whitaker sues dollywood

published: March 08 2008 11:20 AM updated:: March 12 2008 09:29 AM

It has been reported that activist and former candidate for the highest office in the state, Carl "Two Feathers" Whitaker has filed suit against Dollywood theme park for $5.5 million.

Whitaker, who sometimes acts as a spokesman for Native Americans and Cherokees in Tennessee, says he was racially harassed by a co-worker while he worked as a games attendant at Dollywood last year.

According to reports, Whitaker claims his complaints to a supervisor were ignored and he was fired in January. Which eventually lead to his action in federal court.

According to a statement by Pete Owens, spokesman for Dollywood, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission threw out a similar complaint Whitaker filed with that agency and Owens believes the courts will do the same.

According to a Metro Pulse article on Whitiker, Whitaker is often looked upon with scorn and embarrassment by a crowd of Native Americans.

Some Native Americans and Cherokees question Whitaker's Indian heritage. They say he's uneducated about Native traditions and customs and worry that he'll discredit the causes they fight for.

The article further states that Carl Whitaker moved to Tennessee from Ohio around 1997 and has lived in several locations in east Tennessee. He claims that his mother is full-blooded Indian, half Cherokee and half Mohegan, and that his father was Dutch, Cherokee, and Irish.

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User Comments

#1 Kimber commented, on March 8, 2008 at 3:38 p.m.:

I hear tell he is Melungeon on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and 1/2 day on Sunday. The other 1/2 half of Sunday he is what ever he thinks might give him a free ride. Most of us around here have a bit of Cherokee (as well as black Cherokee, Irish, Black Irish, and a dozen or more others)in us and he is an embarrassment. It's too bad the good people of North Carolina couldn't run him the other way, like toward the Atlantic Ocean.

#2 TDOT commented, on March 9, 2008 at 12:38 a.m.:

I didn't know this guy worked. I thought he just planted artifacts to be "found" at the site of road projects.

#3 Sherri Arnold commented, on March 11, 2008 at 10:48 a.m.:

Mr. Twofeathers is a good person.Twofeathers name comes up when where ever our people is being attacked or desecrated. Why? because he fights for our ndn rights. He is not a bad person.But I guess in our world today if you do something good you get attacked by people. It is no wonder our native people are afraid to speek out.Only the armchair pundents do that.I know that you will take this responce off and will not printit. Why because you don't want to hear anything good about a man who care about his people...that is sad.
I hope that your paper is not based upon non freedom of speach..