I have seen too many comments about blood quantum and real Cherokees. So I started thinking about it. So lets look at it a bit differently. How about we flip it and look at it as African Americans in stead of Native Americans. Our President is 1/2 White and 1/2 Black. If you remember when he ran for President, there were those in the Black community who said he wasnt black enough. hmm, that is familiar. Lets go with that, but not him. Lets take a fictitious man. He is a black man from Louisiana, descended from slaves. To the best of his knowledge, he only has Black blood in his veins. He marries a White woman, and they have children. He raises them with stories of their past, and of the suffering his family endured. They here the tales of slavery, its brutality, and the effect it had on their family.This child moves away to another state, and also marries a White. He continues the stories, but since his family is no longer in Louisiana, the stories are no longer tied to the land. His family takes an occasional trip to Louisiana, and he shows the kids where the plantation was. These kids have children, and also marry White. They too pass the stories on to their children. They adopt modern celebrations to keep attuned to their culture, like Kwanza. Their ancestors did not do this, but it makes them feel connected. So our mythical Black family has gone from a full blood to 1/16th. Are they still Black? Their family shared the stories and traditions, visited the homeland, They visited family members who married other Blacks, and had higher blood quantums. So, are they? Under the One Drop Rule they were. This rule meant if you had one drop of negro blood, you were Black. The anti-miscegenation laws in this country remained on the books in 18 states until 1967, when the Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional. Oklahoma was one of these States. It forbid the marriage of anyone of African descent marrying anyone who wasnt of African descent. This law was sometimes used to prohibit Indians from marrying Blacks. It was still in force in 1967, within my lifetime. I use the mythical Black family as an example to show the meaningless nature of blood quantum versus culture. Outsiders will use hate as a weapon. We should not give them ammo. Light skinned blacks could pass as white, and sometimes did. They ran from their culture for various reasons, but often it was due to discrimination. In many Indian families, the same thing often happened. In some cases, it was the US governments policies that speeded up the process, by relocating Indians to cities, away from family and culture. So, is the full blooded Cherokee more Indian than the 1/16th whose family has maintained the cultural traditions, stayed engaged with the family, and passed the culture to their children? Or can you only be Cherokee when you live locally? We spend too much time fighting over who is and who isnt Cherokee. People forget that we are a political entity, not a race. The whole concept of race is a fraud anyway. It does not stand up under science, and was a way to discriminate. Blood quantums, in addition for use as a way to destroy Tribes, were based on discrimination. Only when the blood was diluted and whitened, could one be trusted to own land, vote, and be free. They are not of our culture, nor should they be. Instead of tearing others down, we should be working to raise each other up. Before the Dawes Commission, poverty was virtually unknown in our people, and education prized. It was only after allotment that poverty overtook our people. Together we are strong, but first we must set aside animosity, hatred, and bitterness so we can move forward and build a strong, healthy Cherokee people.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 04:39:03 +0000
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