Better transparency equals better citizenship
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| John A. Ketcher |
By John A. Ketcher
Former Tribal Councilor
I was pleased with the column “Poor Cherokees being left behind,” which was written by one of our Cherokee Phoenix staff writers, Will Chavez, in the November 2009 issue. I think we can be assured that the Cherokee Phoenix is a free press. Mr. Chavez wrote what a reporter should write, the true conditions as he sees them.
May I suggest that more citizens write of their concerns and let our Cherokee citizens know what their opinions are. We have so much at stake such as what happens to all of the Cherokee Nation’s money.
Do we really have a handle on this? I would like to find out if the creating of jobs in the communities as listed in the tribe’s “Where the Casino Money Goes” report is accurate. As for the number of Cherokees being employed, are they being trained for better jobs?
What better way to achieve transparency for the Cherokee Nation if the people we serve ask questions and the administration explains. Principal Chief Chad Smith stated he was proud of his record of Cherokee Nation transparency. However, I did have a disagreement about the lack of information on the negotiations with the Hard Rock Company.
As a voting citizen of the Cherokee Nation, I felt too little information was dangerous. I asked why there was so little information prior to signing with the group that did not want the Cherokee name alongside the Hard Rock logo and swiped the little town with a Cherokee name (Catoosa) off the marquee.
This move did not win any points with the Cherokees. We knew who they were going to be promoting.
Chief Smith must have misunderstood and is probably a little miffed at me. He said, and I agreed, that “we could not have all Cherokee citizens vote on every issue.” To this day no one has told me how much we are paying Hard Rock. To me it was the matter of transparency and it still is.
I also found it odd that the two Tribal Councilors from Dist. 1 (Bill John Baker and Tina Glory Jordan) or any other councilor from other districts had nothing to say about the business agreement. Perhaps term limits were occupying their minds.
It seems as though it is time to have a community meeting and invite potential leaders from each of those districts and develop leadership. Support these individuals with information and resources. If our people are still living the conditions of 70 to 80 years ago, we are not doing a better job than the Bureau of Indian Affairs was when we promised the U.S. Congress we could.
I am becoming uneasy about our status as a “favored nation” that allowed us to have gaming to supplement the dwindling federal appropriations. I am almost certain that this was not meant to be a permanent condition.
As the economy of the United States lays off more and more workers, one begins to see letters to the newspapers complaining about all the money the Indian nations are bringing in. One writer even suggested that all gaming tribes should send 50 percent of the take to the states.
I have no reason to believe that the federal government mandated how the tribes should spend their gaming monies. But I grant you if and when the monopoly in gaming we now enjoy ends, we will find out who the wise and smart tribes were.
When citizens lose faith in their government it is because conditions do not change. They lose hope. Rumors and stories circulate. Voting citizens are disgusted and will not participate in the Nation’s activities.
Perhaps this is why a whole community boycotted a recent meeting called by one of the local potential leaders. Word has it that only three community people showed up for a meeting in a nearby district. Several tribal department heads were present to make presentations. Word is not even the two councilors showed for the meeting.
If this proposed meeting came on the heels of the story in the Cherokee Phoenix about the group visit to California Cherokees by the council, administrations and employees, I can see why the community felt slighted.