Anyone wishing to verify that John RedHat Duke was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma may contact either Principal Chief Chad Smith or past Deputy Chief Hastings Shade.
This meeting which tok place at the Cherokee Southwest Township in Albuquerque, New Mexico, eventually brought to pass the press release from Chad Smith asking all enrolled Cherokees to give more respect to non-enrolled Cherokees, and resulted in Chief Smith's traveling to visit many groups of non-enrolled Cherokees.
"We don't have so many friends that we can afford to turn away 'strangers' " John Red Hat to Principal Chief Smith
Photo of Principal Chief Chadwick Smith conferring with Elder John Red Hat