Absolutely, there is plentiful evidence of slaves and Native American mixing. Unless they are stripping any Cherokee with European or any other ethnic blood as well this smacks of old fashion racism. Shame on them!

Sent by Kaja Dunn | 12:47 PM ET | 06-23-2007

The Cherokee Nation is not purifying the race. The fact is they can not tie themselves back through history. Diane Watson has been accused many times of being racist herself. Her own party does not agree with her most of the time and she has had many confrontations with other members. She is a loud mouth, whining representative that I will be excited when she leaves office and stops representing the democratic party poorly in California.

Sent by Zack Mann | 5:23 PM ET | 06-25-2007

a close friend of mine is a descendant of the Cherokee Nation. he described to me how he and his family have been treated by them. Originally many of the tribal elders were indifferent to him and his family. of course he is african american. THis is not the first time I heard this.

i do appreciate you guys bringing a member of the CHerokeen nation to state their case.

Sent by Brother Omi | 9:15 PM ET | 06-25-2007

I have a question, what tribe does Diane Watson belong to? Oh wait, she doesn't belong to one.

Sent by Bobby LeShea | 10:00 AM ET | 06-26-2007

As a grandmother and mother of Black-Cherokee citizens I am appalled that D. Watson has instigated a thinking that our nation is racist, and mis used her congressional powers to discriminate against 'the will of the citizens' who are a domestic sovereign nation.

My descendants are Cherokee by blood, and are also 'Black Americans' they have not been disenfranchised nor will they be, as a result of the March 3rd 2007 vote, which stated..."Cherokee citizens are to be of Indian blood as recorded on our base roll".

An example of Watson's further 'mis information' to the public is found in her own claim to be of the "Pocahontas tribe, not the Pocahontas tribe of Cherokee". Watson may want to google Pocahontas and find that there is no such tribe. This is a prime example of how many people WANT to be Indian but simply are not.

Twila Pennington
Cherokee citizen, Blue Clan
Tahlequah, Oklahoma

Sent by Twila Pennington | 9:15 AM ET | 07-08-2007

Rep Diane Watson claims to be a Democrat, meaning that she respects the wishes of a democratic election, but when the Cherokee Indian tribe conducted a democratic election that she didn't like, she wants to punish them. Rep Diane Watson is a disgrace to her party and the democratic process of America.

Sent by L Pearce | 8:05 PM ET | 10-02-2007

"The Pocahontas Tribe"??? What a laff! Rep Diane Watson claims she's a member of "the Pocahontas Tribe". She's a fake and a fraud, sorry to say.

Sent by L Pearce | 8:17 PM ET | 10-02-2007

What is wrong with wanting to preserve a persons, a tribes or a races racial integrity? Nothing. To dispute it then all one has to do is to look to China and Israel......

Sent by Smitty | 11:53 AM ET | 10-06-2007

Why is it wrong for the Cherokee's but alright for the Israeli's, Chinese, Japanese, Hutu's, etc etc.? Preserving a tribe or race has more merit than multiculturing a group that doesn't want it. Just more government nonsense, when will it ever end?

Sent by professor | 5:40 PM ET | 10-06-2007

The architects of the 1965 Immigration Act had "Jewish group commitment and non-assimilation legitimizing the presence of a minority culture in the midst of a majority host society making Jews one of many group(s), etc, etc, et, blah, blah, blah. If Jews can do it why can't Indians and blacks and whites do it. Face it people, separate or prepare for conflict

Sent by James | 8:58 PM ET | 10-06-2007

The Europeans brought blacks to America, the Cherokees had no control over it. The government forced the Indians off their land and now the government forces them to defile their race. Shame on our government.

Sent by Matt Gault | 4:00 AM ET | 10-07-2007

This whole situation is disgusting. It's bad enough when the government tries to force diversity on people who want nothing to do with it, it's another when you force it on people who have already been forced off their land and nearly exterminated by the same government. :P

Sent by Jones | 8:21 AM ET | 10-08-2007

Why don't send those "black cherokees" to Israel? I mean, give them some Judaism, teach some hebrew, some circumcision for a change...Mmmm? That would be such a reliefe for poor sufferers to get into REAL "democratic" state. LOL...

Sent by LAPD | 12:49 AM ET | 10-10-2007

Sound smart.

