Blood Quantum

This myth of indians "dilluting" ourselves out of existence is an unproven myth, mostly perpetuated by those thinblooded indians who wish to turn a profit from their native ancestry via tribal benefits, or the mystique/romanticsm that follows "native" ancestry: ie books, poetry, art.

There is no hard evidence that tribes are marrying ourselves out of existence, to the contrary, our number grow every year, and each year we have a record number of Native Americans in this country.

I am cherokee. we currently have approximately 30,000 citizens who have 1/4 bq and above. this is far more than in 1839 when there were approximately 8,000. This is in clear contrast to this myth of us going the way of the Do do. Also the Navajo Nation is prospering with over 300,000 members who are 1/4 and above!

I have nothing against those who are descendants and those who have grown up in our native communities. Anyone can live anyway they wish, and if thinbloods acculturate our lifeways, than more power to them and I wish them well. However, it is hard for me to seperate many thinbloods wails of being kept from our tribal rolls without discounting their desire to obtain tribal benefits.

As I said I am Cherokee. the freedmen issue is much more complicated, and they are in the right in their case. The Cherokee Chief is using illegal racial poltics to stay in office.

Dr. Albert Wahftig, in his dissertation investigated this theory of vanishing fullbloods. He concluded that in the case of the Cherokee, the thinblood Cherokee perpetuated this myth, in order to keep them in power and in control of the tribal government. If everyone thought that we were all thinbloods, then everyone would be okay with thinbloods running the tribe.

I do agree, and I think that tribe should adopt the laws in which ALL indian Blood is counted toward citizenship. I believe that this is fair, and I have seen this work well with many tribes.

Again, I dont see any hard evidence linking BQ to our detriment. It is unfortunate, but marriage is a choice. I dont see an twist marks on the arms of those who had children with those outside the tribe.

My only qualm with what you're saying is that for smaller tribes it it can be really difficult to find a mate you aren't related to and that you actually like. That's why a lot of people go outside their tribe, either marrying someone from another tribe or of a different ethnicity. Is this really a choice? I'm not so sure. I suppose we Indian women could just get artificially inseminated by a man of our own tribe if we didn't like him enough to sleep with him (sarcasm). I appreciate that there are a lot of Cherokees and a lot of Navajos.. but most tribes are much smaller.

Personally, I'd like to see lineal descent but with a "citizenship" type of test for those who are brand new to the rolls. Re-think membership as citizenship in an Indian Nation...at least you'd have to learn something about your culture and nation to enroll besides just having an ancestor.

you are wrongo, look at the smaller tribes and their bq requirements...they are the ones that will go extinct

Cherokee's, hell everyone is practically cherokee

Where am i wrong? Show me some concrete numbers. Every year the native American population GROWS. This does not look like extinction to me.

i agree some of the smaller tribes need a descendency requirement, but not the bulk of them. As i saud before, some tribe count all of ones native blood, and i think that this should be used more.

But as I said before, the ones mainly whining around are the thinbloods who want to benefit from tribal enrollment. they are just making exscuses for marrying a non-indian. Were they forced to procreate with a non-indian? If they were, then I think they should go to the police department. Otherwise, stand by your choice, be proud of ALL your children heritage, and move on.

This article is making a blanket statement that we are all the vanishing natives, so we just need to get used to seeing white indians. I disagree.

I'm sorry, but you are wrong. It is not a myth or political. It is a simple matter of math. The Cherokees have a lot of Indian blood because at one time they declared all members full-bloods. It may just take you longer to go out of existence, but unless you control marriage or declare all members full-bloods again at sometime, you will eventually find yourselves without a tribe. This should be a matter of citizenship. All sovereign nations have laws regarding who can or cannot become citizens. I don't know of any other nations that use blood quantum. We are not animals, with our breed decided by a degree of blood. Remember where this concept came from. Our ancestors had different methods of deciding who could or could not be a member, and it was not by their degree of blood.

