Who Is An Indian? Race, Blood, DNA, and the Politics of Indigeneity in the Americas

Thanks to support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and University of Toronto Press, an international seminar will be hosted in Montreal this August, for a project titled: Who Is An Indian? Race, Blood, DNA, and the Politics of Indigeneity in the Americas.

The aim of the project is as follows:

The contributors seek to develop a comprehensive framework for understanding and explaining racial approaches to indigenous identity at the intersections of colonialism, state governance, and indigenous political resurgence, by way of a cross-cultural and comparative analysis of indigenous cases from across the Americas. Secondly, they explore the theoretical and conceptual bases for conceiving a unified problematic—the bio-politics of indigeneity—which has at least three manifestations: “race” at the broadest level but also involving culturally specific valuations of particular phenotypical traits in accordance with local norms of racialization; blood quantum measurements and the calculus of identity; and, DNA testing. Their third goal is to examine the social possibilities and cultural contours for an indigeneity that exceeds or transcends the criteria of bodily markers, and for disciplinary reformulations.

Participants include:

JOSÉ BARREIRO
SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
ALICE BARTELS
DENNIS BARTELS
SIR WILFRED GRENFELL COLLEGE, MUN
PHIL BELLFY
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
JULIA COATES
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
MAXIMILIAN FORTE
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
MARÍA ELENA GARCÍA
TUFTS UNIVERSITY
EVA MARIE GARROUTTE
BOSTON COLLEGE
BONITA LAWRENCE
YORK UNIVERSITY
JOSÉ ANTONIO LUCERO
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
DONNA PATRICK
CARLETON UNIVERSITY
KAREN STOCKER
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, BAKERSFIELD
KIMBERLY TALLBEAR
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
JONATHAN WARREN
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE

The seminar is organized and hosted by CAC editor, Maximilian Forte. For more information, please see:

http://www.centrelink.org/seminar/index.htm

News from Australia

The last few weeks have seen a spate of articles in the Australian print media revolving around the 40th anniversary of Australia's decision to formally grant citizenship to its Aboriginal population, who had previously been controlled by various state legislative acts that classed them with the country's flora and fauna.

On the latter issue, see the Sydney Morning Herald, in an article titled, "When I was fauna: citizen's rallying call":

"LINDA BURNEY remembers her childhood well - those days when she was counted among the nation's wildlife. 'This is not ancient history,' says the state's [New South Wales] first Aboriginal minister. 'I was a child. It still staggers me that for the first 10 years of my life, I existed under the Flora and Fauna Act of NSW.' Then came the 1967 referendum, when Australians voted to extend full citizenship to Aborigines. Now, just days before the 40th anniversary of that vote, Ms Burney has described the referendum as a high tide in both the nation's history and her own - the moment when her status was elevated from fauna to citizen."

See especially: "Aborigines recall when Australia called them wildlife", by Michael Perry, Reuters, Thursday, May 24, 2007.

Other articles focused on the continued misery that dominates many remote and poor Aboriginal communities for whom "citizenship" entails a vague and increasingly irrelevant abstraction. A number of sources point out that in terms of health standards and life expectancy there are two Australias: one, a wealthier and whiter Australia with life expectancy mirroring that of nations of the G8, the second, an Aboriginal Australia with life expectancy rates mirroring those of the poorest nations of the "Third World." See the following article in The Australian: "Aborigines still off the map 40 years on," by Neil Sands, May 25, 2007.

Current Prime Minister John Howard, who has been in office for more than a decade is, according to some polls, leading his ruling coalition to what appears to be a landslide defeat by November of this year. Prime Minister Howard's administration has distinguished itself on numerous fronts, from alluding to Lebanese Australians as a violent community, to treating refugees fleeing the Taliban in pre-911 days as being mere "economic opportunists" (Australia later joined the US in invading Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban), to refusing to issue an apology for clear cases of genocide against Aboriginals in recent Australian history, and finally dismantling the Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islanders Commission. Howard is getting his fair share of heckling by Aboriginals at major events--see in the Agence France Presse, Sunday, May 27, 2007, "Australian PM heckled on Aborigines."

As if to further pollute the situation of unsettled Aboriginal land tenure in Australia, despite some historic victories in the highest courts of the country, we also read about plans to turn some Aboriginal territory into a nuclear waste dump...and then to return it to Aboriginals two centuries from now. This resembles the case of Great Britain using parts of South Australia for testing nuclear bombs, with that land also later returned to its traditional ownwers. One can read more in The Australian, "Aboriginal land likely to be nuke waste dump," by Tara Ravens, May 25, 2007.

"Why is it so hard to say sorry?"--a good question, addressed in this article by Ursula Stephens on the Australian Eurekastreet website. Please read some of the commentary that follows the article, at the bottom of the page.

