#native issues

[decolonize-the-left]

End blood quantum now

Blood quantum is how much native blood you have in you and it needs to be a certain threshold to qualify you as a tribal member. Blood quantum varies from tribe to tribe.

It means my mom is a tribal member but because my dad is outside of my tribe... I don't have enough tribal blood to enroll. Neither does my daughter. Our "official" indigeneity ended with me.

My dad is still native tho. Just southern native. Others have two parents enrolled in separate tribes and can't enroll in either one despite being Full native because their parents were mixed with other tribes so they don't have enough blood of Any tribe to qualify.

And to what end are they doing this?

Under the treaties the US govt can lay no claim to native land. So how do they fix that? Get rid of the natives, of course.

And since they can't slaughter us in broad daylight anymore they did the next best thing. What the colonial government has ALWAYS done to us and other poc.

Made up a bunch of arbitrary laws to restrain and limit our power and numbers.

And this can't continue. We are the only race who needs to apply to be part of the community we were born into. The only race who needs to prove our blood.

And that's the thing: it's not even based on blood. Racist scientists defined who was a full-blooded native based on things like shoe size, head circumference, and skin pigment.

Not blood. And besides that it wasn't uncommon for outsiders to become part of a tribe!! You didn't need to be native by blood to be native! Blood quantum has made it IMPOSSIBLE for them to qualify and made it impossible for tribes to practice that long time aspect of our culture.

So please share this post. So many people legitimately think natives are extinct and even less are aware that we do more than just sit around drinking all day. Few people have good feelings about us and within that there are a few who actively help. Please be one of those few.

We need support and allies and for our voices to be heard. Please don't let this post just be me screaming into a void. We need people to know what blood quantum is, how archaic and harmful it is, and to help us spread awareness to people who otherwise would ignore us. Use your privilege.

[simplepotatofarmer]

happy indigenous peoples day for those of you in the states!

reminder that it was actually illegal to teach native languages in the states until 1990 and that there was a deliberate effort by colonizers to kill off our languages.

mocking indigenous languages as 'gibberish' is racist and harmful.

native culture was - and still is - targeted by colonizers as uncivilized and 'savage' and taken by hollywood and made into monolith, stripping tribes of their individual traditions for consumption of the very people trying to force native people to give up their culture.

anyway. mino-giizhigad.

[blanket-burrito-protocol]

With the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which has kept Native children from being purposefully removed from Native families into non-Native foster families since 1978, being reevaluated in the US Supreme Court, it is at risk of being greatly weakened and undoing decades of work to stop the systematic erasure of Native cultural identity.

(It may also re-designate the term "Indian" in the bill to mean a racial classification rather than political, reversing precedent with regard to tribal sovereignty. Native tribes must remain independent entities in the law rather than just a race to protect their rights to self-governance.)

The Lakota People's Law Project is asking US citizens to ask their state lawmakers to enact similar legislation at the state level which codifies the rights and protections ICWA gives to Native children should it be weakened in the Supreme Court. This is not protection for the ICWA itself, although they do have action you can take for that on their website as well. In the link is a pre-written email which you can personalize and easily send to your state lawmakers.

Thanks for your time. :)

[thecitynative]

A two year review finished by the DOJ shows Minneapolis Police's widespread discrimination against it's Native & Black residents. The review also shows excessive/deadly force, the use of force following stops, and discrimination against those with behavioral health disabilities. The CDC & 2019 Census data released show that Native people suffer from police deaths 2.2 % higher than white people and 1.2 % higher than black people. Here is the report

This is really scary

[keep-her-wild]

[ikarwawa]

I am Southern Tuscarora, I am increasingly frustrated with Lumbee presence.

I know discussions about Lumbee are probably done to death but I really wanted to insert my perspective as a descendant of one of the tribes the Lumbee claim to be an admixture of:

The Lumbee actively erased us and our culture over the years. The reason they cannot be federally recognized is the same reason they are state recognized—in claiming to be the descendants of my, and many other NC tribes, they signed an agreement with the NC government stating they would be the only valid Indians of Robeson County and would in exchange for preventing us from being recognized, they could not receive federal recognition and benefits.

It's painful to attend indigenous events in my state knowing I'm going to be surrounded by the very people helping kill my culture. They are NOT related to us—they cannot trace lineages back to us, they are not related to us according to DNA tests they've taken.

My tribe's langauge was just officially declared extinct recently and it just furthers my anger towards the Lumbee.

Their recognition as a tribe at all feels more and more like some kind of psyop every day.

And when you call them out on being culture vultures, on erasing cultures, on stealing land and resources—they will whine and cry that that only reason we don't claim them is because 90% of them are mixed Black.

Like, I don't believe in blood quantum but I also don't like a group of people with >2% OVERALL native DNA claiming to be my tribe when we're not related. My culture is DYING and they're complaining because the harm they did to us is no longer beneficial anymore.

The Lumbee have no place in indigenous spaces or having a voice on indigenous matters.

[chicago-mothman]

One of the weirdest things about being native, particularly from the states and therefore of a very small population on the internet is a bunch of people being so patronizing about you in a way that is so defensive on your behalf that it just loops back around to racism.

