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OPINION


OPINION: CHUCK EDWARDS' STOP POT ACT ABUSES HIS POWER AGAINST EASTERN BAND OF
CHEROKEE

Pat Brothwell
Guest Opinion



I recently reread David Grann’s "Killers of the Flower Moon" in anticipation of
the upcoming Martin Scorsese-directed, Leonardo DiCaprio-starring film of the
same name, opening this weekend. The film is centered around the Osage murders
occurring in Oklahoma in the 1920s, an insidious, brutal series of murders
orchestrated by white Oklahomans to kill wealthy Osage people and inherit the
oil rights underneath their land. 

Scorsese initially directed the film to focus on the creation of the modern FBI
(which the book also chronicles) but ultimately chose not to center this work on
the white antagonists. Instead, he wisely focused on the Osage people, their
plight and history. This isn’t the story of trying to understand troubled white
men. This is the story of learning how they profited from a low-scale genocide
and created a system built to disadvantage an already much-beleaguered minority
population. It’s the story of using power and privilege for evil, not good. One
could say it’s a quintessentially American tale (and saying that doesn’t mean I
hate America, just that I’m open to learning from our nation’s past mistakes …
not a bad thing).



When I first read "Killers of the Flower Moon," the callousness of the white
Americans, not to mention the complexity of their scheme and how flagrantly it
was carried out, shocked me. I remember instinctually thinking how weird it was
I was just learning about this as a 30-something, but then again, I’m a product
of our public schools. I was also in my 30s when I learned about the Tulsa
Massacre, and realized how so much of the history we’re taught in American
public schools veers toward propaganda. 

I think many Americans will benefit from seeing this movie and learning about
this story, and I believe our venerable Rep. Chuck Edwards should be first in
line to purchase a ticket. Like the story’s antagonists, Edwards is a privileged
white man in a position of power currently weaponizing that power and privilege
in a deeply insidious way toward the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians residing
here in North Carolina's District 11. 



More:Opinion: WNC's Rep. Chuck Edwards displays cruel streak in support of
border buoys

More:Opinion: Chuck Edwards uses fearmongering to oppose Cherokee recreational
marijuana plan

The EBCI recently voted to legalize recreational marijuana, something that’s
already happened in 26 states and typically comes with financial benefits.
Edwards, however, seemingly uncontent to see the little guys score a win — and
technically not overseeing the EBCI in the district since they are a sovereign
nation — introduced the Stop Pot Act, which would withhold 10% of federal
highway funds from states and tributes that approve recreational marijuana use. 



“It is important that the tribe understands they will be voting on a measure
that, if enacted, could soon be very costly, as the Stop Pot Act will defund
governments that ignore federal law,” Edwards wrote before the legalization
vote. As Scott McLeod so eloquently wrote in a piece for the Smoky Mountain
News, Edwards “wants to punish those who hold views different from him,” which
is wild when you consider that legalized marijuana is not the controversial
topic it once was ― 88% of Americans believe it should be legal, according to
the Pew Research Center. 

In his initial screed against the EBCI’s vote, Edwards wrote, “I proudly
consider the tribe my friends,” which is eerily similar to "Killers of the
Flower Moon." Many of the perpetrators of the Osage “Reign of Terror"
masqueraded as friends and caretakers of the Osage people. In some instances,
they married members of the tribe to gain these oil titles. Edwards also wrote
that he’s enacting the Stop Pot Act because the “safety of our communities and
our mountain way of life may depend on it,” conveniently ignoring that the
Cherokee and other native tribes had a mountain way of life that privileged
white men who use their positions of power for evil callously destroyed. 



My gut tells me that Edwards will not heed my advice and purchase a ticket to
this film. My guess tells me he’ll dismiss the film and the carefully researched
novel it’s based on as “woke” garbage, maybe even conflating it with the dreaded
CRT conservatives love to trot out but clearly don’t understand. 

He should, though. Maybe he’ll learn something about the empathy and
people-centric values he claims to uphold. Perhaps he could still use his
position of power to help and not systematically bring down fellow Americans.
But then again, maybe I’m giving him too much credit — over the past year, he’s
shown he’s incapable of doing anything but towing his party’s increasingly
out-of-touch line.



Pat Brothwell is a former high school teacher, and current writer and marketing
professional living and working in Asheville.


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