"As the debate goes on with the Eastern Band of Cherokee over whether to separate the communities of Snowbird and Cherokee County, much talk has been made about the need to maintain unity. As one realistically looks at these two communities, there’s no sense of unity whatsoever. In fact, that can be said of the entire tribe.

The Eastern Band had last fall what could be called the closest election in history. That’s one pretty good indicator that the tribe isn’t united. Looking at the current controversies in Cherokee, such as the splitting of Cherokee County and Snowbird along with others like whether the Cherokee community should get a Wal-Mart, there are huge differences of opinion among the membership.

The tribe’s level of unity actually mirrors that of the rest of American society — Obama or McCain, Perdue or McCrory, Dole or Hagan, Shuler or Mumpower. There won’t be total agreement on what the best choices are for these races. It’s what happens in democracy. The tribe is a democracy, at least in theory. There won’t even be unity in that statement. In democratic societies, there is no unity. In fact, there’s no unity in dictatorships either, but many of them go out of the way to give an appearance of unity, most of the time by force. If one were to believe the state-run media in North Korea, one would think that Kim Jong Il is the most beloved leader that Koreans have ever had, no question. One has to look for the citizens of that country giving everything they have to try to defect or honest media smuggled through the borders to even get a glimpse of the truth."

Get the Story:
Joe Martin: Unity a nice idea, but an elusive reality (The Asheville Citizen-Times 6/12)

Related Stories:
Opinion: Eastern Cherokees should vote on WalMart (5/29)
Opinion: Cherokee community deserves a voice (5/15)