I am sorry , but you are misinformed. at no time did the Cheroke nation, nor the United keetoowah band of Cherokee ever "make" everyone a fullblood. We have kept BQ for over 200yrs. At teh time of the Dawes Rolls in 1906 there were already citizens with 1/256ths BQ.

You are also wrong again because our population of Fullbloods is GROWING. In 1976 there were approximately 10,000 Cherokee with 1/4 BQ, today there are approximately 30,000.

no sir, even with a 1/4 BQ, we would still have a tribe of 30,000, and then we might even stop all the Cherokee jokes!

I am enrolled at Fort Peck, and though enrolled, have never lived there. In the 50's my father's family moved to the west coast. I grew up on and off the reservation, however, never my own. All my father's brothers and sisters married into tribes of the pacific northwest. We grew up on the reservation, but did not have the luxury of traveling to Montana in search of a mate. We married from the families we knew. Some now have the problem of being 5 different types of Indian, but unable to get enrolled anywhere. I'm sure our grandmothers wouldn't be happy with someone calling them "thin bloods". I, myself, have never gotten or applied for anything from my tribe. I have never needed to. Perhaps this will change with my father's passing almost 2 years ago. My siblings and I will inherit our ancestors land, what ever that will be, but none of us want anything but our tie to our ancestry. I will not disown my grandchildren if they are some other native or some other tribe altogether (Black, White, Hispanic, or Asian). I would have to question your "Native Heart" if you are able to disown your grandchildren for such a reason. As far as I know, children in America still have the right to procreate with whomever they wish, and don't always ask their parents. I plan on educating my children so they are able to support themselves, and find creative ways to legally keep what is left of the land that was once all ours as Natives.

How does 1 answer all the questons of the childern?In these changing times of the NEW WORLD.When I was removed from the chance of learning did I stop Learning?No I worked harder to find the answers.When I was younger I was told do you ever shut up?But would only ask another queston,I have been told by new FEW close Friends why have i not taken advantage of my Native Rights?I have been in the south all my life and as I have writen I have no RIGTS,ONLY BELIVES.The alotments of my CLAINS from the DAWES roll have been fought over for more years than i have been?I have never voted in ether on the TRIBES elections i was born into?They don't careabout us we live EAST of the Mississippi and have writen this on paper.1 must learn to follow the sprits and teach the young ones how to make change without Notice of WHO WE ARE AS NATION IN A NATION.ARE DAY IS CLOSER THAN 1 CAN SEE

I e-mailed your editor already. Concerning Cherokee Blood Quantum article in your release. Posted by kurux Jan 13 2009. Do the Cherokee tribes take full reparation
payments in the names of "thin bloods" just as if they were full bloods. If they do, why then would they find it offensive that some of these thin bloods would expect some tribal benefits?

Brothers and sisters, please remember that back in "the day" before the first European contacts, marriage outside the tribe was the norm. In my studies on biology and genetics, I learned that our Native elders did have extensive knowledge of biology, ecology, genetics, lethal recessives and the like--the only difference is that Western science quantifies, categorizes and classifies while Native science looks at the whole story [the overused term is holistic].

In California where I come from, marriages were made at Big Times, or between tribes or families, in order to keep bloodlines from becoming inbred. I've heard about other parts of the continent where ritual kidnapping ensured that marriages were made outside the community; other tribes have other ways of solving the biological problem of inbreeding [ever hear a Navajo explain his or her clan relationships?]

The myth of blood quantum is just that, a myth. Today, when a tribal members says he or she is a "fullblood," unless that person belongs to one of the really huge tribes like the Navajo, the extreme likelihood is that person has several tribes' worth of blood, and she or he is only a fullblood on paper--the CDIB, to be precise. In fact, the whole idea of blood quantum is an invention of the United States government which was meant to ensure that only tribal members were able to access the programs set aside for Indians [you know, like inadequate health care, insufficient educational benefits and the like]. However, the blood quantum requirements have come to be adopted by Indians instead of the old ways of counting who is and who is not an Indian, to our detriment.

It's time that tribes start to move away from the colonial institution of blood quantum and determine their own destinies, in accord with their traditional means of determining citizenship. Each tribe needs to figure out how best to accomplish this before we're all bred out of legal existence.