The Truth About Black Crime
by: R Jeneen Jones

Early last year, I wrote an article entitled "Who's Afraid of Black Men?",
which raised the issue of how society views black men as criminals,
regardless of their true nature. After posting the feature, I received tons
of email. While most African Americans praised my comments, many non-blacks
agreed that black men are generally violent and aggressive law breakers.
After all, one just has to look at the statistics. In all fairness, I decided
to do just that and discovered some very interesting details:

Among men, blacks (28.5%) are about six times more likely than whites (4.4%)
to be admitted to prison during their life. Among women, 3.6% of blacks and
0.5% of whites will enter prison at least once. (U.S. Department of Justice)
Based on current rates of incarceration, an estimated 7.9% of black males
compared to 0.7% of white males will enter State of Federal prison by the
time they are age 20 and 21.4% of black males versus 1.4% of white males will
be incarcerated by age 30. (U.S. Department of Justice)
Some have noted that more black men are in prison in America than are in
college. (The Black and White of Justice, Freedom Magazine, Volume 128)

Statistics on black crime are, on the surface, very bleak. There are,
however, some very important factors that help to influence the numbers.
Consider those and a strong case for a much different view unfolds. Since 62%
of persons admitted to Federal prison and 31.1% of those admitted to State
prison for the first time were sentenced because of drug offenses, let us
first take a look at the racial disparity in the war on drugs:

The National Institute of Drug Abuse estimated that while 12 percent of drug
users are black, they make up nearly 50 percent of all drug possession
arrests in the U.S. (The Black and White of Justice, Freedom Magazine, Volume 128)
According to the National Drug Strategy Network, although African Americans
make up less than one-third of the population in Georgia, the black arrest
rate for drugs is five times greater than the white arrest rate. In addition,
since 1990, African Americans have accounted for more than 75% of persons
incarcerated for drug offenses in Georgia and make up 97.7% of the people in
that state who are given life sentences for drug offenses.

Sent by Tom | 1:23 PM ET | 10-29-2007

I bet the Cherokee Nation is not trying to throw out their white descendants. Truly this Nation is prejudiced now, where several hundred years ago their ancestors had more nobility towards their relations and relationships with the freed slaves, most of whom carried their Cherokee genes. I applaud Rep. Diane Watson - and in case most of you "Americans" don't know, most African Americans have Native American blood blended into their blood. - So sorry.

Sent by Jean Patton | 1:05 AM ET | 11-12-2007

Many of the Cherokee who voted to toss out the Freedmen have less than 1/16 Cherokee ancestry. A substantial number of the Freedmen have more Cherokee ancestry than that fraction, some substantially more. No one disputes this, not even Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, who has led the push against the Freedmen. This comes down essentially, if not entirely, to a struggle between Cherokee who are mainly of white ancestry and Cherokee, who are mainly of African ancestry. The battle lines are drawn amidst a morass of legalisms.

Most of the Freedmen are descendant from people who walked the Trail of Tears. Now they're being asked to walk it again.

Sent by M. Currie | 4:25 PM ET | 11-18-2007

by federal standards. In order to become a member of the cherokee nation, A person must first trace heritage to the hayes / dawes rolls and be at minimum 1/4 blood cherokee. If "freemen" dont meet the grade then out they go.

Sent by steve | 10:51 PM ET | 03-11-2008

Congresswoman Diane Watson is a part of a tribe... the human tribe. I mean really doesn't these battle on race seem so unintelligent, of course those for justice must fight for it when it is being attacked, but its so ignorant to think that one race is better than another or vice versa.Of course we should celebrate who we are without putting another down, but a lot of people need to grow up spiritually, we all are human beings or should be working toward become true human beings who respect and love all people, any way. Let's all realize that one God created us all and we are unique people who should at this point in history, be ablle to come together and share differences without bickering and hatefulness. People have been intermarrying and intermingling since biblical times, its nothing new. We are all dirt people made from the dust of the earth, from which we will return, whether the color of the dust/clay is red, yellow, black, brown or white.

Sent by Carl Bradley | 3:58 PM ET | 03-30-2008

My name is Marguerite Smith. I have been raised as black. My father told me just before he died, that he was a full blooded Cree of Muskogee. He also told me that my mother was Chickasaw. I gave all this info. to a person named Gail Jackson, including my recent I.D., history of my life, and hasn't gotten any answers. I also sent a copy of my mother's allotment that was given her.

Sent by Marguerite Smith, (maiden name) Thompson | 5:52 PM ET | 04-15-2008

I think there has been a lot of misinformation put out in the media about this. The cherokee are a sovereign nation they chose a long time ago to decide what their requirements for citizenship will be...you have to be able to trace your ancestry back to an indian ancestor that was registered on the dawes rolls..there are decendants of african freedman who are citizens but they are the ones that can trace there ancestry back to an indian ancester on this roll. Other freedman who cannot trace there ancestry back to this are not. that also includes white people not just people of african ancestry. both my husband and i are white but have distant Cherokee/Creek/Shawnee ancestry...taking a dna test revealed me to only be 10%...my husbands though was nearly a quarter..but that doesn't mean he or i can be accepted as a citizen.(our ancestors are not on the dawes rolls) nor would we ever attempt to be. It's as simple as that. It's people like Ms. Watson that have turned this into a liberal race scandal against americans with African ancestry...it isn't...which is sad because i kinda' consider my self somewhat liberal.

Sent by Poppy | 1:35 PM ET | 08-07-2008