him down several roads before he finally understands it—at least as it pertains to the case. Its meaning becomes apparent pretty quickly, so no worries about spoilers here.
A good part of the story takes place in the Everglades, which is heavily populated by Native Americans, specifically the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes. With their reservations adjacent to millions of people in South Florida, they are both involved in casinos.
I didn’t intend to go this route with the story, which started with a run-in with a Park Service volunteer about taking our dog in a kayak. But doing some research (AKA random browsing) I came across an article in Forbes Magazine, titled “An Alligator Wrestler, A Casino Boss, and a 12 Billion Dollar Tribe.” The piece highlights James Billie, the chief who opened the door for the 33 billion-dollar Indian gambling industry. The article has enough stuff for its own book, but one of the takeaways was that each member of the Seminole tribe received $128,000 per year at the time of publication as a dividend.
So what makes someone a member of the tribe?
Blood quantum was a system initially instituted in the early 1900s that the federal government placed on tribes in an effort to limit their citizenship. The plan was to breed the Indian out of the Indians. Now, the system is used as a measure of inclusion.
Instead of using lineal decent, where if your parents are enrolled in the tribe, their offspring automatically is, the tribes use the percentage of Indian blood. There are even online blood quantum calculators. Having a child with a non-member can dilute the child’s blood to the point of exclusion. When a comfortable living wage is at stake, this can lead to problems—and a good motive for a murder mystery.
To be a member of the Seminole Tribe and receive the yearly dividend, a person must be 1/4 Seminole. The Miccosukee require 1/2. I did fudge the numbers in the story to make it more interesting, but the premise is based on fact.
Thank you
I read every one of your novels!