What is a true Indian?

[Zeke]

Will we dispute anglos who more 'feels comfortable' with the Indigenous People than they do with their 'own' kind? Always.

You see. Those same people have given themselves the acceptance to be something they are not.

We've seen that all our lives.

I don't buy that, here is why: LINK

Not even Native blood makes you "Indian" to those with poor definitions.

What we've seen all of our lives is an internally heightened defensiveness in holding onto ways of life that do not exist anymore -- except in isolated vacuums -- because we equate growth with passing judgment on our ancestors. In sum, we've FAILED to give ourselves acceptance to allow inclusion as a form of life because of fear that it makes us less Native.

I call b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t.

I believe it is 100% possible for an Anglo to be more "Indian" than me if you define us in a closeted, backward and romanticized manner. (Woundedbear wants to wear a breechcloth to Wal*Mart in Miami, OK. If that's your definition, he's more "Indian" than all of us!)

In my opinion, if you do things the way I was taught and do them, you are what I am. The key is that the only way you'll be able to accomplish that is by learning how I did. (You're not going to get that by feeling you are something, you have to BE something.) And if you are something, you don't really care how someone else defines it.

1. I'm not threatened by Anglos, they can't steal what is within me.
2. If an Indian is threatened by Anglos, they need to look inward.

[OLChemist]

Oh dear, my head may have to explode. I find myself agreeing with Joe's Dad and Zeke, simultaneously.


In the process of conquest and colonization, the ability to fix the boundaries our own cultural and social norms were severely damaged. Our institutions were attacked and normal modes of transmission of culture disrupted or broken. External definitions -- heathen, barbarian, blood quanta, noble savage, primitive, etc -- of "Indianess" were imposed. As a natural consequence, we have become excruciatingly sensitive to assault on these borders and obsessed with the us vs. them dialectic.

The irony (should you choose to view it so favorably) of this is that, in addition to some communities normalizing some really hideously damaging and dysfunctional behaviors, we have internalized some of the dominant culture's essentialist views of Native cultures. In our desperate attempts to counter the overwhelming negatives in the imposed definitions, we have seized upon rare elements of the good in these alien views. And we have rightly and wrongly enshrined those elements of the old ways that have survived attack. After all this trauma, we are -- as Zeke points out -- queasy about the risks inherent in personal and community self-definition. And understandably chary about inclusiveness.

After decades of relentless negative dominant culture stereotyping of our cultures, we've recast the dynamic as Native good, non-Native bad. We have eagerly put on some of Rousseau's discarded clothes. Conveniently ignoring for the moment that this is another romantic borrowing from an alien worldview. Should we then be surprised that some of the disaffected within the dominant culture should seize upon this and long to become the virtuous us?

Now to those who proclaim a Native heart: Can't you see where claiming inclusion is an imposition of colonial privilege? We have always included and enculturated outsiders. But we have made that decision. When you are claiming that you are Indian at heart, you are attacking our power to define our communities, by making yourself the gatekeeper. Why should you have that right? I can't just define myself as a member of a particular Native community by virtue of a few bits of DNA. I have to earn that acceptance. Why shouldn't you?


JD, how's that for typing like a white woman? Or worse an aging academic, LOL.

[Joe's Dad]

I don't buy that, here is why: LINK

Not even Native blood makes you "Indian" to those with poor definitions.

What we've seen all of our lives is an internally heightened defensiveness in holding onto ways of life that do not exist anymore -- except in isolated vacuums -- because we equate growth with passing judgment on our ancestors. In sum, we've FAILED to give ourselves acceptance to allow inclusion as a form of life because of fear that it makes us less Native.

I call b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t.

I believe it is 100% possible for an Anglo to be more "Indian" than me if you define us in a closeted, backward and romanticized manner. (Woundedbear wants to wear a breechcloth to Wal*Mart in Miami, OK. If that's your definition, he's more "Indian" than all of us!)

In my opinion, if you do things the way I was taught and do them, you are what I am. The key is that the only way you'll be able to accomplish that is by learning how I did. (You're not going to get that by feeling you are something, you have to BE something.) And if you are something, you don't really care how someone else defines it.

1. I'm not threatened by Anglos, they can't steal what is within me.
2. If an Indian is threatened by Anglos, they need to look inward.

I'll accept your perspective.

So by your definition, because you drink some form of expensive liquor and smoke whatever kind of cigars, like blonde women and say 'to wit', you are a white man more than some white men?

Or, are you Indian playing white man?

I forgot to ask you, Zeke...

Am I calling b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t on your calling b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t? lol

[Joe's Dad]

Oh dear, my head may have to explode. I find myself agreeing with Joe's Dad and Zeke, simultaneously.


