November 12, 2004

• Good luck with this one, moneyjane. Do you have the radio program "Native America Calling" on any PRI affiliated stations up there? Every couple of weeks they like the dredge this issue up and fight tooth and nail over it. Makes for entertaining listening, but I don't think I ever heard anyone give a satisfactory answer to your question.
• Send em some blood
• There's a really rigid system (in Canada) that determines whether you are Aboriginal or not. It's based on genealogy, and though I forget the specific names of the classification system, if memory serves there are 3 main categories: 1 Indian, 2 sorta-Indian-but-without-rights, and 3 Metis, which is basically number 2. (I use Indian here as that's the technically correct term to use when defining the legal status, according to the many, many classes we had on what names you can use) Anyway, I guess all this only really applies if you're a Canadian Aboriginal, which I think isn't your case... but it's interesting to see the that up here the idea of who is actually Aboriginal is completely determined by the government. In the US, try looking at the specifics of the Arts and Crafts Act (or some similarly named piece of legislation), which inadvertently created the system for Aboriginal definition down there, I think. (this is all pieced together from my memories of the Aboriginal studies course I took last year, so pardon any inaccuracies) Good luck MJ.
• self-identification + what the meh said.
• Some links: Who is eligible for registration? from the Indian Affairs website. The Indian Act
• moneyjane - if any of your ancestors are from tribes with oil on their lands, you might want to see if you're closely related enough to have "head rights." No, not that kind of head - the heads of the pumps that produce oil on reservations. I have a vague memory that you have to be at least 1/8 NA to qualify for cash proceeds, even if you don't live on the reservation.
• That's in the US.
• My cousin discovered her grandmother was Sac & Fox when she was applying for college scholarships and her stepdad asked why she wasn't applying for the American Indian College Fund. Turns out both her older sisters (same mom & dad) were on the rolls but she wasn't, her mom just hadn't bothered to register her. Or tell her, for that matter. She probably could've registered and qualified, but she said she didn't feel right about it because she wasn't raised in the tradition. I'm proud of her for making that decision, it's hard to turn down free money.
• IANAL, but I'd talk to my regular lawyer to see if he can recommend any Indian Status or whatnot specialist. That person would then be able to tell you if you have any hope of becoming a registered Indian. With all the 'member of a band' verbiage in the law, not likely IMO if you're from an US Nation.
• I teach American Indian history aout 150 miles from Talequah, the Cherokee capital, and have lots of Indian students, so this question comes up all the time. I guess it depends on what you mean by native--native in your own eyes, or that of the tribe, or that of the dominant government? In the U.S. it is up to the tribes to decide who gets to be an enrolled member. Usually it comes down to blood quantum plus descent from recognized members. The Cherokees do not have any blood quantum, so all you have to do is show descent from enrolled tribal members. The tribe website (http://www.cherokee.org/) explains the qualifications: "To obtain a CDIB, you must formally apply for one and provide acceptable legal documents which connect you to an ancestor, who is listed with a roll number and a blood degree from the FINAL ROLLS OF CITIZENS AND FREEDMEN OF THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES, Cherokee Nation, (commonly called the Dawes Commission of Final Rolls). These rolls were compiled between the years of 1899-1906. Quantum of Indian Blood is computed from the nearest paternal and/or maternal direct ancestor(s) of Indian blood listed on the Final Rolls." The easy enrollment policies of the Cherokee have inspired a certain amount of mockery from other native groups. A Cherokee student of mine, who looks more like Barbie than Pocahantas, was in a BIA clinic in Arizona seated next to a huge Navajo man. He stared hard at her for a few minutes and then looked away and said loudly "Blond hair, blue eyed Indian! Must be Cherokee!"
• Oh, and reading that FAQ: if you get Registered Indian status in Canada, it seems you have to live on a reservation to get most of the benefits. Which you may suck. But if you want to get in touch with your roots, more power to you.
• Cali - My ex was in a similar situation. He is 1/4 black, but looks Arabic. He applied to some med-schools as African-American (1/8 or more counts, IIRC), but felt it ended up hurting him because some interviewers questioned his racial background (i.e. that he wasn't black enough to deserve special treatment). Nothing overt, but he had a much better acceptance rates with the med-schools he applied to before he knew what to put in the race box, and just answered 'white'.
• There really are no First People, Indians, savages, wogs, infidels, pagans, or any other designated ONE PEOPLE.This artificial construct is erected by those who would arbitrarily divide us all. So ... if there is any advantage in claiming some tribe; I say, go for it. After all, we are all really just people, and should be seen this way in one another's eyes. Last time I checked though, "indiginous peoples" was just code talk by the current rulers for the earlier owners of the resources now being stolen. When bureaucrats seek to categorize, I'd carefully look to my wallet. I'd bet they'll try to exclude you.
• In my expeience (disclaimer: my father is a member of the Sault St. Marie Band of Chippewa, my mother is a member of the Saginaw Band of Chippewa, I am a 6'1" blue-eyed blond member of neither), the ease or difficulty in joining a tribe is directly related to the amount of money involved in tribal politics. Both my parents' tribes run a series of extremely lucrative casinos here in Michigan; consequently enrollment is and has been closed for quite some time--more members tend to dilute the income stream... Native status up here operates just like LarryC mentioned--blood quantum only comes into play if you are looking for federal assistance (1/4 quantum is, I believe, the minimum necessary to receive free college tuition) or wish to run for tribal council (again, 1/4 is, I believe, usually the minimum to hold a leadership position) . Otherwise, proof of descent from one of the tribal rolls is usually all that is required to claim eligibility. However, just because you are eligible does not necessarily mean that you will automatically become a member--you will need to inquire with that particular tribe or band from which your ancestors descended to see if they are accepting new members and what if any additional requirements there might be.
