What am I? What is my tribe? These are questions I receive. The most truthful answer is, that I am a U5 as determined from a biological DNA test. I have no first hand information as to what tribe I come from, other than one of few conversations I had with my biological mother. "The family legend is the Native American family origins originate from Oklahoma," she answered - taken back by my question. But what do I know?
I know from verifiable research that my tribal hertitage is most likely Cherokee, because the U5 designates the Cherokee and Eastern Coastal Indian Nations as the possibilities of one being a U5. So, I conclude Cherokee as being the most likely by combining the brief discussion with my biological mother, my family history research (which gave me my biological grandfather's name and I know from the DNA test I get my Native American DNA from him and from my biological mother) with contacting the Cherokee Nation, who has my biological mother's last maiden name (from my biological grandfather) on their roles. However, no proof exists.
I fought several personal battles in order to come to peace with this. I went through people telling me what they thought I was or what they wanted me to be, since I did not know the general area of my possible tribal heritage. Also, in back corners of my mind in the ancestral part of my brain I couldn't rest. I know my ancestors walked a Trail Of Tears. Which one? They desperately sought to survive either by fighting the United States with England, or they tragically left their homeland in lieu of being forcibly relocated. I know genocide was committed against them and I know that they were forced to "be educated" in the boarding schools, where the first "lesson" was to cut off their hair. All that had to happen for me to know what I needed to know, was for one person in the Department of Human Services to write one sentence on one piece of paper and put that in one file in the non - identifying information.
A challenging journey of self acceptance and forgiveness aptly describes it. I see it as having been an unnecessary burden and an intentional elimination of the historical records not on a personal level in my specific case, but being part of the overall "Final Solution." Whatever specific clan/tribe I am will be lost with me when I die. I am an example of United States extermination policy being a success. Now, what is the meaning in the suffering?
I want to discuss more controllable solutions, so that seven generations from now children will not have this burden and be happy. What do I mean by "more controllable solutions?"
Simply put, that the focal point should be on primary caregivers of American Indian children; whether the child is with their family of origin, their adopted family, or wards of the state. Let me exlain: a family of origin may want any Native American identity kept secret, as an adopted family might; and, people that work for state institutions after all - are human beings with families. "What am I?" and "what is my tribe?" are both questions that everybody has a right to have correct answers to. What a challenge - how to make primary caregivers of Native American children care if they don't and have primary caregivers educated where it's needed. Lastly, how this challenge is met will determine whether or not at least some American Indian children know their heritage or not.
http://nativeamericannetroots.net/...
Each day I choose to be either a walking example of a successful cultural extermination, or I choose to be an example of Mitakuye Oyasin. I choose to be the whites in my history who helped American Indians, and never the whites in my history who I imagine probably exterminated them. Whatever I choose to be in any given day, and hopefully it’s choosing to be an example of Mitakuye Oyasin and being of at least some small service to “All My Relations” more often than not, that’s me as a mixed blood.