In the process of conquest and colonization, the ability to fix the boundaries our own cultural and social norms were severely damaged. Our institutions were attacked and normal modes of transmission of culture disrupted or broken. External definitions -- heathen, barbarian, blood quanta, noble savage, primitive, etc -- of "Indianess" were imposed. As a natural consequence, we have become excruciatingly sensitive to assault on these borders and obsessed with the us vs. them dialectic.

The irony (should you choose to view it so favorably) of this is that, in addition to some communities normalizing some really hideously damaging and dysfunctional behaviors, we have internalized some of the dominant culture's essentialist views of Native cultures. In our desperate attempts to counter the overwhelming negatives in the imposed definitions, we have seized upon rare elements of the good in these alien views. And we have rightly and wrongly enshrined those elements of the old ways that have survived attack. After all this trauma, we are -- as Zeke points out -- queasy about the risks inherent in personal and community self-definition. And understandably chary about inclusiveness.

After decades of relentless negative dominant culture stereotyping of our cultures, we've recast the dynamic as Native good, non-Native bad. We have eagerly put on some of Rousseau's discarded clothes. Conveniently ignoring for the moment that this is another romantic borrowing from an alien worldview. Should we then be surprised that some of the disaffected within the dominant culture should seize upon this and long to become the virtuous us?

Now to those who proclaim a Native heart: Can't you see where claiming inclusion is an imposition of colonial privilege? We have always included and enculturated outsiders. But we have made that decision. When you are claiming that you are Indian at heart, you are attacking our power to define our communities, by making yourself the gatekeeper. Why should you have that right? I can't just define myself as a member of a particular Native community by virtue of a few bits of DNA. I have to earn that acceptance. Why shouldn't you?


JD, how's that for typing like a white woman? Or worse an aging academic, LOL.

Funny thing is...I understood your writing! Does than make me a white man? LOL I always try to break your writings DOWN to my intellectual level.

As I was reading, I saw the tree during ceremony, I saw the faces of the ancient ones at the cathedral in Mexico city, the dancers in their Cavalry hats and gloves during Grand Entry in Montana.

These are the things who define us as WHO we are, not what we are.

So yeah, maybe there is a defensiveness about a 'chary to inclusivness'.

What the heck is a chary??? hahahaa

[yaahl]

Once upon a time ago, I had to teach a law class on Aboriginal law... now the irony was that the Aboriginal law that I was teaching was in fact, British common-law with a little bit of the Napoleon Civil code thrown in as those are the laws that Canadians have accepted to follow.

In one of my lectures, I asked the class to define what they thought was a legitimate Aboriginal person (now keep in mind all those of you that are not living under the Charter of Rights and Constitution of Canada that an Aboriginal person is classed as either, Status, Metis or Inuit).

Definitions ranged from DNA samples to ability to speak and communicate within the languages of the group, Some were defined by the family connections (and in order to understand that you'd pretty much have to understand the Indian Act and how it set out to destroy the family connections but that's a whole other discussion), other were defined at how Aboriginal someone looked - which is totally ironic here in Canada because... Aboriginal Peoples were never recognized as a visibleminority but rather as a distinct cultural group. Seems our very long history of fur trading and a la facon du pays marriages created an entire group of folks that took on the ways of the Europeans to please the masters of the Northwest and Hudson Bay Companies. The point is, there is no one definition nor is there one way to define us. Simply feeling it in your heart does not give you the collective consciousness of thousands of years of a people. What I feel in my heart, I predict, is nothing close to what you feel in your German heart. When I say "my child" in my language - that phrase comes with a tribe, a clan, a house and most of all a family - my child is all of the above. What I suspect you have in your heart is a yearning to be something that you think will make you happy. My happiness comes not from to whom I am related to, but to what I choose to do to increase my happiness and nurture my Id.

I sat on my Nation's Self Government negotiations and our biggest achievement was taking back the right to govern ourselves AND define who our members are. We tossed those cards away that the government issued and now we define ourselves... our clans are intact, our houses are growing with each new baby born and our people are getting stronger every day. I doubt you will ever feel within your heart what I feel when I stand on the land that my ancestors also stood upon knowing that I have given my people three more generations forward to also stand on the land.

As with any. "I feel it in my heart Indian", please by all means come and join us, but be prepared to work hard for there is much to do - we need critical mass in education, law, medicine, politics, environment, resource management, wildlife preservation and control, fishing and hunting management, housing design, all trade skills, engineers, sea management, arctic sovereignty and management, policy developers, linguists, economic development and sustainability, arts and communication.

If you simply want to sleep in a tipi and pretend you are back on the days of Sitting Bull, may I suggest you book a holiday in Blackfoot Crossing or Elk Island National Park and have at 'er.

