Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The 1st clip of Stephen Colbert who stated that his family had a fabled "Indian Princess" in the lineage came to mind when I read this post. The 2nd clip, of course, proved this to be untrue.
How would y'all characterize this fellow? Indian, White, I dunno, what?
Okay, how about THIS fellow? Indian, White, I dunno, what?
(Have I made my point yet, or shall I continue? )
Excellent post. It's ridiculous to try to narrow a continent or two worth of people to a particular "look". I grew up right between a Sioux reservation and a Chippewa reservation, and can vouch for the fact that at least those groups really don't look much alike.
But if you get a role card you can still get all kinds of pills at the Indian hospital even if you are white. From what my white looking role card having friends tell me.
Edit: all kinds of vitamin pills I mean, have to keep your immune system strong.
The above statement is one of the biggest issues I have with descendents of very little blood quantum enrolling. It's roll card, btw.
What I see is those who have been separated from tribal culture, who have not been raised as NDN, and have little connection to their tribe are the ones who enroll to see what things they can 'get'. To me, that is the European values coming out; those values that were established in the european immigrants' culture as America formed and grew as a nation. The 'what can I get', 'what can I fence', 'what can I own' is takes priority over 'who am I', 'how am I connected to my tribal family', 'how am I connected to place' is the priority of those NDNs who were raised NDN. They need no 'card' to know the who, where, what, when, and how they are connected to their place on this earth.
We NDNs now espouse many of those negative 'me first', 'money first' type philosophy that the Europeans brought to this continent. Those are the values that will break a culture.
It's human nature to form groups and subgroups that one identifies with, and most Native Americans (the ones raised Native) are not NDN because of 'what they can get', but because their very being, and their very existence is and will always be connected to their tribe and their culture.
Immigrants in America (euro immigrants) have spent more than 400 years trying to break that connection. They have failed at completly breaking the culture. They had the misguided belief that we would be better off if we 'assimilated' into Christianity, and the European philosophy of money and ownership first, family next and to hell with everything else. That is the philosophy that separates those who are Indigenous to North America the continent, and those who are descended from the illegal European immigrants who built America the country.
The Indigenous of North America bind together in a way I never see in non-NDNs of America. Don't get me wrong; we fight and bicker amongst ourselves with tribal politics and such, but when the push comes to shove we are NDN. Period. Being NDN is not about how many pills you can get at IHS. That's the concern of the Whites who have their 'card'.
I do not dislike Whites and I don't fault those who reach to make the connection to an ancestry they may or may not have. It's a driving force of human nature to feel a strong bond with a group that goes deeper than national ties. They are ties to this continent, and based on a spiritual element that has been passed through all of the generations of our tribe. That is being NDN.
When I was at University there was a full native girl who liked to call these people "$5 Cherokees", presumably because their ancestors became 'Cherokee' by purchasing an allotment of Cherokee land in Oklahoma for five bucks.
I don't doubt that a lot of White Americans from the Appalachian region whose ancestry goes back 200+ years in America have some, and there are certainly people with much higher percentages, but all in all the whole thing that White America is really significantly Native blooded is a sham perpetuated by Americans with a White-Guilt complex and Europeans who find it a convenient way to differentiate themselves from Americans.
After all, a huge percentage of Americans of European ancestry arrived after the middle of the 19th century and most settled in areas where the Native population was very low.
I have a White friend who used to go around claiming that Cherokee princess in my family tree bull$hit. When he got his DNA test results back from AncestryByDNA.com it revealed that he has 94% European ancestry and 0% Native American ancestry. But the shocker was that is revealed he has 6% Sub Saharian African ancestry. So that "Cherokee Princess" in reality was really an Aunt Jemima.
Or maybe it is not a surprise, after all my friend is from Mississippi which used to be a slave state. In colonial times there was probably a lot of race mixing between European and Africans in Mississippi.
This is what a typical Native American who is not mixed with the White man's blood, looks like.
Oooooo, you may have just started something. Any FBI's out there willing to post their portraits in this thread?
Once again, T.B., you are falling victim to a "phenotype stereotype". That woman is quite possibly North American Indian. However, not all full-blooded North American Indians look like her.
Oooooo, you may have just started something. Any FBI's out there willing to post their portraits in this thread?
Once again, T.B., you are falling victim to a "phenotype stereotype". That woman is quite possibly North American Indian. However, not all full-blooded North American Indians look like her.
Americans have watched too dang many Western movies. They just don't get it that there is NATURAL VARIATION even within "native" peoples.
Besides- who's business is it anyway if someone is NDN or not? Why does it matter that we get down to precises how many drops of native blood a person has? Since when is it so "cool" to be NDN? It only seems to be a problem around here, since I do not encounter this in the real world... and I live in Oklahoma where a major portion of the population DOES have native ancestory. It is insulting for anyone to look at the color of someone skin or eyes and tell them that they are not of the culture and heritage they claim to be.
I have a White friend who used to go around claiming that Cherokee princess in my family tree bull$hit. When he got his DNA test results back from AncestryByDNA.com it revealed that he has 94% European ancestry and 0% Native American ancestry. But the shocker was that is revealed he has 6% Sub Saharian African ancestry. So that "Cherokee Princess" in reality was really an Aunt Jemima.
Or maybe it is not a surprise, after all my friend is from Mississippi which used to be a slave state. In colonial times there was probably a lot of race mixing between European and Africans in Mississippi.
That would be just as interesting as being part indian imo.
I remember telling a black co-worker I was supposed to be part Indian once and she asked if I had any black in me. I was like yeah right I'm real black. She was like well you might be surprised and I was like wha
Americans have watched too dang many Western movies. They just don't get it that there is NATURAL VARIATION even within "native" peoples.
Besides- who's business is it anyway if someone is NDN or not? Why does it matter that we get down to precises how many drops of native blood a person has? Since when is it so "cool" to be NDN? It only seems to be a problem around here, since I do not encounter this in the real world... and I live in Oklahoma where a major portion of the population DOES have native ancestory. It is insulting for anyone to look at the color of someone skin or eyes and tell them that they are not of the culture and heritage they claim to be.
I have to admit that there is reverse racism. Sometimes I think all of us humans are a silly species. Certain things, and they vary, are engrained into us from birth. Many are positive and wonderful, many other things are not, and it takes growth, self-introspect, and work to recognize and rid ourselves of those negatives.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