The problem with the lineal descent idea is that there will be too many people that know nothing of the language and culture. There are already too few people that speak Native languages and know the traditions in many tribes. I agree with HarlemNdn. He says there should be a naturalization process for people that all of a sudden decide to enroll with the tribe for suspicious reasons. Kind of like the test people from overseas have to take to become US citizens. Except MUCH more difficult. Maybe language fluency, oral traditions, stories, and things like that should be mandatory for entry into the tribe. That way, if people have blood from 3 or more different tribes, or non-Indians, they would have to basically confirm their loyalty and dedication to their people by preserving the heritage.

Those with a higher BQ are typically more likely to be closer connected to the culture. Tribes have used and are using BQ as a sort of measure of culture.

CA is unique, i know that they moved around alot between tribes, and intermingled much more than say the plains. As isaid earlier i am for counting ALL of ones native blood. Agua Caliente does that in CA.

I strongly believe we will never Breed ourselves out. this is a myth perprated by thinbloods who wish to be just as much "indian' as the fullbloods.

I know lots of California Indians who have blood in four or more tribes, yet they are only counted as belonging to one tribe. Usually, it's their mother's tribe [although I do know that some CA tribes go with the father's blood!] and if you're unlucky enough to not have enough blood in the tribe, you're outta luck.

Again, Indian people need to consider where blood quantum requirements come from: the federal government and the people who colonized us. It was NOT set up to benefit Indian people, but to breed Indians out of existence by disqualifying people who had intermarried and fell below a certain percentage of blood.

The reason that as one person noted that people with higher quantum tend to speak the language is only because they stayed behind in their traditional communities--I bet that you'll find plenty of tribal members who don't have what that person considers the proper amount of blood who are fluent in the language and culture.

We as Indian people need to consult with our elders, look at how we used to count who was a member and develop policies that more closely reflect our traditional ways of counting who belongs. After all, the federal government's current policy is to stay out of these decisions--let's take advantage of it to develop our old ways again. [and for the record, I can claim 7/16 blood quantum--not a nosebleed Indian by anybody's account!]

Instead of trying to figure out how much Indian DNA a person has, let's figure out ways to build and sustain economies within tribal communities that keeps our young people at home where they can still earn a living and be close to elders, spiritual people, the language and the land from which they were created. People who have jobs that earn enough to sustain their families always do better, according to Paul Echohawk, former attorney general of Idaho and brother of NARF director John Echohawk. That will solve a lot of our problems in not only the membership arena but will strengthen our cultures, our families and ultimately, our nations.

The reason that a lot of blood quantum issues are various, is because greedy bloods using the less bloods for the enrichment of a few "bloody", greedy people.
. Indians, that are using the same evil purposes, that they complained about, that the white government did to our ancestors. So evidently that makes them a white "hearted red man". Monkey see, monkey do? Gordon Jones

I am half Cherokee enrolled and my mother was an original enrolee. My wife is full Choctaw and my kids are 3/4. We both feel that both bloods should be counted. I believe that 1/8 should be the cut off to be a member of any tribe. The way I would handle is like this: 1/8th equals one vote, 8/8th if you are full blood. Less than 1/8th you are just a regular every day american. In the case of the so called freedmen if they have proof of blood they can be a member of the Cherokee nation. I know of high degree natives whose families would not sign for various reason and thus are not recognized. Maybe one day we can develop dna to the point it can break down your exact lineage.

Isn't that a picture of Herman Pipe Senior? Jr. would be his son..

Kurux said...

"I strongly believe we will never Breed ourselves out. this is a myth perprated by thinbloods who wish to be just as much "indian' as the fullbloods."

I believe "kurux" is obviously biased and ignored some valid points that were made about smaller tribes because he hates "thin bloods" of which his nation, the cherokee nation, is mostly made up of. Hypocritical much? The cherokees are not a small tribe so you don't even have a dog in the fight, so to speak.

