June 2, 2010 / 20 Sivan 5770

Central Band of Cherokee recruiting 'mixed bloods'

with 'good hearts and morals' and Cherokee DNA

LAWRENCEBURG, TN. -- For the first time since the Removal of the Cherokee Nation in the 1830s. Cherokee identity is possible through means other than U.S. Government, military and pension rolls:  DNA.

"We now have sufficient genetic markers of our Cherokee lineages to identify any Cherokee ancestry with the mitochondrial DNA from a line of female descendants of a female full-blood, regardless of how "mixed" that blood has become or the generations of granddaughters," said Joe 'Sitting Owl' White, principal chief of the Central Band of the Cherokee. 

The research of Donald 'Panther' Yates, published by the Equahiyi-Wasi (the Abraham-Moses Project examining ties between Native Americans and Hebrew ancestors) in the March edition of Ancient American magazine concludes 10 years of research from the most comprehensive Cherokee DNA information banks.  "In some cases," the chief said, "it is even possible to identify a Cherokee by his/her clan, since one was identified as his/her mother's clan."