By J. Trace Kirkwood
May 28, 2008 -- Day Six
When I'm on the road I have a routine. Whether I'm on vacation or working I do not sleep past sunrise, which means I'm up long before any of the rest of my family. My routine is to eat breakfast, write about the day before, and maybe take a walk before showering. It's always a peaceful time. I can't remember if it was Benjamin Franklin, Shakespeare, or some other sage that said, "he who sleeps late trots all day."
When I opened the curtains on the morning of our sixth day I discovered low clouds scraping across and breaking on the mountains. Without looking at a forecast I could tell that rain would fill the day and that we would have to find some other distraction besides hiking or playing Hillbilly Putt Putt. I sat at the table scanning a North Carolina Map and shuffling through the stack of brochures we had picked up during our travels trying to come up with something to do on a rainy day. It's always hard for me because I hate rain, and I like to be outside. I also hate to be wet unless I'm in a shower, pool (I don't even like pools that much), lake, or ocean.
I don't know why, but I suggested that we drive up to Cherokee, which is in the Cherokee Indian Reservation. Dana and I drove through a small part of Cherokee when we were in the National Park a couple of years before, and I wasn't impressed. I thought maybe there was a good part that we did not see because we only turned around and headed back up the mountain when we were there before.
Really, my first impression of Cherokee was right on the money. It's a string of crappy shops selling crappy stuff, all of which increases the wealth of the People's Republic of China with every plastic or glass trinket purchased. Take that Chairman Mao!
Cherokee is undergoing a transformation. Harrah's has a casino there, and it looked to me that one or two other casinos are being built on the edge of town. The casino is bringing in some big money, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee uses the money to build even more crappy shops. The development is shifting the commerce from the strip just outside the National park to the strip on which the casinos are located. I guess it's shifting from U.S. 441 to U.S. 19.
I foresee a time when Cherokee gives Gatlinburg a run for its money. They are essentially the same, except the Indians have the casinos, which will siphon tourism dollars away from Gatlinburg. Maybe Southerners are enough opposed to gambling that they'll continue to stay in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, but the cancer of casino gambling is pervasive. The ones at Tunica, Mississippi, have been a huge success, and I think buses bound for that place pull out of Bowling Green on a daily basis.
I wonder how the Tribal Elders distribute the revenue generated by the casinos. I noticed that they are not run by the tribe. Harrah's runs the one I saw. So, I wouldn't be surprised if the management wasn't screwing over the tribe or if the money only finds it way to certain people within the tribe.
I've always admired the Eastern Band of Cherokees. They stood their ground. They used their heads and evaded the United States government. They fought when they had to. They avoided Removal. I love the U.S., but the Removal and the Trail of Tears episode is one of those pieces of our history that makes me queasy. Greed drove this nation into a terrible humanitarian mistake.
It makes me sad that the EBCI has opted for casino gambling. The future will see how they handle their greed.
Kentuckians have stood up and said "no" to casino gambling, despite having a beefheaded governor who kowtowed to their interests within the state. Governor Beshear is not politically capable enough to get the people to accept casinos. The stumblebum mis-read an anti-Fletcher (Kentucky's previous inept governor) vote as an endorsement for casino gambling into the Commonwealth.
This is what I see in the future, however. Some day the drain of tourism dollars out of Gatlinburg will pressure Tennessee to succumb to the gaming table. Once Tennessee does it, Kentucky will feel compelled to allow casinos.
All of it will have started with the Cherokee Indians. A new Trail of Tears will cut through Tennessee and Kentucky.
We didn't stay in Cherokee for very long and was back at Fontana Village in time to play a stirring round of putt-putt. Parkman had back-to-back holes-in-one, but once again his daddy prevailed on the links. The course was wet, so I had a little trouble with the slow greens.
In the evening we linked up with a Fontana Village employee named Jerry Span. He lead a night hike back to an old cemetery near where Paynetown once stood in the National Park. The cemetery is perched on a large hill overlooking an old road that once was a vital artery for the area. Span has done a tremendous amount of first rate research on the cemetery, the old town, and the road, and he seems to know a lot or a little about each soul buried in that graveyard. He told us some very good stories, including a ghost story about the old TVA hospital, which is now part of Fontana Village. He told the story so well Dana and I had trouble getting a couple of kids to bed that night.