I've listened quite well, and I have heard this story over and over again. Those who have a drop of indian blood continually try and find some remnant of their "indianess" and then want to build this up and qualify themselves as the "indian authority".

As I said I am Cherokee. Our tribe is the case study of what happens when you open up enrollmetn and allow thinbloods to overrun the tribal govt. Most of our Tribal "citizens" grew up as white people. they can pass for white, grew up in white society, with those values, some were outwardly racist against even indians, but now because we get some small benefits, they turn around, and run to enroll. I have seen these people enroll, once they do, they quite frankly ask: "so where is my indian money and house?". these are the majority of the people trying to enroll. Us fullbloods who grew up in our small poor communities have been pushed to the back of our own tribal govt. We dont get the healthcare, or the small benefits that were intended to go to "indians". it is now bloated with the administrators, and recipients being the white cherokee who would never be mistaken for being indian and who sometimes just enrolled. The White Cherokee administrations have found a way to enroll as many "indians" as possible in order to use the tribes' bloated headcount to expand the federal monies which fund the tribes' budget. This year the Cherokee Nation's annual budget of $485 million dollars; most of this is from federal $$ based on our headcount. It is a "citizrn mill" with no respect for "culture" or language. They are white people exploiting the federal handouts by enrolling with a minute drop of blood. Currently the CN BQ is down to 1/9,064ths. Would you consider this person an Indian? there are also adopted and intermarried whites who bought their way onto our "by blood" roll and are considered Indians.

A side note here is that this is what makes the freedmen issue so blatantly racist. When the african amer. freedmen found a way for them to be counted, the white cherokee voted them out in a second; only for getting what is rightfully theirs, and doing the same exact thing as the whites have been doing for a hundred years.

SO speaking as a Cherokee, I believe no big tribes should ever drop their BQ. I think the Cherokee Nation should raise ours.

Smaller tribes are different, in CA some are basically families, and so they must have descendency requirements. BUT, for the most parts these small tribes are communities and know eachother.

I believe a huge blanket statemen to just enroll everyone with indian lineage (or supposed) is just wrong. And I beleive our elders, and ancestors would think it was wrong to.

If there is no bar for enrollment, anyone can be indian, and everyone will try.

I think not everyone is coming from the same place, and we all just need to listen to each other and consider the big picture, which isn't simple, and doesn't have the same solution for every tribe. after reading all of the posts by kurux, I think what he or she is saying is very valid for their own tribe. I don't think they are trying to insult every single mixed blood person who identifies as Indian. I'm not sure that are who say they are racist have read all the posts. They are talking about the reality of powerful or wealthy tribes that often are run by nontraditional or assimilated people with no cultural upbringing who suddenly want to run things because they have their degrees. I don't think the thinblood term is referring to a mixed blood person who grew up on the Rez and is part of a community. But every tribe is different, snd I think some of the ideas are more intuitive than what has been so far. There is no reason that tribal blood should not count for anything, and that is one issue ALL tribes need to work out asap as more and more ndn kids are a mix of many tribes and should not be barred from enrollment. Isn't that a no-brainer? But one other issue of lineal descent that wasn't mentioned is the matrilineal descent rules which may have worked traditionally and helped strengthen a tribe, but now are shrinking a lot of Eastern tribes, even larger Haudenosaunee tribes. It's counterintuitive as a woman who marries outside the tribe or a nonnative can enroll here kids but a man who does cannot. That's worse than blood quantum rules on the legalistic side.

While I think it is a mistake to think all hesitant or against loosening rules are motivated by greed...and how funny to imply that when few tribal members are getting fat checks or big houses...ha...it does seem that one of our collective survival is still threatened by that historical enemy. Greed is what broke treaties, stole land, allotted land, slaughtered, stole children, destroyed land, over hunted, destroyed forest, hacked mountains, polluted rivers...etc, etc. If you look at all the catalysts for the negative things done in this country to Indians, it always comes back to greed. Even past the creation of reservations to take choice land, you had rations becoming a big business, with officials and intermediaries not only scoring profits on feeding people whose way of feeding their families had been robbed, but reselling supplies and further lining pockets. you had people even adopting children to get land. You had desperate gold rushers getting so enamored with gold that they exterminated California tribes. You had Mexican and Americans in he west enslaving Indians when labor was down. On and on. It is all greed, and even some people who began with innocent or neutral motives were corrupted by greed. It has always been our enemy and we would do well to not let the same whips and boundary lines continue to play us against each other and ourselves...

