Tsalagi heritage

[frontierfighting]

I know of no other heritage than American Indian where you must present some form of proof that you descended from that particular race, no one will ask white's if they are really white, or asians are they really asian, or much less an african-american "How do I know you are really black ?".

Asking to provide proof of your American Indian heritage is ludicrous !!!

As anyone knows, especially on the East coast, Woodland Indian women were married by white men who were settlers in the 17th and 18th centuries, and as a result you have the "Mixed blood race", almost no one on the East coast can claim full blood Native American status.

Case in point, my distant grandfather married a Tsalagi (Cherokee) woman in 1795 in Fauquier County Virginia and eventually settled in the Kanawha Valley region of West Virginia and they had children, then one of his children married a Cherokee woman and they had children, you get the idea, I am in this family heritage, and I am very proud of this cultural background, and I'll be damned if I have to prove to anyone of my Indian roots !

You either accept it or you don't, there is no "Certificate" or "Letter of Authenticity", and for anyone to ever suggest that anyone of American Indian heritage provide such a document is a total idiot !!!

Take care my Native brother's and sisters...

[Joe's Dad]

Dang. There's a lot of anger in your heart.

[timmy tiger]

I know of no other heritage than American Indian where you must present some form of proof that you descended from that particular race, no one will ask white's if they are really white, or asians are they really asian, or much less an african-american "How do I know you are really black ?".

Asking to provide proof of your American Indian heritage is ludicrous !!!

As anyone knows, especially on the East coast, Woodland Indian women were married by white men who were settlers in the 17th and 18th centuries, and as a result you have the "Mixed blood race", almost no one on the East coast can claim full blood Native American status.

Case in point, my distant grandfather married a Tsalagi (Cherokee) woman in 1795 in Fauquier County Virginia and eventually settled in the Kanawha Valley region of West Virginia and they had children, then one of his children married a Cherokee woman and they had children, you get the idea, I am in this family heritage, and I am very proud of this cultural background, and I'll be damned if I have to prove to anyone of my Indian roots !

You either accept it or you don't, there is no "Certificate" or "Letter of Authenticity", and for anyone to ever suggest that anyone of American Indian heritage provide such a document is a total idiot !!!

Take care my Native brother's and sisters...

WOW, that's something.

However you are kind of incorrect on something here. Having been married to a man who claimed to be Full Blood German, every time he would run into someone from Germany they always asked him "where's your family from?" "Who are your people?" and things like that, so it does and has happened, maybe not as much as with the NDN community, but then I don't see or hear alot of Germans going around talking about "Teaching Traditions" or "Being Medicine people" or "Knowing all the traditions" or anything else like that. So with certain things come certain questions. It's a fact of life.

[misterE]

Right on guy! Papers you don't need no stinkin papers! You don't need nobody to tell you who you are, Yeah! You ought to start your own tribe, I think all of your arguments are solid. Start your own casino too, and laugh when the feds come knockin' cuz you dang sure don't need their say so to say you are a tribe! That word is cool, Tsalagi... how do you pronounce that anyways?

[JinglnCrazyLilBird]

Chillax Max

I’d have to disagree. Rarely do I find that one needs to prove their Native American heritage. Firstly, if you know who you are and are proud of it, it should not matter whether you can prove it to anyone else so there need not be any anger or worry. Secondly, I have always harbored the belief that actions speak louder than blood quantums and certificates. If you are active in your tribal community and practice your cultural heritage properly, then you have all the proof you need. I, too, am of mixed ancestry and I have never been asked to prove myself because I do it all the time by participating in native events to help my community, by dancing at powwows and stomp dances, etc. Cards are just typical but necessary bureaucracy important to establishing sovereignty and to protecting the benefits vital to tribes who are often exploited. They are no different from a driver’s license or social security card that indicates you are an American citizen. Trust me, if I expatriated to another country and was legally no longer an American citizen, I would probably still be regarded as an American by individuals elsewhere because of the way I behave, not because of the legal documentation I possess.

Do not get lost in these ill feelings. It is this bitterness over unchangeable circumstances that stigmatize the native community. Make a good impression for your tribe by remaining positive and civil because when one is a part of a tribal community then it stops being about his or herself and instead becomes his or her obligation to the people.

I wish I understood the context in which this anger manifested so that I could offer a more elucidating analogy as advice.

[WhoMe]

...I have never been asked to prove myself because I do it all the time by participating in native events to help my community, by dancing at powwows and stomp dances, etc...

Jingln,

I was going to suggest this thread be reposted in the Chit Chat forum, but your reply made it relevent to this forum.

In reply to the original question, Germans have to present a passport to get back into their country from the United States.

and here's another way of thinking....

Tribal Identification is a legal document issued by individual federal and state recognized tribes. Issuing tribal IDs is a legal right of each tribe to determine its membership using specific criteria to meet individual tribal membership requirements. These ID's are used to identify tribal members who qualify to use tribal services and vote.

If simply taking a persons word was used as membership criteria, everyone could qualify to be Indian.

[Josiah]

Jingln,

I was going to suggest this thread be reposted in the Chit Chat forum, but your reply made it relavent to this forum.

In reply to the original question, Germans have to present a passport to get back into their country from the United States.

and here's another way of thinking....

Tribal Identification is a legal document issued by individual federal and state recognized tribes. Issuing tribal IDs is a legal right of each tribe to determine its membership using specific criteria to meet individual tribal membership requirements. These ID's are used to identify tribal members who qualify to use tribal services and vote.

If simply taking a persons word was used as membership criteria, everyone could qualify to be Indian.

Another way to look at it this
They are for all intents and purposes Passports
they entitle the person to Vote to recieve services ect
They are issued nowdays for the most part byt the Tribes themselves

[Coyot_In_The_House]

This Thread Reminds Me Of......

..................The Common Cold..................Creeps up on you once in a while, but after a good bombardment of meds it goes away...........only to surface again eventually.....Sometimes it can just be a royal pain in da azz too......