Who built that?

Getting back to Keeler's judgments about who is or is not Native American, there are a few things worth pointing out. 

After her accusations against Sacheen Littlefeather first came out, some people were posting about abuse against the Yaqui people that could have disrupted ties. This included enslavement on plantations, forced removal with a high death rate, and concentration camps that broke up families.

For Buffy Sainte-Marie, she was taken from her birth family as part of the Sixties Scoop, where it was government policy to take Indigenous infants from their families and place them with other (white) families (though her adopted mother identified as part Mi'kmaq).

That was a Canadian program, designed to get those children assimilated. Officially, the United States tried to do that more by termination, where a tribe's status could be lost as a way of boosting those now former members to assimilation, though it was also convenient for pulling money and land away.

And, if the US did not officially have an adopting out policy, Native American children are over-represented in foster care. There was recently a high profile case against the Indian Child Welfare Act, one of the few pieces of legislation in place that that to keep children connected to their tribal organizations.

Remember, the point of Critical Race Theory -- before it became a term for anything possibly acknowledging racism -- is to know that the absence of having racism codified by law does not automatically mean there is no racism entrenched historically and systemically.

I will also add there is a whole thing about "City Natives" and how moving off the reservations can cut their ties.

As destructive as blood quantum rules can be, those were imposed by government that really did not want living, breathing tribe members around. If it supported anti-Blackness by eliminating people who had been accepted into the tribe but whose descent was not purely tribal, so much the better.

This is not to say that certain people may not be terrible, or that you can't have people of Indigenous descent (or Latin American descent or Asian descent) be racist or be anti-Black... those are totally things that happen.

It is to say that the fault lies in white supremacy. We should remember that because our path to a better world is overthrowing white supremacy. 

There may be painful realizations along this path, but hey, no pain, no gain, right?

Now, a word about DNA tests. 

I had mentioned Tina Turner having some Native ancestry. A DNA test showed it was only 1%. If you work out the family tree, though, and you have someone right there who was a member of the tribe, should the DNA count that much? If one of her sisters took the test, would the percentage be the same?

I don't know, but let's look at Elizabeth Warren. Her results indicated an ancestor 6-10 generations back. That seemed to support her family beliefs, though no one was happy with the claim. 

As someone who had no affiliations with a tribe, who was identified as white, and who did not face the discrimination that comes with the Native American experience, no, she should not have identified as such. Perhaps it did not help her career, but if it made Harvard feel better to list her as such, or for the State Bar to show a diverse candidate taking and passing the exam, well, that's gross. It fakes achieving the effect that those programs are supposed to be achieving.

Finally, let's remember that ad for a DNA test where a woman found a percentage of Indian blood and was so excited she started buying pots and blankets, apparently without any regard to tribe. I remember that irritating some people.

That irritation is totally fair, but I also remember thinking what if she had been adopted, and didn't know, or maybe one of her parents had gone to a boarding school and lost their connections? Maybe something could be restored.

I have a friend who had Native American roots she knew nothing about, not because of any of the possible reasons mentioned, but just a bitter divorce that severed some family ties. Having reconnected, and finding aunts and uncles and sharing time with them has been a good thing.

I will never forget meeting a woman who has no idea what happened to her son (those would be more typical reasons), and hoping that there will be a way for her to find out.

It can go so many ways, but they will all involve caring about people and community over caring about potential profits and privileges. 

It will take overcoming white supremacy. 

That is a job for all of us.