By ROBERT JUMPER
One Feather Editor
The craziness of the holiday season is upon us. Here at the Tribe, everyone starts gearing up for gearing down around this time. Everyone knows that it is time to line up all those projects that can be processed and implemented before the calendar year ends need to be worked on with a soon endgame in mind, and those with little chance of finishing in 2023 must be prepped for the holiday pause so that they may be cranked back up when critical services like EBCI (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) Finance return from the holiday break.
As much as I love innovation, youth, and fresh ideas, I must admit to a little bit of peace in knowing that the leadership both in the Executive Office and the Tribal Council are not new to the game. I have great admiration for our Chief, Vice Chief, and Tribal Council members; those now sitting and those who have gone before them. I have written about my respect and appreciation of Principal Chief Leon Jones in the past, so I won’t rehash that, except to say that he exemplified a leader who took ownership of the position to include accountability for the decisions made during his administration both directly and indirectly. It is just me, but I like that in a leader. And, yes, I know everyone has their faults.
When I came in to work for the Tribe, I was in awe of the whole of tribal governmental business. People in those positions represented the whole of the governance of a sovereign nation, and I looked at those, holding them as heroes. After all, they hold positions of high authority and the reins of the economic engine and community creation. What we look like, what we are as a tribe, depends mainly on the decisions of those fourteen individuals in the seats of governmental power.
We seem to be in an economic slump. In the last eight to ten years, there has been some added emphasis on the outside development of our tribe. Diversification and off-boundary development before the mid-2010s was a concept that did not sit well with our people. It still doesn’t with some. But to sustain our communal independence, outside economic engine building is essential. Despite what you may have heard, we do not have the buildable space to house all the tribal members who want to live on the Boundary (in a fashion that would universally be desirable, not everyone wants to live in an apartment), and devote space to businesses that will provide sustainable jobs and generate the type of income that our members have become accustomed to since the launch of adult gaming in the late 1990s. Some of the campaign rhetoric became almost unbearable in the election of 2023 with accusations, innuendos, and vitriol. Oh, the preface of any negativity would always be that they were saying all of it in “respect and love”, but the words and deeds would be much less than respect and love.
The nature of my job is to be objective. That means that building relationships can be a touchy proposition. Even though I don’t have extreme political ties, I often am accused of favoring this politician or that one. If a person gets negative media coverage, they immediately claim the paper has some sort of an agenda that targets them, or they assume that we are playing for the “other team”. Most governmental elections are based on popularity, not necessarily qualifications. And when you publish information, no matter how true and accurate, about something that might damage a person’s popularity, there is a good chance that it will be seen as some sort of personal vendetta. It is not fun to know that some people will dislike you just for reporting the truth, but it really is part of the job if you are going to do it right and with integrity. And, as a tribal member, it brings me no joy to report something bad about another tribal member.
Speaking of the bad things one must report to the people, you will note that we are increasing our focus on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement, particularly in our community. In my opinion, the Cherokee One Feather’s mission is, as Chapter 75 describes it, “to publish news articles and other materials and information judged by the editorial staff to have general value to the Cherokee community. Such news articles shall include a resume of Tribal Council business, Executive Committee, and Business Committee actions and action taken by other Tribal committees, boards, and enterprises.” In Chapter 75 subsection 54, the Tribe further charges the One Feather to “publish weekly to report news, gatherings, and newspaper related issues as well as provide a forum for all views of the Cherokee people.” In other words, the One Feather should reflect the interests and views of the members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
That last statement is why we have worked very hard to build outlets for members of the community and readership to have their say. A decade ago, the One Feather could only be viewed in print, which meant that you had to have the gumption to sit down and write out your thoughts to be submitted for consideration for publication. Those submissions were heavily scrutinized by a single middle manager with the authority to disallow any “negative” viewpoint. It was a very unhealthy situation for both the tribal government and the tribal community. Since those times, we have worked with the government to provide the One Feather with more freedoms that ultimately are passed to you, the reader. The biggest investment and improvement was to codify a hierarchy that would eliminate unnecessary levels of management over the paper. The current structure puts the paper under the collective control of the Principal Chief, Vice Chief, and the Editorial Board. This allows direct communication with top tribal leadership regarding administrative decisions for the paper. The Tribal Council controls the organizational structure and budget of the One Feather. This basic diversification of governmental power over the One Feather helps ensure that the intent of the Cherokee Code is fulfilled, that the One Feather “shall be independent from any influence and free of any particular political interest. It is the duty of the press to report without bias the activities of the Tribe, the tribal government, and any and all news of interest to have informed citizens.” (Cherokee Code Sec. 75-53)
And that is why we do what we do. At the government’s direction and following existing law, we work toward the autonomy of the Cherokee One Feather. It is not that we dislike or try to remove power from the governing bodies of the tribe, because even if we have personal disagreements with individuals, we would not, as a staff and board, permit that to influence reporting or editorial decisions. Our bias would be a violation of the Code, just as it would be in the case of political influence.
So, we have pushed to get away from the idea of one person controlling the articles, commentary, and other content of the paper. While I must necessarily act as a gatekeeper for the One Feather, the entire team (One Feather staff and Editorial Board) has input and provides collective guidance on policy and procedures. Many of the decisions made at the One Feather are made by a group as opposed to an individual. We all play a supporting role in each other’s projects. And when we are short-staffed (which can be a bear of an issue when we operate with a staff of five, one person absent represents a twenty percent increase in the team’s overall workload) it impacts productivity for all.
As a team, we have increased the voice of the community and readership to record heights. Once reaching an estimated 5,000 people with 3,000 print issues, the Cherokee One Feather, in addition to the print delivery, reached hundreds of thousands of people via the website (www.theonefeather.com), Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It is not uncommon for the paper’s social media materials to be seen by 300,000 to a million readers each month. From reports to letters to the editor, voices are being heard loudly and equally, from the top government officials to the tribal college student in California to the elders eating lunch at Tsali Manor, all have an equal voice and right to be heard in the Cherokee One Feather. At the paper, we like to think of it as documenting the tribe’s history as it happens. Part of that history are those commentaries, letters to the editor, social media posts, comments, and surveys. Taken collectively, they paint a picture of who we are.
We are proud and thankful for the work we have done alongside the Tribal Council, Executive Committee, tribal members, and you, the readership. We continue to strive to make the Cherokee One Feather the media outlet that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians wants and will be proud of.