Thank you for listening.

The big gaming tribes of course want to keep their money... it is sad for the small tribes that are suffering because of greed.

I grew up on the Blackfeet rez in northcentral Montana. I'm not sure, but I had heard years ago that there were something like a dozen fullbloods left amongst the Pikuni in Montana; I suppose there are more amongst their cousins in the Confederacy in Canada, both on- and off-reserve. I have distant Cherokee cousins, but my bq is less than 1/16th, so aside from the jokes about Cherokee blood ("Which part of you is Cherokee, then?") by other kids growing up, I never thought it worthwhile to seek out the potential benefits, if tribal membership of an ancestor could have been proven. I consider myself a spiritual brother of the Oglala Lakota people. With the exception of my mother's father's people, my "people" have been here on Turtle Island for seven generations or more. My point? If there are so many ways for a white boy raised on a rez to identify in some fashion with Indian/First Nations/aboriginal cultural and spiritual values, how is it that Indian tribes and nations must be limited to either one or the other of two available means to identify/quantify their "Indian-ness." Seems to me that this is an outgrowth of vallues of those who thought they had a "manifest destination," wished to impose those values on a host of others, and did a pretty good job of getting many of them to buy into a classification system that was flawed from its conception, let alone the outset of implementation. The Navajo are known to say that "We are all five-fingered humans." For most tribal peoples, their strength IS IN THEIR CULTURE. From a certain perspective, those who are in their way(s) doing what they can to preserve that culture are the real "Indians," regardless of what their DNA might say about a quantifiable "amount" of "Indian-ness."

The comment of "thin-blood" is racist. For most Indian people, it's intermarriage with other tribes that decreases blood quantum as much as it is intermarriage with non-Indians. In my case, my mother and father were both enrolled Blackfeet. Common sense says if two Blackfeet have kids, their kids will be Blackfeet. Not so. Both my parents have Chippewa-Cree as well as Blackfeet. They were both raised Blackfeet on our Reservation, they had no idea that their kids would be ineligible for enrollment five years down the road because the requirments were changed--this is history--it was changed to increase the living members' cut of judgment funds. This is the driving force behind this short-sighted policy today. As far as enrolling for benefits--that's laughable. There are few if any benefits when one is enrolled beside voting. Monetary benefits? I haven't seen any.

I have a question. Does the Cherokee tribe receive full reparation payments for all the registered tribal members of the Cherokee tribe even if they are thin bloods? Thin bloods meaning that they are less than 25% Indian blood. If they do receive the pay, then why would the tribe be offended with those thin bloods expecting some benefits? That seems to be a conflict of moral rules. Receive but not provide any benefits. What do you think? Gorden L Jones

I just want to let my voice be heard as a thin blood (Meskwaki). I'll never be enrolled in the tribe, and I'll never look for monetary benefits. But I really think to ignore my ancestry is not right. My children will have even thinner blood than I, but that to me doesn't make their ancestors any less important. Yet I want them to learn and be proud of their heritage. Trouble is, there is a difference between me and my enrolled Meskwaki counterparts. My family has been almost completely assimilated into the dominant culture. I can understand why someone who has been raised on the settlement as a Meskwaki would be suspicious of my motives. We've walked different paths after all. Well, all I can say to those thin bloods out there, like me, is to form relationships with those who are part of the culture you are trying to get closer to. Learn what you can sincerely. No one can deny you your ancestry.