[venusdeservedbetter]

If I see someone drawing a Native American with red skin - not reddish brown (which is still bad), but actual Crayola crayon red - I will break into their house and weld all their silverware into a giant unusable ball.

[gaydiation-poisoning]

I unironically hope everyone peddling this horseshit dies in a fire

[divinequo]

How me finding out I'm mixed went down basically

Me: wow my own grandfather was a native American?? Amazing!! I can't wait to learn my history and spread his lineage!

Me to my DNA: ok so what exactly did we get from our grandfather?? I know grandparents genes tend to be intense sometimes so let's see what we got!!! Hmmmm slender eyes?

My DNA: nah you got almond shaped eyes

Me: ah man, ok what about long dark hair like native Americans usually have??

My DNA: pfft yeah no you get a huge puffy ball of frizz And waves

Me: awww it's cute! Not really what I expected though- how about dark skin?? I'd adore to have deep brown skin like my own ancestors have!

My DNA: you get a light/medium tan, NOTHING MORE

Me visibly upset: did I get anything enthically???

My DNA: oh oh you did get something!!

Me: omg yess!! Whatta' I get??

My DNA: you are practically hairless! Your hair is so faint and light that it's hard to reproduce more hair follicles, just like native men! <3

Meanwhile me a dysphoric transgender man who wants lots of body hair: *sobs instantly*

My DNA: I don't understand, did I do something wrong??

Me through tears: you tried hunny, I'm proud of you for that at least

[simplepotatofarmer]

about indigenous languages and racism

because of what happened on the qsmp with fitmc, i think it's important to talk about why it's racist and deeply harmful to mock indigenous languages.

language in indigenous culture is very important. it's how we connect to our history and stories and it's always been targeted by colonizers as something to stamp out. indigenous languages were considered 'primitive' and gibberish. they were mocked with nonsense words, much like fitmc did. they were considered less than.

residential schools forced native kids to learn english (or french) and gave them english names. they weren't allowed to speak their language or they would be punished. i need to be very clear that children died in these schools. this isn't something minor. teaching children in indigenous languages was outlawed in canada until 1996. it was outlawed in the usa until 1990. it was literally illegal to speak and teach indigenous languages.

and it wasn't just in the us or canada either. it was also against the law to speak indigenous languages in colonized parts of africa. it wasn't legal to teach afrikaans until 1920 though disparity and apartheid hindered this.

fitmc speaking gibberish meant to mock native languages to a racist caricature of indigenous people is racist, whether he meant it to be or not, and excusing it with 'it was a cartoon reference' with no actual apology isn't okay.

i would deeply appreciate people reblogging this. miigwech.

[reasonsforhope]

"The Yurok will be the first Tribal nation to co-manage land with the National Park Service under a historic memorandum of understanding signed on Tuesday [March 19, 2024] by the tribe, Redwood national and state parks, and the non-profit Save the Redwoods League, according to news reports.

The Yurok tribe has seen a wave of successes in recent years, successfully campaigning for the removal of a series of dams on the Klamath River, where salmon once ran up to their territory, and with the signing of a new memorandum of understanding, the Yurok are set to reclaim more of what was theirs.

Save the Redwoods League bought a property containing these remarkable trees in 2013, and began working with the tribe to restore it, planting 50,000 native plants in the process. The location was within lands the Yurok once owned but were taken during the Gold Rush period.

Centuries passed, and by the time it was purchased it had been used as a lumber operation for 50 years, and the nearby Prairie Creek where the Yurok once harvested salmon had been buried.

Currently located on the fringe of Redwoods National and State Parks which receive over 1 million visitors every year and is a UNESCO Natural Heritage Site, the property has been renamed ‘O Rew, a Yurok word for the area.

“Today we acknowledge and celebrate the opportunity to return Indigenous guardianship to ‘O Rew and reimagine how millions of visitors from around the world experience the redwoods,” said Sam Hodder, president and CEO of Save the Redwoods League.

Having restored Prarie Creek and filled it with chinook and coho salmon, red-legged frogs, northwestern salamanders, waterfowl, and other species, the tribe has said they will build a traditional village site to showcase their culture, including redwood-plank huts, a sweat house, and a museum to contain many of the tribal artifacts they’ve recovered from museum collections.

Believing the giant trees sacred, they only use fallen trees to build their lodges.

“As the original stewards of this land, we look forward to working together with the Redwood national and state parks to manage it,” said Rosie Clayburn, the tribe’s cultural resources director.

It will add an additional mile of trails to the park system, and connect them with popular redwood groves as well as new interactive exhibits.

“This is a first-of-its-kind arrangement, where Tribal land is co-stewarded with a national park as its gateway to millions of visitors. This action will deepen the relationship between Tribes and the National Park Service,” said Redwoods National Park Superintendent Steve Mietz, adding that it would “heal the land while healing the relationships among all the people who inhabit this magnificent forest.”"

-via Good News Network, March 25, 2024

[jasmineiros]

Marcha das Mulheres Indígenas, Brasília, 2021 🏹

[keep-her-wild]

[chickensarentcheap]

[manicpixiedepressedwitch]

lily gladstone on the cover of british vogue! oscar era incoming ikdr!!