Australia is still grappling with racism and its deep colonial history, an ongoing history, in this settler state that in many parts was settled by Europeans only within the last 170 years. With the amount of negative attention directed towards the U.S., the Iraq war, and the many shortcomings of President Bush, it is very easy to overlook other situations where both the nature and consequences of current political leadership can be even more stark and grim. Canada, like Australia, also evades such critical attention.

Cherokee Citizenship Deceptions By Anglo Saxons

[Ed: This letter was submitted on the condition that it be published anonymously. I have decided to do so simply because it reflects the very strong opinion of someone who has had to live with these problems of race and citizenship. The author of the letter lives in Colorado Springs.]

History has proven that whenever the Anglo Saxons came into a place that was new to them, they not only took over, but drew up all kinds of Laws and Treaties that they themselves had no intentions of honoring, at at the same time made darn sure - ( like they do in this day and age ), their family and generations to come are covered, and to deceive is the way that Anglo Saxons, some make their living!

It's a sad situation to look at the many people of various Indian Tribes suffer needlessly because there are those who are in a position of authority, who are stealing from the tribes, and actually have no rights to such benefits, but because there are wicked cooks stirring the stew, only those foolish enough to be a part of such wickedness benefit from such deception. I believe after all these years that because many are being confronted about such
deception, these people scramble by deceptive practices, with some tribal members included, to maintain that deception so that their families can maintain the quality of life that is refused to those that truly deserve to be recognized, can have a better quality of life that many Anglo Saxons are used to.

Anglo Saxons were not taken out of their homelands, stripped of their culture, denied the basic freedoms and rights that rule the land - ( laws that they made, they didn't honor, but they received the most benefit from such laws, while denying others their basic rights, and at the same time stating, the best kind of Indian, is a dead Indian! ) Good grief don't people recognize that when these people live over a 100 yrs. ago, that before they died, they groomed the generations that were alive to carry on in such mass deceptions? The KKK is a fine example of such because they teach their generations the same message, generation, after generation!

What I recognize in all of this is greed! Anyone whose Ancestor has Citizenship within any tribe, and such can be traced to a manipulated roll, such as The Dawes Rolls, should be allowed to maintain that citizenship, whether by blood or not! If one's ancestor has Citizenship within the Cherokee Nation, what is really the big deal, especially since the Cherokee Nation is supposely proud of their mixed nationalities within, and that family filed all the paperwork during the 1900's to prove such, considering the history that wicked and greedy Anglo Saxons were the one's behind such deception, and I believe such is the case today!

Many Native Americans were black, and what's so chilling about that? Many Native Americans do not have the same texture of hair or skin color, which does not signify that they aren't Native Americans! What is wrong with people? Oh I believe I'm getting it, if you can't prove either way, you're done! If one can't prove their ancestor's citizenship, and or a bloodline, then all efforts of proving such is a lost cause, and many in a position who can not prove such...have lost completely, unless by the grace of God, something is found to verify their families history has been recorded, not to mention The Dawes Final Rolls is not a perfect account because, how can you approve the children and leave out the other siblings and or parents, bloodlines are listed elsewhere, and if one doesn't know this fact, that's also a loss, because if one examines the rolls they will see where some bloodlines are listed for their family members, and some bloodlines are listed, but it's mixed up, one has to do extensive searches to find the truth, and one more thing...Misspelling People's Names! The name in some cases is the same Person, but misspelled...what a mess those Anglo's have created, but God always fights the battle, especially if you're a true believer!


*The hottest places in hell are reserved for those in moral crisis who remain in netural.
- President John F. Kennedy

How can a few deny many, when they themselves are subjected to the same kind of abuse of power that they so honestly serve, knowing that what they do is not right, but to keep peace with the Devil they continue to look the other way while deceit destroys their souls, killing'em everyday because they don't recognize today, America by the Anglo Saxon was established upon deceit, deception, and corrupt Anglo Saxons who misrepresent their authority and even today, twist the truth where such will benefit them and others who have the same spirit of...I could care less, I'm getting mines!!!!!!!! How sickening!

P.S. Since everyone is under the authority of Laws made by Anglo Saxons, why allow their mindset to destroy the legacy of a people who deserve to have what truly is theirs, especially since they're being stripped of all things, except the opportunity to pray. Many other nationalities are compensated for oppression suffered at the hands of Anglo Saxons. Why are people so down on the Black Indians, Slaves, and others who are a part of such a people? Why?

Cherokee Nation Revokes Citizenship of Freedmen

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Cherokee Nation vote this weekend to revoke the citizenship of the descendants of people the Cherokee once owned as slaves was a blow to people who have relied on tribal benefits.