I think the term "thinblood" is racist and presumptuous. I guess I am one of those because I am below 1/4. But I was raised by my Oglala Lakota grandmother. She wasn't a medicine woman or anything romantic sounding, just a family oriented person. I grew up surrounded by Indian people, visited the rez as a child, and considered myself a proud mixed-blood Indian. I didn't know my dad, he died when I was a baby, and he happens to be descended from the Cherokee tribe. I have never met his family. My mom's father was white, and we visited his family twice ever in my life. So, who does this leave ? The Indians. It's who I identify with, and I have never received one dime ... OK, I lied a little, I think I used the IHS exquisite facilities a few times, and we managed to try some commodity cheese, which was yummy. Point being, I have Lakota blood coursing through my veins, and I love my heritage and people regardless of that amount. People need to be mindful in what they say or think about people based on their blood quantum or even skin color.
In the event I wanted to learn more about this minute Cherokee heritage of mine, it would be my decision, and no one else's business or room to judge me. Not that I would do this, but if I wanted to seek enrollment it would be up to the tribe, not the naysayers.

Thanks Deanna. There's a whole lot of us out there who are not full-bloods and not enrolled in tribes. Some of us are interested in keeping our heritage alive, and others don't care. I happen to care, and I don't see that as wrong, but just the opposite; necessary. This land we live in after all started with our native ancestors. I'm proud to live here where my ancestors lived.

I think the term thin-blood is appropriate. There are far too many claimaing to be Native and then look white or black. No thin blood should be tribally enrolled as this is hideous. How would whites like some thin-blood black representing them at a beauty pageant just because they have some white blood? I'm black with Creek and Scots-Irish ancestry yet I don't go parading around talking and trying to be Irish or Creek. Futhermore, Natives really need to start marrying other Natives even if it's Natives from other tribes. You guys are really thinning the blood down and creating people who don't even look Native and probably wouldn't give a crap about the culture. I really hate going to powwows and seeing all these white or black dancers out there calling themselves Native. It's tastless! I want the real Mccoy! How would people feel if they went to see the Irish River Dance and all the dancers looked black but yet claimed some Irish ancestry?

Here is a perfect story of what blood quantum does to present day federally recognized tribes. I know of a tribe by recent census count had a total of 1750 tribal members. This tribe used the 1/4 blood degree minimum requirement for tribal enrollment.

1400 present tribal members were of 1/4 and 3/8 blood blood degree. Due to the fact the tribe is very small and most are close cousin blood kin,
most all of these married local non-indians outside of their tribe and due to the fact no other tribes were within 400 miles.

Many of these younger generation 1/4 and 3/8 bloods
who did not want to marry their close cousins by blood, did not have money to travel long distances to intermarry with other tribes, had no choice but to intermarry non-Indian locals, outside the tribe.

Now most all of these 1/4 and 3/8 blood degree tribal
members have lost their children and grandchildren off the tribal rolls, as they did not qualify on the tribal rolls of their own parents, because they did not meet the minimum 1/4 blood degree tribal code requirement as mandated for tribal enrollment in the tribe of their own parents.

Only 200 tribal members are 1/2 to 3/4 blood quantum
and fullblood quantum & only 150 fullblood are left most all of those are of the older generation who
are too old for children. Many of the 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2, 3/4 bloods came from these older generations, some who did not want to marry close cousins and had also married off the reservation.

Here is the result:

The older 1/2 to 4/4 bloods will die having produced some 4/4/, 1/2 to 3/4 bloods a few hundred in number.
but when the other 1400 tribal members who are 3/8 & 1/4 bloods die off, none of their own children are allowed to be part of the tribe of their own parents.

Each of these 1400 1/4-3/8 blood tribal members had 2 to 3 children, the tribe is denying and cutting off 4200 first generation tribal roll children from membership into the tribe of their very own parents.

These are facts and this is what is actually taking place in many of the small tribal nations. Something to consider, as we are now self destroying our very own tribal families and tribal nations, by allowing a system of tribal enrollment that has been taught to the tribes and put in our tribal codes, yet this system of tribal enrollment was not our way, back in times before Reorganization Act, Dawes Roll, Indian
Affairs and BIA involvement. TRIBAL ENROLLMENT CODE CAN BE CHANGED BY TRIBAL MEMBERSHIP VOTE, AND TRIBAL COUNCIL VOTE. TRIBAL MEMBERS NEED TO TAKE ACTION.

