Firehair on who's an Indian

In an e-mail sent to her mailing list, correspondent Sheila (Firehair) Stover comments on who is and isn't an Indian:Drop this term "mixed blood" it's an insult. You're either an Indian and spend your life that way, or you are not.

There's a huge difference between being an Indian, or being a person who has Indian blood. No man can serve two masters.

You cannot be a little bit today, more tomorrow, and none this weekend. Or vice versa.

It has nothing to do with your facial features, cheek bones, what you wear, your fancy beaded stuff or the plates/Bradford Exchange items you have all over your house walls.

Nor does attending powwows, doing "sweats," giving yourself an "Indian name" count, no matter how much you talk about your "spirituality," do "elder speak"--you get the picture.

It has everything to do with how you live, what you live for, with whom you are close and family, friends, with how you react, to what is taught, said, to your children, Elders, in the news, reply to a racist remark, an historical untruth in what may appear to others as an innocent program, statement.

It's your mind set, the very programming that refuses to allow you to be anything else. It's in your heart, mind, very bones--and no government, country, church, family or school can erase it.Comment:  Hmm. This would seem to be a rebuke to those who say being Indian is something biological rather than cultural. To those who would disqualify Indians (e.g., the Pequots or Chickasaws) who don't look like traditional Indians.

Ideally, I'd say being an Indian should require a genealogical component--i.e., ancestry. But as most of us know, tribes occasionally adopted non-Indian captives or runaways and made them full-fledged members. If that's possible--and the historical record shows it is--being Indian is not a genetic condition. Having the genes may give you a huge head start, but it's not an absolute requirement.

For more on the subject, see Indians of Many Shades and Educating Russ About Who's an Indian.