Are you an Indian?

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

A wonderful story as written by Les Tate. How often have you heard or said "I'm part Indian"? If you have, then some Native American elders have something to teach you. A very touching example was told by a physician from Oregon who discovered as an adult that he was Indian. This is a condensed form of his story. We all can learn from it.

One evening several years later, she asked me if I knew my elders. I told her that I was half Canadian and half Appalachian from Kentucky. I told her that my Appalachian grandfather was raised by his Cherokee mother but nobody had ever talked much about that and I didn't want anyone to think that I was pretending to be an Indian. I was uncomfortable saying I was part Indian and never brought it up in normal conversation.

"What! You're part Indian?" she said. "I wonder, would you point to the part of yourself that's Indian. Show me what part you mean."

I felt quite foolish and troubled by what she said, so I stammered out something to the effect that I didn't understand what she meant. Thankfully the conversation stopped at that point. I finished bringing in several days worth of firewood for her, finished the yerba santa tea she had made for me and went home still thinking about her words.

Later one day, she was standing beside my pick-up, smiling and laughing. "You know" she said, "you either are or you aren't. No such thing as part Indian. It's how your heart lives in the world, how you carry yourself. I knew before I asked you. Nobody told me. Now don't let me hear you say you are part Indian anymore."

The full story can be found here: http://www.spiritalk.net/Indian.htm

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

In my heart over the years, I have grown more to accept this wisdom as told in this story. It does seem foolish to say I am part this and part that. It is a mindset that we have become accustomed to though....to compartmentalize all our pieces and parts....ignoring the whole of who we are. In my previous way of thinking, I would have most likely introduced myself as that 1/4 Indian and 3/4 Caucasion man. Nowadays, I see myself as a man with Indian and Caucasion heritage OR simply a Caucasian and Indian man...a whole person....who in his heart and mind, tends to walk in both worlds.

[fascinoma]

A wonderful story as written by Les Tate. How often have you heard or said "I'm part Indian"? If you have, then some Native American elders have something to teach you.

YES! Thank you, Thunderwolf.

I am a descendant of a tribe (Jamestown s'Klallam, a Salish tribe on Washington's Olympic Peninsula) that is, in terms of blood percentage, virtually extinct... there is no one left who is even "half". People who are one quarter are in their 80s/90s if they are even still alive. My dad's generation (he's 60) is one eighth. The tribe is still squabbling over letting one-sixteenth descendants be full tribe members - even as it's sixteenth and thirty second descendants who are passing down the traditions.

As my dad's generation dies, the tribe will admit the sixteenths and thirty seconds for the sake of its own survival.

It makes us ask what is an Indian. Is it a skin color or the passing of traditions? At the tribal gathering, I saw the songs being sung by a bunch of little blond kids.

Even though I otherwise look like a freckled Irish/English person, and most people at the gathering looked "white", I could still tell s'Klallams from others; there's a common shape of the eyes that is very dominant in our bloodline that shows up even in 16th and 32nd.

Just as sadly if not more sadly, there are perhaps two or three people in the tribe who still speak the language, and they are very old.

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

Thank you for your post.....for it highlights this issue very well. In your example, there is really no difference between a blonde haired 1/32nd Indian child singing tribal songs and an 1/4 dark haired Indian elder who shares those very songs with him/her....keeping the traditions alive. Both are just as much Indian. Is it our traditions that make us Indian or is it our blood or blood quantum? When this is debated back and forth, we really need to be honest about it. In the very early days, did percentage or quantum define one's Indianess or was it the adoption/living of one's heritage? Splitting percentages amongst ourselves or holding up one's blood percentage to prove that one is more Indian than another only contributes more to our "soul wound" as a people. In my mind, after listening to others, "percentage" is the mark of a conquered people....for it is a means to divide and conquer us even further. The only difference now is that we perpetuate this oppression upon ourselves. We need to really stop this as a people. We are Indian....nothing more....nothing less.

Again, thank you...for your sharing.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I'm so glad you've shared this story with us. I'm 1/32nd Cherokee, and even though I'm proud of that, my parents told me I didn't have 'enough' Cherokee blood to be considered an Indian. It's good to know that my lifelong connection with nature and spirituality comes from a place that is real and alive, and that I can call myself Cherokee without being considered a poseur or 'wannabe'. Thank you, Thunderwolf!!

[zenman]

My great grandfather was Cherokee and while doing some ancestor archetypal work this summer I found out he's the one pushing me into shamanism, even though my focus is on Inka, versus Indian.

[Bridey]

I couldn't agree more with what you've said.

I'm a natural redhead... but I am not your typical freckle faced Anglo looking girl. If I wanted to I could have tan skin (if I spent enough time in the sun). I have almond shaped dark brown eyes and high cheekbones. When I was growing up people used to ask my parents if I was "part Asian". LOL

Though at first glance to some I may not be what their vision of a native woman ought to look like I very much identify with that part of my ancestry. Whether you are native by 100% or 0.1%, if you honor that heritage, there is no mistaking that you are indeed NAI.

We are not parts, we are the sum of our heritage. A total human being. So even though I am technically more Italian than I am Lakota, I value them both equally.

I don't claim percentages because to me they're irrelivant. I will always value my Italian, Lakota and Irish heritage equally because they all make up the woman I am.

[greene]

Couldn't agree more. I too, am fair skinned, reddish hair, but my heart is full-blooded. I am very proud of all my ancestry, from Native to German, Irish to English. All of that is what made me what I am today.

My husband is full blooded, and he and I are the co-founders of a First Nations dance team. We have traveled the world with a drum group as their lead dancers. What a blast!!

We teach others the importance of being proud of who you are, and to learn from the elders. They are all going to be gone someday, and if we don't learn, how will our traditions survive?

We must be the ones to carry on and teach the ones coming after us.

[Medicine Eagle]

i could not agree with all of you more. my mother and her side all show cherokee "features". my father shows the harsher features of his tribe(unable to find out what tribe) and i take after him. we are tan with a redish cast and much more angular features. i did get my grandfather's scothish-irish blue/ green/ gray eyes. aside from that my family really shows it's nai blood. most of the people we know always assumed we were nai, or italian. by the way what is with that? i dated a sicilian,and his skin tones although tan were not at all like mine. the women in my family have always worn very long hair, until i had to cut mine b/c of the nasty bacteria i was working with on the job. friends always teased us in a good natured way about looking nai. it always made me feel proud. but when it comes down to tracing blood lines proving even small amounts is hard, especially since my father's side hid their nai blood. but no matter what coloring i had, i would always have felt nai. but, i especially can relate to this story, because i was always afraid to say that i was nai because i was afraid that i would be called a wanabe, or trying to say that i was something i could not prove. i feel like i can proudly say that yes i am indian and proud of it. :heartbeatthanks thunderwolf, as always you find ways to enlighten and teach.

tiredbraveheart