Excellent piece on quantum: Blood Quantum, Why It Matters, and Why It Shouldn't

Published Jul 28, 2007

3 Articles; 6,621 Posts

Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

That's the universal question many mixed-blood Native Americans are asked every day. How many times have you mentioned in passing that you are Cherokee to find your conversation interrupted by intrusive questions about percentage? How many times have you answered those questions? Well stop! That's right -- stop answering rude questions.

Have you ever been talking to someone who mentioned that they were part Hispanic, part African-American, part Jewish, part Italian, part Irish, part Korean, etc.?

Have you ever asked them what percentage?

Hopefully your answer is no, because if your answer is yes then you're rude. It would be rude to ask someone how Hispanic they are, but we accept that people can ask us how Cherokee we are. This is a double standard brought about by our collective history as Native Americans, and is one we should no longer tolerate.

The history of blood quantum begins with the Indian rolls and is a concept introduced to Native Americans from white culture. Throughout Native history blood has never really been a factor in determining who was or was not included in a tribe. Many Native American tribes practiced adoption, a process whereby non-tribal members would be

adopted into the tribe and over time become fully functioning members of the group. Adoption was occasionally preceded by capture.

Many tribes would capture members of neighboring tribes, white settlers, or members of enemy tribes. These captives would replace members of the tribe who had died. They would often be bestowed with some of the same prestige and duties of the person they were replacing. While the transformation from captive to tribal member was often a long and difficult one, the captive would eventually become an accepted member of the tribe. The fact that the adoptee was sometimes of a different ethnic origin was of little importance to the tribe.