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"Joe Grayson, Jr., Cherokee Nation, OK Deputy Principal Chief" My Fellow Cherokees, As your elected Deputy Principal Chief, I must express to you what I believe to be true and right for the Cherokee Nation. On March 3, 2007, we must vote Yes for the Cherokee Constitutional Amendment! Yes, for our Indian heritage! Each Cherokee family has stories of sacrifice and remarkable endurance that brought us to the great Nation we are today. As our Cherokee ancestors passed from this life to the next, they left us the certainness of our heritage right. This blood is the glue that binds us together. We must protect our heritage now as it was protected for us. Vote, and vote Yes, to protect what is our Indian Heritage. Delaware and Shawnees by blood have been joined with us in an Indian tribal alliance for many generations now. Our Nation must have the support of its blood citizens to protect ourselves as Indian people and secure Indian generations to come. Outsiders, self-serving non-Indians and those with a political agenda as their purpose will soon bombard us with outcries. These attacks will tell you that you must vote against your Indian blood. Their reasoning always paints Cherokee in a bad way; they say we are racist, selfish, uninformed and incapable of understanding our own laws. We will be slandered and called "watered-down" and portrayed as a people without contribution and standing to other Indian Nations. This is just not true. Do not be wounded nor pushed aside from your Indian heritage. No one has the right to diminish our blood right. On March 3, 2007, we will vote to define citizenship in the Cherokee Nation. We have followed our laws, hundreds of citizens worked to bring the opportunity to vote according to our processes. Every hurdle, every review, every procedure has been completed. Now is the time for us to define who will be citizens in our Indian Nation. I urge you to join me and my family in voting our Indian heritage; define our Indian citizenship by blood. VOTE YES. Joe Grayson, Jr. Deputy Principal Chief Cherokee Nation