Charlene White, a descendant of freed Cherokee slaves who were adopted into the tribe in 1866 under a treaty with the U.S. government, wondered Sunday where she would now go for the glaucoma treatment she has received at a tribal hospital in Stilwell.

"I've got to go back to the doctor, but I don't know if I can go back to the clinic or if they're going to oust me right now," said White, 56, a disabled Tahlequah resident who lives on a fixed income.

In Saturday's special election, more than 76 percent of voters decided to amend the Cherokee Nation's constitution to remove the estimated 2,800 freedmen descendants from the tribal rolls, according to results posted Sunday on the tribe's Web site.

Marilyn Vann, president of the Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, said the election results undoubtedly will be challenged.

"We will pursue the legal remedies that are available to us to stop people from not only losing their voting rights, but to receiving medical care and other services to which they are entitled under law," Vann said Sunday.

"This is a fight for justice to stop these crimes against humanity."

Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller said Sunday that election results will not be finalized until after a protest period that extends through March 12. Services currently being received by freedmen descendants will not immediately be suspended, he said.

"There isn't going to be some sort of sudden stop of a service that's ongoing," Miller said. "There will be some sort of transition period so that people understand what's going on."

In a statement late Saturday, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith said he was pleased with the turnout and election result.

"Their voice is clear as to who should be citizens of the Cherokee Nation," Smith said. "No one else has the right to make that determination. It was a right of self-government, affirmed in 23 treaties with Great Britain and the United States and paid dearly with 4,000 lives on the Trail of Tears."

The petition drive for the ballot measure followed a March 2006 ruling by the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court that said an 1866 treaty assured freedmen descendants of tribal citizenship.

A similar situation occurred in 2000 when the Seminole Nation voted to cast freedmen descendants out of its tribe, said attorney Jon Velie of Norman, an expert on Indian law who has represented freedmen descendants in previous cases.

"The United States, when posed the same situation with the Seminoles, would not recognize the election and they ultimately cut off most federal programs to the Seminoles," Velie said. "They also determined the Seminoles, without this relationship with the government, were not authorized to conduct gaming."

Ultimately, the Seminole freedmen were allowed back into the tribe, Velie said.

Velie said Saturday's vote already has hurt the tribe's public perception.

"It's throwback, old-school racist rhetoric," Velie said.

"And it's really heartbreaking, because the Cherokees are good people and have a very diverse citizenship," he said.

Miller, the tribal spokesman, defended the Cherokees against charges of racism, saying that Saturday's vote showed the tribe was open to allowing its citizens vote on whether non-Indians be allowed membership.

"I think it's actually the opposite. To say that the Cherokee Nation is intolerant or racist ignores the fact that we have an open dialogue and have the discussion, he said.

Cherokee Nation Expels Native Citizens with African Ancestry

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Native American Cherokees voted to expel descendants of black slaves from their tribe nation in a special election that has prompted charges of racism, according to returns made public early Sunday.

But a vote of 77 percent to 23 percent, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma adopted Saturday an amendment to their constitution that strips membership from so-called "Freedmen," those descended from slaves once owned by Cherokees, blacks who were married to Cherokees and children of mixed-race families.

"The Cherokee people exercised the most basic democratic right, the right to vote," Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, said in a statement. "Their voice is clear as to who should be citizens of the Cherokee Nation. No one else has the right to make that determination."

However, opponents of the amendment say it was a racist project designed to deny the distribution of US government funds and tribal revenue to those with African-American heritage, US media reported.

"This is a sad chapter in Cherokee history," Taylor Keen, a Cherokee tribal council member who opposes the amendment, told the New York Times.

"But this is not my Cherokee Nation. My Cherokee Nation is one that honors all parts of her past."

Advocates of changing the 141-year-old treaty rules defining who is a Cherokee say the tribal nation has a sovereign right to decide citizenship and that other tribes base membership on blood lines.

The Cherokee Nation, which ranks as the second-largest tribe behind the Navajo, has some 250,000 to 270,000 members and is growing rapidly. Members are entitled to benefits from the US federal government and tribal services, including medical and housing aid and scholarships.

Cherokees, along with several other tribes, held black slaves and allied themselves with the Confederacy during the US civil war. After the war, the federal government in an 1866 treaty ordered the slaves freed.

In 1983, the Cherokee Nation expelled many descendants of slaves as members but a Cherokee tribunal ruled last year that the Freedmen were fully-fledged citizens with voting rights. That court decision prompted Saturday's special vote.

Native American tribes recognized by the United States government have the right to self-determination and authority similar to US states.

Election results will remain unofficial until certified by the Cherokee Nation Election Commission, but officials said percentages were not expected to change significantly.