Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama gestures while speaking at the UNITY Journalism Convention Sunday. (The UNITY News Photo Jennifer Dronkers)

Sen. Barack Obama addressed thousands of journalists at a live forum on the final day of the UNITY convention in his first appearance since returning to the U.S. after a spending a week overseas.

The senator was greeted with a standing ovation when he walked onto the stage. He addressed issues such as immigration, the economy and race and gave a recap of his trip.

“When you think about the big problems we face at home, they are connected to the problems abroad,” Obama said.

Hundreds of empty seats in the back of the Skyline Ballroom at the McCormick Place convention center were noticeable as CNN broadcasted the event. Many attendees had already departed the convention by the time Obama spoke.

In weeks prior to the convention, UNITY organizers had heavily promoted a forum between Obama and Sen. John McCain, but neither candidate had confirmed the appearance, originally scheduled for Thursday night.

Karen Lincoln Michel, UNITY president, said McCain could not make the forum because of scheduling conflicts, although repeated invitations were sent.

Obama said although he was away from the country for a week, he was in touch with what was happening on this side. He expressed his pleasure with the passing of a landmark housing bill that will offer up to $300 billion in loans for troubled homeowners and establish a government rescue plan for mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“We’ve got to prevent people from losing their homes,” he said.

In response to criticism he faced for going on the overseas trip, the presumptive nominee said he met with the same leaders that McCain met with when he won the nomination.

“I was puzzled by the notion that what we did was any different,” Obama said. “We just did it better.”

Obama said the trip offered him key insight into what it would be like as a leader, should he win the election.

In anticipation of both candidates’ arrival, The UNITY News sent an informal survey to members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and National Association of Black Journalists, and interviewed journalists planning to attend the convention. The Asian American Journalist Association and the Native American Journalist Association did not participate.

The journalists were surveyed about the most important issues they wanted each candidate to address, and the strengths and weaknesses of the presumptive nominees. Each member surveyed was also asked to identify their gender and race.

The 38 NAHJ members who responded to the survey chose immigration reform as the most important issue facing the next president, while the 15 NABJ members who responded identified stabilizing the economy. But many respondents expressed doubt about Obama’s security and immigration policies.

“We are a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws,” Obama said. “The fact that we’re getting people who want to come to this country that is good.”

Obama said he will work to make a comprehensive immigration policy and work with immigrants currently in the country to help them become legal citizens.

The senator was asked a handful of tough questions, including if he would issue an apology to Native Americans for past mistreatment if elected.

“The most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer apologies, but offer deeds,” Obama said. “I have to confess, I’m more concerned with providing a better way of life.”

An apology was issued to Native Americans in 2000 by Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

By SIERRA JIMINEZ
The UNITY News

I have never been the type to get sick.

In fact, taking a sick day off from high school was never easy. But there I was, lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to a heart monitor, about to miss most of the second semester of my junior year.

What I thought was going to be a routine doctor visit turned into a four-night stay in the hospital, a relapse, and 10 weeks in a day treatment unit.

I am one of the 70 million people in the world who suffers from an eating disorder.

I am 19 years old and anorexic. Restriction is my drug of choice. I use starvation as a coping mechanism.

Although I am stable and I no longer starve myself, anorexia will always be a part of me. That’s why I say, “I am anorexic.” For the rest of my life, I will have that little voice in my head telling me that a grape has three calories, or that by jumping up and down 48 times, I can burn 13 calories.

My eating disorder, or Ed as I like to call him, will always be there.

No, I’m not crazy. I realize Ed is not a real person. But to me, Ed is like that little devil you see on cartoons who sits on your shoulder, tempting you to make the wrong decisions.

I can remember the day I began restricting. Family problems, mixed with the stress of college prep courses, left me feeling insecure. I decided I would limit my eating. No sweets, no high-fat products, and above all, I wouldn’t eat more than 900 calories a day. Over time, that calorie limit dwindled to 600. I became obsessed with nutrition labels. After each meal, I would plan what I was going to have the next time I ate. Food consumed my life.

After two years of inpatient and outpatient treatment, I have learned how to tell Ed no.
A common misconception about people with eating disorders is that they choose to starve themselves out of vanity. Not me. My eating disorder is about control.

At times when I feel that everything in my life is going downhill or that I am a disappointment to someone, I struggle to find something I can control, and my eating disorder comes into play.

Don’t get me wrong, there was a part of me that was afraid of getting fat.

But that was not the reason my eating disorder started.

I don’t regret having anorexia, I embrace it. The fact that I have managed to overcome a disease that kills 20 percent of the people it consumes shows me that I am strong.

I can’t change my past, I can’t change my DNA, I can’t change my family and I can’t change how other people look at me. But the only thing that matters is that I can change myself. Maybe not my physical appearance, but I am in control of who I am.

For more information about eating disorders, including symptoms and ways to get help, visit www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.

By STU WOO
The UNITY News

Kenneth Cooper felt he and his fellow Freedmen were left out.

Last March, the Cherokee Nation voted to define requirements for citizenship. Now, only ancestors of Native Americans registered under the Dawes Commission — a century-old federal government census of Native Americans — can become citizens.

But Cooper felt that was a racially tinged snub to the Freedmen, ancestors of the tribe’s former African slaves. So when Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith said Friday at a UNITY forum that race didn’t matter under the new requirements, Cooper stepped up to the microphone during the question-and-answer session.

“The first thing that you said … made me really angry,” said Cooper, who identifies as a Cherokee Freedman. The two then exchanged testy comments for the next five minutes.

In March 2007, 77 percent of Cherokee Nation citizens voted to approve a constitutional amendment allowing only those who have a Cherokee, Delaware or Shawnee ancestor listed on the Dawes Commission rolls. The commission took a census of Native Americans, taken from 1898 to 1907, to divest the Nation of its lands and allot them to individual citizens. The 2007 amendment overturned a 2006 Tribal Court ruling allowing non-Indian descendants of Freedmen and intermarried whites to become citizens.

Cooper said he found the amendment unjust, especially given that some of the tribe’s wealth came from slave work. He found the new restrictions unfair to Freedmen who had Cherokee blood because “there was no effort by the Dawes Commission (the federal census project) to find out if the Freedman had blood.”

Smith said that there were some Freedmen with Cherokee blood who were registered by the Dawes Commission, but Cooper said those were by far in the minority.

“The federal government provided due process,” Smith responded. “We cannot go back and second-guess that process. I cannot – perhaps you can.”

Friday’s forum, titled “Who is an Indian? Your Guide to Covering Native Americans,” was presented by the Native American Journalists Association.

Afterward, Cooper and Smith chatted outside the meeting room. The two had never met, though Smith was familiar with Cooper’s Louisiana Weekly column about the constitutional amendment last year. The meeting was amiable, both said, and Smith invited Cooper to discuss the topic with him in Cherokee Nation.

Both Cooper and Smith said they were glad to meet each other. Cooper said he would accept the offer to meet in Oklahoma as soon as his schedule allows.

Afterward, Cooper seemed to regret the surly nature of their question-and-answer session exchange, especially if he came off as an “angry black man,” Cooper said, smiling.