??? That Wikipedia does not mention his Native American ancestry proves nothing and make his no less actual, so what is the point?; if anything, the lack of this mention suggests the incompleteness of the wiki article, the one that consists of only a few sentences. By contrast, the entry for
William Jay Smith over at The Poetry Foundation affords a fuller picture and thus includes the following:
Smith drew upon his Native American heritage—he was part Choctaw—for The Cherokee Lottery...
In any event, I am surprised that you, as an academic, should resort to citing Wikipedia as proof of anything, as if authoritative or reliable. My professors forbade us to cite from there where anyone can add and edit; in fact, you would not believe it but that was literally the last thing I was doing before this, fixing an entry riddled with omissions and mischaracterizations.
But besides, I do not think anyone is suggesting that 'the absence of William Jay Smith from the announcement should detract from Joy Harjo's own qualities.' Who would? Rather, it was said that the phrasing of the announcement suffered to deny the former laureate his due. This may be acknowledged and rectified without having to diminish the praise or estimation of Joy Harjo. Let us celebrate her and not neglect him; let us give him his due without diminishing hers. For the two things are not mutually exclusive; nay, both are simply due.