Amy,

Go watch some more indian movies for your "real" mccoy. The reality is that when people mix, they can favor one or the other. I know lots of indians who don't look "indian". So a friend of mine who is just about blond, has some bluish looking eyes, is half Ojibwe, is according to you "hideous" and shouldn't claim to be native because he doesn't look it? I'd be happy to see a black looking man with Irish ancestry participating in an Irish cultural dance. But that's just me I guess...

Kurux,

Mahalo for all your comments on this article, we are having the same problem too. And I was at lost for words because we are down to the wire of genocidal end game. It is our own thin bloods that are in partnerships with the non native Hawaiians for recognition of their published papers, benefits-access to ANA Loans, and continuation of toxicity usage of our lands. We were under the Rehabilitation Act of 1920 and are now being transfered without our peoples wishes to Reorganization of 1934. With the loss of Mankiller, I knew that the next person in charge would shift the native to corporate or mother earth to Afatar! As a Pacific Islander we would never die out either, so they concocted a definition of nuclear isotopes aggregation (low, medium, and weak)which would give us a few more (cancerous slow death) years. However, the Pentagon, are building Hoppers (leak proof housing)for the military families in Hawaii. I live in the most dense Native Hawaiian community in the world and we are considered the 'downwinders' of the US Armed Forces depleted uranium most toxic community. Getting off the subject! We are on a bloodquantum of 50% plus bloodquantum since 1920 and are being watered down July 7, 2011 to a one drop rule and born in Hawaii. The governor of Hawaii Neil (my friend) whose being an out right jerk at the moment is signing our death warrant SB 1520 into law. As a Recognized ....with a one drop or less rule! Ugh!!!!
Mahalo

being Indian comes from your heart, where Creator put it before one was even born.

If you are truly proud of being Indian, rather than concerned about entitlements and how big a slice of the 'menial' US or tribal government pie, then you would support anyone else who 'believes', are, or wants to be considered Native.

the reason that African Americans and now Hispanic Americans have made so much progress is due to prolonged 'unified' efforts...and very importantly, increasing population numbers (voters and democratic participants).

I know plenty of fullbloods who purport non-Native values, such as individualism and capitalism; and many non-Natives that have the heart of an Indian.

we must to enroll so that the dominate society can 'track' us...just as the Jews were numbered for systematic genocide.

last comment...

i feel that those comments that denegrate entitlement due to blood quantum are forgetting one very important thing: that for the past 4 centuries, there WAS a Native man AND woman (ancestors) who SURVIVED peril long enough to even create the next generation - you and me - and because of that FACT, regardless what percentage one is now in 2011 - he or she IS Indian, and has the right to proudly proclaim (skin tone aside).

this ethnocentrism has gone so far that we have become internal racists ourselves...and that is not a Native value.

yox kalo...

my menial two cents worth. bless you all.

Lindsey X. Watchman,
Mahalo for your kalo comments..being Indian/native comes from your relationship with your ancestors and their aina. The Bloodquantum had a horrible heart in it's origin and his name was Dawes in 1877. The belief that Hawaiian Kingdom and Hawaiian Nationals are friends or foes are truely the crux of the problem. Our so called pie crust crumbs comes from the aina and ones hard work not the change over to 'unification' which last about ten seconds or in the moment of unification tactics. Both African Americans and Chicano's work hard in their arts to unify their people for common agreements. Case in point Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King unified and continue to unified through education and forums. I know lots of Pacific Islanders out of necessity work hard for their living in the capitalistic systems and go home to their ancestoral bones and kalo patches. As for the en/roll it's just a guilt trip for those that participate and unintentionally too. Historically, the change in nature and the unification behind the bloodquantum kept the pigments a darker shade in the sun. Politcally, and values of a culture that is foreign one seems to try and deny racisim, and welcome genocide over the traditional people. One that occupy's their aina as traditonalist continues to maintain their stretch of horizons that sees the future generations.