In the meantime, I suggest you go off and read the book by Sylvia Van Kirk, "Many Tender Ties" and when you are done that.. try reading these:

Buffalohead, P.K. (1983). Farmers Warriors Traders: A Fresh Look at Ojibway Women. (Document No. 28). In, Minnesota History; The Quarterly of the Minnesota Historical Society. 48 (6) Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1983. Pp.236-244. (HRAF Public Information: New Haven, Conn.: HRAF 2000. computer file).

The National Archives Learning Curve, (n.d.). Plains Indians. Retrieved Mar. 31, 2006, from [Spartacus Educational ... ] .

Canada, Indian and Inuit Affairs Program, Research Branch. (1979). A Demographic Profile of Registered Indian Women. Ottawa: Research Branch, Indian and Inuit Affairs Program

Estes, C. P. (1995). Women Who Run With the Wolves; Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype. Ballantine Books: New York

Fisk, J. (1990). Native women in reserve politics: strategies and struggles. Journal of Legal Pluralism 30: pp121-37.

Fournier, S. & Crey, E. (2000). “We can heal”: aboriginal children today. In L.F. Klein & L. A. Ackerman (Eds.), Women and Power in Native North America (pp.303-330). University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Fox, T. & Long, D. (2000) Struggles within the circle: Violence, healing and health on a First Nations reserve. In D.Long and O. Dickason (Eds.), Visions of the Heart (pp.271-297) Harcourt Canada Ltd.

Hare, J. & Barman, J. (2000). Aboriginal education: is there a way ahead? In L.F. Klein & L. A. Ackerman (Eds.), Women and Power in Native North America (pp. 331-359). University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Kehoe, A.B. (1995). Blackfoot persons. In L. F. Klein & L. A. Ackerman (Eds.), Women And Power in Native North America (pp.113-125). University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

LaRoque, E. (1994). Violence in Aboriginal Communities. National Clearinghouse on Family Violence: Ottawa, 1994.

Peters, E. (2000). Aboriginal People in Urban Areas. In L.F. Klein & L. A. Ackerman (Eds.), Women and Power in Native North America (pp.237-270). University of Okalahoma Press, Norman.

The Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center. (n.d). Lake Andes, SD. 57356-0572

Voyageur, C. J. (2000). Contemporary Aboriginal women in Canada. In D.Long &

O.P. Dickason (Ed.), Visions of the Heart; Canadian Aboriginal Issues (pp. 81-106). Nelson; Thompson Canada


Then when you are done those, try these:
Canadian Indian Policy

and when you think you might be able to hold up your end of the debate about what is a true Indian other than some ridiculous assumption that all you have to do is feel it in your heart.. then you might try these sources of information:

http://firstnationcitizenship.afn.ca/uploads/A10_New_Politics_of_Indian_Identity.pdf

http://cinema2.arts.ubc.ca/units/canlit/pdfs/articles/canlit152-Canadian(Lutz).pdf

http://www.oba.org/en/pdf/sec_news_sept11_c3_palm.pdf

So after reading these... still think you have any reason to ask those of us who know what and who we are.. to define ourselves even further so that you might find a way to enmesh yourself into our communities because you don't like being German...?


In addtion, please feel free to red the Land Claim Agreement that governs me... see yourself anywhere in it?

http://www.eco.gov.yk.ca/pdf/umbrellafinalagreement.pdf

or my Haida roots... http://www.haidanation.ca/Pages/Spla...of%20Claim.pdf

[Zeke]

I'll accept your perspective.

So by your definition, because you drink some form of expensive liquor and smoke whatever kind of cigars, like blonde women and say 'to wit', you are a white man more than some white men?

Yes.

If that's how you define a white man.

Funny thing is...I understood your [OLChemist] writing! Does than make me a white man?

Yes, at least in part.

[Zeke]

As with any. "I feel it in my heart Indian", please by all means come and join us, but be prepared to work hard for there is much to do - we need critical mass in education, law, medicine, politics, environment, resource management, wildlife preservation and control, fishing and hunting management, housing design, all trade skills, engineers, sea management, arctic sovereignty and management, policy developers, linguists, economic development and sustainability, arts and communication.

If you simply want to sleep in a tipi and pretend you are back on the days of Sitting Bull, may I suggest you book a holiday in Blackfoot Crossing or Elk Island National Park and have at 'er.

Here's the secret: This applies to EVERYONE.

Far too many Natives want only the second paragraph or spend their lives being wannabe hunters and/or Federal table scrap hyenas because they fear the first one.

1. Those people knowingly harm us.
2. If you knowingly harm us, you're not part of us.
3. I don't care if you're a CDIB PURE blood going back to infinity.

But hey, I have unusual ideas about what is a "true Indian."

[AmigoKumeyaay]

Are we chess pieces?

"Play your position Bro!"











What does it take to walk off the chessboard?

.................................................. .............................Don't let yourself be defined by others.