Defining Cherokees racially

Cheyfitz:  The case of the Cherokee freedmenIn denying the charge of racism, Smith points to the racially diverse citizenry of the Cherokee Nation. Yet at the same time, he does not consider that defining a nation by its blood is certainly defining it racially and that to exclude individuals or a group of people from citizenship in that nation because they lack the necessary blood quantum (however that is determined) is to exclude them racially, an act that certainly can be construed as racist.

In denying Cherokee racism while endorsing the practice of it in tribal politics, Smith finds himself caught in a contradiction of the colonial politics of Indian country, which he does not care to examine. Intentionally or not, this carelessness allows him to have his race-cake and eat it too.