Cherokee Nation Ousts Blacks

Sam Ford, a reporter at Washington's WJLA-TV, had applied to vote in the election, and said his voter registration card came the day of the vote. He was born in Southeastern Kansas and put together a documentary about this little-known piece of Americana. "Black Slaves, Red Masters" aired on WJLA in 1991.

Kenneth Cooper, a freelancer and former national editor of the Boston Globe, said he confirmed at a National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta that he and Ford were cousins, "linked by a freedman who was a great-great grandfather of mine. We had suspected we were related since we first met years ago, when he told me he as a boy called my great-grandmother 'Cousin Florence.' His sister lives outside Atlanta, and when she pulled out the family tree, I spotted our common ancestor right away."

Cooper wondered on the NABJ e-mail list, "What is the position of the Native American Journalists Association on this? It might seem this is a matter of tribal politics that has nothing to do with NAJA, but it does. I was going to join NAJA several years ago, but to join you must be eligible for tribal membership, and I'm not."

The Web site indianz.com said on March 5, "With all precincts reporting, 77 percent of voters approved an amendment to the tribal constitution. Citizenship will be restricted to descendants of people who are listed on the Dawes Roll, but only those with verifiable Cherokee, Delaware or Shawnee blood."

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