Indians' 'Heart' Matters More Than Their Blood

A good Friend (Kris!) sent this to our newgroup...

--ryan


   
DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Indians' 'heart' matters more than their blood

Posted on Tue, Dec. 16, 2003 
 
Who is Indian? Who is really Indian?

As nations of Native people become more and more part of non-Native communities, questions are being asked about how much Indian blood is left in us and when are we really considered Native Americans. If you are 1⁄4 Arikara and 3⁄4 white, for example, are you Indian or white?

The question is a nagging one. In the past few months, I've heard from several people who wrote or called, asking how to be a part of Native communities. Each said he or she is part Indian.

A man who once worked with Indian people as a health provider said he didn't want to overstep his boundaries, so he always told Native people he was "part Indian." An elder asked him, "What part of you is Indian?" In the following weeks and months, he said, the elder persisted, asking him if it was his foot, the left ear - what part?

It is what you perceive inside you, the elder finally told him. That's makes you Indian - all Indian.

Yesterday a woman called me to tell me her father was French and Winnebago. Her mother was "pure Norwegian." The woman is in her middle 60s, so she lived in a time when being Indian wasn't popular. When her father died, her mother did not want to talk about his heritage, nor did she want the woman to speak about her father's Indian heritage to others. It was something to be ashamed of, she learned.

That has been a sore point for this woman for many years, she told me.When I was an administrator in Salem, Ore., three young women came to me about their relationship with the tribe. They were adopted. They found out when their records were opened that they were Indian and white.

One of the girls, who was blond, had a certificate that indicated she could be enrolled in one of the local tribes. She cried during most of the second visit. She came to me because I worked for the tribe and she wanted me to help her find out about her Indian heritage. I was puzzled at first. Why would someone have such an emotional reaction when they found out they were Native American?

I learn it was as if a part of her body - perhaps her soul - was missing. Now that she knew where it was, it was important that her people acknowledge her. She wasn't there for health or other benefits. I doubt if she even knew what was available to her. It was making visible something that for a long time was just an outline, foggy and incomplete.

Those who are "part Indian" suffer on reservations, too. If they favor their non-Native side of the family (light skin or blond hair), they might be treated as outsiders. Some of them may have lived on reservations all their lives and have a good understanding of the culture, but their color can make them feel alien.

True full bloods on a reservation are rare, at least in the sense of only one tribe. Historically, tribes borrowed or perhaps enticed men, women and children from other tribes to live with or become part of their tribe. Sakakawea is a good example; the Shoshone guide of Lewis and Clark had lived among the Hidatsa. After a few generations, such "immigrants" become part of that tribe and forget their ancestry.

I remember the old people sitting around talking. They were good about keeping history intact in those days. They told of Sitting Bull, who had two Arikara wives. Few outside the group believed it until the documents showed that the elders had been right. These women's children went on with their lives thinking they were "pure" Arikara. That mixing of Indian or tribal blood was common.

Unfortunately, there are those who look for a connection to a tribe and have used it for personal benefit. They might use their a long-forgotten ancestry as an opportunity to take part in some Native American program - programs developed to help Native people become more acclimated to non-Indian society; programs that offer higher-education assistance, for example.

I have to smile when I think of some people I have met in my travels who, at first, didn't acknowledge their Indianness. Then years later, I found them teaching Indian people about their own culture. Hmm, I'd think as I sat listening to their newly researched knowledge of Native Americans.

Yet what the elder said is true: It is what is inside you. If you feel and understand the cultural values of Native people or a certain tribe, than the spirit of your ancestor must live somewhere inside you.There are times in my life when that is hard to remember. When someone who is a newcomer assumes a major role in a ceremony, for instance, my hackles go up and I want to see them as outsider because it seems they are taking over some of the culture. It is difficult for me at times.

In the end, I must remember "we are all related" - Mitakuye Oyasin.

Yellow Bird writes columns Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at 780-1228, (800) 477-6572 ext. 228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com.