Did you ever see the movie "Billy Jack?" Where the blond, blue-eyed "half Indian" went on a spirit quest dressed in Lakotah clothes in an Anasazi kiva ruin in Arizona, and let himself be repeatedly bitten by a rattlesnake? Cuz he was an Indun.Yeah, I'm sorry. I am used to white liberals teaching and talking about NA/FN Culture as one homogeneous society.
Last I checked I do a pretty fair job of speaking for myself, but I take your meaning. Maybe Cliffy can wave an owl feather for me or something.They're only speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves.
That's actually true. Tecumseh said "Shawnee is not a matter of blood, it is a matter of belief." Though we usually ask for a little bit more than just "identifying."Okay, you don't have to be whatever it is that you were born into, or from, or what your DNA appears to suggest you are, or anything. No one can force you. Not the government. Not the courts. No one. Check with CLiffy on this.
For example, just because you were (allegedly) born white doesn't mean that you have to BE white. You can be whatever you want. And when people challenge you, they only need to be reminded that it is racist and old fashioned thinking. Ancestry.com is false because it claims it can actually tell you what you are genetically. But as we all know, that's wrong, and definitely illegal.
By the way, the Village People Indian was a real Indun. He's Hispanic, which means he's got Indian blood. The system works a mite different below the Rio Grande.