By ROBERT JUMPER
Tutiyi (Snowbird) and Clyde, N.C.
I question the transparency of government a bunch. Questioning the government isn’t always the healthiest thing for a career in tribal government. It is a testament to the progress made in both our government and the tribal media that we can now ask the relevant questions, even to the discomfort and displeasure of government, and seek answers from government without the imminent possibility of being fired or being reassigned to a remote closet office in the Ginger Lynn Welch building, shuffling blank paper. Fulfilling the hopes of our forefathers expressed in Chapter 75 of the Cherokee Code is much more a reality than it was, say, a decade ago.
Could we go backward? Sure. However, the current trend is one of increased community involvement and a stronger community voice. And that involvement and voice need an outlet; the self-same government in an earlier version of Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) put in place the Cherokee One Feather and the Free Press Act. A colleague, long before I came to the One Feather, reminded me that the tribal newspaper belongs to the community, and that is who we should report to and for.
So, we fight for transparency. Not because we are nosey or want to expose anything or anybody. It is our firm belief and guiding policy that you, the Principal People, are the owners and purveyors of all things tribal, including culture, language, history, land, and family. You own it. All the houses, buildings, land, water, wind, fire, and air of the Qualla Boundary. Rights are what the Creator gives you, not the government. Governments are designed to be in a servant role to the people. To you. Governments facilitate the expectations of the community. And because we all own what is called Cherokee, we should have access to all the information, especially those things that will determine our livelihood and way of life.
Information and decision-making fall to you, the members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. You made a significant statement in the September election. I don’t know the intricacies of each community, but 42% of the “seats of power” have new bodies in them, representing 38% of the weighted vote. Female representation on the Dinilawigi went from zero to 33 percent of the seats. The community spoke and spoke loudly. Just what is being said by the community will play out over the next two years.
Now that we have decided on leadership, we are done, right? Wait, there is more to do. And it may be the hardest part of our responsibilities as community members. We must PAY ATTENTION!
In 2015, Kevin Mcspadden wrote the following brief article titled “You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish”. In Time magazine, this is what Mcspadden reported, “The average attention span for the notoriously ill-focused goldfish is nine seconds, but according to a new study from Microsoft Corp., people now generally lose concentration after eight seconds, highlighting the effects of an increasing digitalized lifestyle on the brain.
“Researchers in Canada surveyed 2,000 participants and studied the brain activity of 112 others using electroencephalograms (EEGs). Microsoft found that since the year 2000 (or about when the mobile revolution began) the average attention span dropped from 12 seconds to eight seconds. ‘Heavy multi-screeners find it difficult to filter out irrelevant stimuli-they’re more easily distracted by multiple streams of media,’ the report said.
“On the positive side, the report says our ability to multitask has drastically improved in the mobile age. Microsoft theorized that the changes were a result of the brain’s ability to adapt and change itself over time and a weaker attention span may be a side effect of evolving to a mobile Internet. The survey also confirmed generational differences for mobile use; for example, 77 percent of people aged 18-24 responded ‘yes’ when asked ‘When nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone’, compared to only 10 percent of those over the age of 65.”- https://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish
Disclaimer: Some subsequent studies have contradicted this report. However, from personal experience, I know that there is a high likelihood that many of our readers have difficulty with focusing on an article until the end. In fact some of our studies have shown that some folks don’t read past the headline. When the tribe was struggling with the expansion of alcohol, having a failed referendum on the issue due to low voter turnout, the One Feather put out a survey asking the community about support for expansion of alcohol on the Boundary, several readers became irate and commented that they thought alcohol had been voted down and why was the tribe going ahead with it anyway. They missed the fact that it was not an article but a survey asking their opinion on the subject. They didn’t have enough of an attention span to read and understand a survey question that was two sentences long. That was several years ago. Every week since then, there will be those who comment on an article or commentary having read the headline and not the content of the piece. We will post information on the media feeds with all the pertinent information and invariably readers will ask for information that is in the same post that they are commenting on. My guess is that, since the Microsoft study was done a decade ago, that our overall attention span has gotten even shorter since our dependence on digital mobility has increased dramatically since 2015.
There is a bit of hope in the article. Since attention spans can be shortened, we can relearn and lengthen. The secret seems to be giving ourselves generous breaks from mobile connectivity. Stop “death scrolling” images and videos on social media. Stop picking up the smartphone every time there is a lull in a conversation. Engage in social discourse in-person to person. There is an enormous difference in texting or messaging a friend and sitting in a coffee shop with them in person engaging in conversation. Much of the hate and violence in this world comes from us talking “at” each other instead of talking to each other. It is hard to let your attention wander when the person you are engaging is sitting in front of you. I have friends that I make a point of meeting in person for lunch or coffee just to stay engaged in their world. They know they and their words are important to me, and I and mine to them, even if our discussion is a disagreement.
Our focus is so very important as we move forward as a tribal community. We need to be engaged and attentive to our leaders, our laws, and our finances. Surely, we must have trust in our leadership, but we also need to be able to verify. As those opportunities avail themselves to us, we must pay attention and not be distracted. How many important issues, important to you and the rest of the community, have risen to the surface for discussion, only to disappear from our sight and be replaced with the next project? And like a dog distracted by a squirrel, we let things we want and need fade back into the background because something else distracted us, things like recycling, a constitution, term reform. Property intended to promote the wellbeing of our people sits idle because we focus and then lose focus on the mission. Because our attention span is so short, it doesn’t take much to distract us.
Elections are not endings. They are beginnings. But wait, there is so much more to do as a community. Our part is not over. We can do so much for our community if we will focus and pay attention.
