By Andrew L. Jaffee

I remember arguing with members of the Democratic Socialists of America in college. They insisted that non-whites “could not be racist by definition.” Hmmm… Apparently, not only is the Cherokee Nation admitting to owning slaves, it is now trying to expel the slaves’ descendents from the tribe. A rose by any other name?

Cherokee Nation members voted Saturday to revoke the tribal citizenship of an estimated 2,800 descendants of the people the Cherokee once owned as slaves.

With all 32 precincts reporting, 76.6 percent had voted in favor of an amendment to the tribal constitution that would limit citizenship to descendants of “by blood” tribe members as listed on the federal Dawes Commission’s rolls from more than 100 years ago.