Friends, family and allies dressed in red, some with signs like “no more stolen sisters” and “gun violence is on the rise,” gathered on May 5 at Oconaluftee Island Park. They’d shown up for the Qualla Boundary’s seventh annual missing and murdered Indigenous relatives/people march, coinciding with national week of action events across the country in communities impacted by what some scholars describe as a “a modern form of genocide.”  

When Patrick Lambert first sat down to write his book “The River: A Cherokee Principal Chief’s Fight for Family, Truth, and Vindication” in 2024, he intended it to be about personal finance. 

Somewhere along the way, he ditched the original theme, opting for a more vulnerable story. Lambert, former principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, decided to share his perspective about his 2015-2017 tenure and why it was cut two years short. But he also wanted to talk about growing up, dropping out of high school, getting a law degree, building a casino regulatory framework from scratch — all as much a part of his life as his impeachment, the main thing he feels he’s been remembered for.

Tribal council on May 7 took multiple steps to protect Qualla Boundary rivers and forests, both through supporting land management practices and standing against environmental harm. Among those was a resolution “supporting the removal of Ela Dam and the restoration of Longperson” — which called the dam “obsolete” and noted that it “impairs our watershed.” 

A first-of-its-kind exhibition centering Native voices, perspectives and creativity in response to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the exhibition “Unrelenting: Cherokee People and the American Revolution” is currently being showcased at the Museum of the Cherokee People (MotCP) in Cherokee. 

An April 25 Qualla Boundary town hall about data centers, featuring three speakers instrumental in the fight against hyperscale expansion on Indigenous land, both generated support for a tabled tribal council moratorium and explained the myriad ways these facilities can harm environments and cultures alike.  

A special April 9 Tribal Council session was entirely dedicated to a single resolution meant to protect a general contractor by asserting an easement for the right-of-way over leased Qualla Boundary properties involving “a reasonable and common ingress, egress and utilities.”

While the resolution reiterated a clause that had already been established, the meeting exposed a growing rift, present also at the April 2 regular meeting, between business interests and tribal members.

Just as the members of Qualla Enterprises’ board were all suspended, its attorney and chair may have engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. 

Qualla Enterprises, LLC, owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee, is the only cultivator of legal cannabis in the state of North Carolina. It sells recreational products to the public through its subsidiary, Great Smoky Mountains Dispensary.

On Independence Day 2026, the United States will have reached 250 years of sovereign nationhood, marked by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. 

America250 was spearheaded by a Congressional caucus and supporting nonprofit as “a bipartisan initiative working to engage every American in the 250th anniversary of the United States.” 

Events culminate July 4, inviting the public to “pause and reflect on our nation’s past, honor the contributions of all Americans, and look ahead toward the future we want to create.” 

They may be coming for just the signs, but the message is clear: let’s rewrite history while ignoring science. The disappointments of this administration just never stop piling up. 

A leaked memo from the Department of the Interior contained a list of markers and educational signage at national parks that this administration may have a problem with.

Former Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Patrick Lambert and Beloved Woman Myrtle Driver proposed a resolution renaming the tribe the “Eastern Cherokee Nation” and later encouraged tribal council to withdraw it. 

In those 30 minutes between Resolution 147’s introduction and withdrawal, tribal council and public commenters engaged in rich discussion centering tradition, history and identity.