I'd write the story, but I don't like re-telling other people's stories. I cannot tell them as well. Mr. Span is passionate about what he does and his interest in the area is genuine. I always enjoy talking to people who are passionate and knowledgeable.
Mr. Span explained how the TVA and later the National Park Service came into the area and removed the people then worked to eradicate any visible trace of them. It echoes the stories of Paradise, Land Betwixt the Rivers (now Land Between the Lakes), and Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. In their wake -- both in North Carolina and Kentucky -- they left violated property rights and hard feelings.
I didn't realize it until the next morning but bears got into the garbage cans for the cabin next to ours. I heard them but thought they were raccoons or our neighbors. When I looked the next morning both cans had been lifted out of a wooden pen and laid down on the ground.
1 comment:
I am an enrolled member of the EBCI and am in agreement with many of your sentiments. It is true that our historical grief and trauma will become our contemporary although it is important to understand who is in control. The people have no voice and no way to seek retribution for the actions of certain individuals. Our governmental structure does not allow that. Other people may deem what is happening here illegal. I deem it unethical and oppressive. There is no legal recourse. We are the pawns of no one because no one cares and there are so few people who truly understand the history and present status of the Eastern Band. People fall in love with the idea of pain and preserverance but because of development such as the casinos that we did not vote as a people to establish people are judgemental and withdraw and concern for our well-being. We all struggle and want to do good things. We are good people who if given the opportunity to change our cards so to speak we will. Maybe, it is just hard to know how when kept in the dark...there is so much confusion about what our leaders are doing and the fear of losing those we love if we buck against the system that has begun to be the norm. Who is changing our norms? When there are basically only two employers in the area and many of our culturally important ways of life are lost on a daily basis just because our tribal members need to bring home "bread and butter". Is it our people or is the real culprit the opportunites that are not afforded to us that would help us to perserve our way of life? I would go beyond tribal leaders to the decisions passed on by the U.S. leadership for decades that took land, denied citizenship, incorporated us as a municipality, etc., an example is the major crimes act of 1897. This useless act of congress was written to prevent tribes from prosecuting major crimes committed in indian country and placed individuals who have commited such crimes under federal jurisdiction. How can tribal communities create a social backbone when we can not create laws that reflect our social norms and values? When history is not taught valuable information is lost in the everyday experience and suddenly people wake up to find that they do not know who they are. Some may remember but in this day and age we have to survive and if there is no time to create positive resources and our communities are so severly severed from their sources it seems to me that it may may require a form of divine intervention to begin to restore a balance. Whole civilizations have been lost...i suppose to some it really does matter that they own the land and control the greatest economy. Seeing as that is the way of our current leadership I would venture to say they learned well from the ways of the eunigs and have lost their connection to their own cultural way of life. It is all in what you believe and it is easy to overlook others when self-rightous but we are here just like there are good people in every corner of the earth really supporting the positive changes all around. Isn't it funny how we give up power to others? The decisions of our tribal leaders do not reflect our values nor do we recieve access to critical information with which to make informed decisions. A new chapter or maybe the last chapter began when our people were forced to accept a republican form of government depending on others to make those decisions for us. The idea of consensus decision-making as well as the religious components of our society were lost and are now basically forgotten. We have a charter not a constitution...our people have no rights...I hope more people become aware of this and see that we do need help. Not monetarily but through friendship and moral support. A charter is a compact between the tribal government and the state. It is not like a constitution where an agreement is made between the people and the government. We do not have the opportunity to create laws and policies that reflect our norms and values. It is hard to educate others when you have a government that does not value educating its people on the possibilites. Our newspaper editor of 11 years just started his own paper that is not owned and controlled by the tribal government called the Cherokee Times. He started it because of violations of the tribal government of its own free press act. They have already denied his ability to distribute it to our tribal elders. So, while is sad to read thoughts such as yours there seems to always dawn a time of change such as when the slaves were freed as expressed by lincoln in his gettysburgs address.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about your trip to Cherokee and allowing me to reflect upon this. I believe deeply that dialogue is opportunity and that it is the doorway of accountability!
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