By Raymond D. Large III, Guest Columnist
This letter was addressed to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
I am an Appalachian- American, an attorney in good standing with the N.C. Bar, a former assistant district attorney for the 43rd Prosecutorial District, a participating adjunct professor of business law at Western Carolina University concentrating in individual rights and liberties and, most importantly, an ardent and sworn defender of the U.S. Constitution and N.C. Constitution.
I manage my own law practice in Jackson County. In 2018, I was admitted to the Tribal Court Bar and have practiced in that court to the best of my abilities to this date. I no longer have any pending cases or clients in the tribal courts of the EBCI.
First and foremost, my words in this letter do not in any way represent my clients or my employer of Western Carolina University. In my experience with the tribal court system, I have come to a conclusion that the governmental system woefully underserves the citizens of the EBCI.
There is no separation of the powers in the charter and government of the EBCI that allows the courts, the judiciary, to function independently from the executive (chief and vice chief) and the legislative (the Tribal Council) branches. As long as EBCI court is held to the whims of the Tribal Council and chief/vice chief, there cannot be a functioning court that imparts true justice to the EBCI.
Tribal prosecutors, judges, and court staff cannot make truly independent decisions while under the fear or threat of reprisal, sanction or termination of employment by the influence or direction of the legislative or executive branch.
The EBCI must demand a constitution that separates the branches of government in the interest of justice.
I am white and claim no Cherokee ancestry. This change must come from the resiliency and the steadfast determination of the EBCI citizenry.
For my part, in protest of this continued injustice that I have witnessed and lived through, I pledge unto these good people of the EBCI that I will not practice in the court system nor intentionally of my own volition set foot upon the Qualla Boundary or other EBCI lands until the people of the EBCI demand and exact this change upon the tribal government as is their natural right.
I would be burdened and remiss if I did not take this opportunity to apologize on behalf of my ancestors, who were in the forcible removal of the Cherokee from Appalachia. On behalf of myself and my line, which stretches back to the beginning, we are truly ashamed and sorry for the genocidal struggle we forced upon the Cherokee.
In continuing unity and peaceful co-existence: may justice and prosperity come upon all people of America and Appalachia like wildfire.
The writer lives in Sylva.