• Speaking as an outsider (who possibly doesn't understand) I find the idea of payments and privileges based on ethnicity a little uncomfortable, however good the intention. Do you people feel quite alright about it? Do you think tribal political structures are actually OK? If I were born into a tribe, I think I should want to overthrow the tribal institutions. Perhaps they're not really very tribal any more - but in that case, what's the point of them? No offence intended to anyone - I'm genuinely puzzled, and would welcome enlightenment.
• Racial labeling with respect to black (or anything) and white is like a glass of water. If you are 100% caucasian, then you are white. If that glass of water is anything but pure, then we call it dirty water. We do not consider it to be safe to drink. So if you are half black, you are black. If you are a quarter black, you are black. Racial labeling has more to do with identifying impurity than it does anything else.
• But what if you're EVERYTHING else and THEN white? I'm Cherokee, Syrian, Nepali, German, English, and probably North African (although I have no documentation of that) what the hell do I check off in the race box when applying to grad school?
• Tribal status does not equal any tangible benefits, in most cases. No one in the United States gets a check from the federal government for being an Indian, despite what people think. For most tribes the best you get is free or reduced cost (but often very low quality) dental and medical care. A few tribes might have a yearly payout from oil revenues or something like that, but it is rare and usually isn't much. There may also be some modest educational benefits, and you can play the affirmative action game where that couns for something. A handful of tribes, like the Pequots, have profitable casinos and lots of cash, but far more tribes have closed unprofitable casinos in the last few years. And American Indians have the shortest lifespans and worst educations of any ethnic group. It is not a gravy train. Of course it is all ridiculous, as several posters have pointed out. Race isn't even a scientific category, it is a social construct invented in the early modern era as Europeans sought a justification for slavery. But here we are.
• Plegmund - I think you're making the mistake of thinking that the payments and privileges are reparations, or some kind of social assistance. They are not, it's more like an extended payment plan that spans generations. The US is essentially leasing land from the tribes, and the descendants of the original contract signatories get the payments. Just like if you leased some land and the guy you leased it from died, your obligation wouldn't end just because he died. You'd make payments to his kids, or whoever inherited his estate.
• Cali - yes, I was wondering about the rationale, and it does make a bit more sense the way you describe it. I sort of think that if I were affected, though, I should still have to spend some time thinking about the implications before I could take anything. Then again, no doubt Larry is right that there isn't anything much to accept or refuse in practice anyway.
• A friend of mine has a child. The father of her child is Navajo (I think), and receives a small amount of money from his tribe every year. It's about enough to pay for his books at school, I think. His son, though, is not eligible for membership in the tribe, and so cannot recieve this payment. (My friend is white, her fiancee is part white, so their child has too much "whiteness" to be labeled Navajo.) That said, my friend's fiancee grew up dirt poor on the reservation, is the first person in his family to even attend college, and bears the mark of abuse at the hands of his family and life long racism. I don't think the couple of hundred dollars a year (which he has to go through lots of red tape for every year) makes up for that. My dad has enough Cherokee in him to get money for college, but like Cali's friend decided not to accept it since he grew up white.
• I am 'White Cherokee', given I do have an ancestor on the Dawes rolls, but that's complicated by my estrangement from those in my family who could tell me the name of that ancestor - without that name, I can't even start the paperwork. I know virtually nothing about the white side of the family, and though the blood may be possibly as little as 1/8, I know more about the Indian side, and so feel entitled to be counted, I guess, as part of the Cherokee Nation, given it would be by their own standards. Indian-ness is pretty weird in my family - my step-brother (with the same blood as me) has pretty much become a 'professional Indian' these days (working with Canadian Dene, and teaching native dancing) and his father, who has no native blood to speak of, was an assistant band chief with the Dene in the late 70's. I don't want any benefits - I think I just want to fit somewhere as part of the history of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations after the Trail of Tears.
• Moneyjane, I think you can be as native as you like. The idea that blood equals identity is a white idea, not an Indian one. Virtually all Indian groups had strong traditions of adoption and acculturation, often of captives, who within a few years were considered as as much a member of the tribe as anyone. And any person, whatever their parentage, who was brought up in the tribe is considered their member. The Cherokees were particularly inclusive, by the time of the Trail of Tears there were many black and white Cherokees, descedants of escaped slaves and Scots fur traders. John Ross, the great Cherokee leader of the 1830s, was 7/8th Scottish, 1/8 Cherokee by blood, but no one thought of him as anything but a Cherokee.
• LarryC: stop dissin' the patriarchy, willya?
• I'm another "White Cherokee", by having an ancestor on the Dawes Rolls, and also 1/4 by blood quorum. But the genetic dice roll gave me extremely light-colored skin, red hair, and blue eyes. I've run into that "Must be Cherokee" thing that LarryC describes many times, to the point I feel uncomfortable talking about it. Not so much in Oklahoma, where I was born and raised, because there are a lot of people of mixed Indian descent, but other places I have lived and visted, yes. Plegmund, there are really very few benefits from the federal government to being Indian in the US. There's free health care, of a sort, if you go to one of the BIA hospitals or clinics. The hospitals are horribly underfunded to the point of being useless... you can wait months for an "appointment" then hours at the hospital itself to be seen by overworked burnt-out staff using archaic and/or improvised equipment. They aren't places you want to go if you've got any other alternative. The purpose of the tribal governments, although they do to a certain extent control whatever money the tribe has, is more of a cultural thing. It's about preserving what's left.