What do you think of Red People?

[puerco-bellies]

People have the funniest reaction to Native Americans. There is a great deal of interest in cultural items, which is good for me. Many express sympathy for what has occurred in the past, those that don't are likely to acknowledge the link that Native Americans played in the country's early history. Many want to claim ancestry, but are fuzzy on who is what.

I practice traditional ceremonies, and come in to contact with many non-natives that are attracted to this spiritual path. I have no issue with that, and I actually have a lot of respect to those who openly state in lodges that they don't carry Indian blood. So many claim Indian blood when it is obvious that they share little if any. Come on people, Blond and Blue are recessive traits, and won't exhibit through out your family if you are 3/4 Cherokee. A lot of indigenous people refer to these people privately as being from the Wanabee Tribe. This is said smiling and in private, and never to embarrass someone, that is not the Indian way. I wonder if this is as prevalent in other American subcultures.


This is a copycat thread, but as a N.A. I come in to contact with people through my little jewelry business and they often share their opinions and thoughts. I don't see them doing this to say an East Indian shopkeeper, or other ethnic centric business personnel. Of course I don't spend time in other peoples shops or stalls.

[IndianaJones]

1. Haven't met many native Americans...

but I have a soft spot for all non-caucasian races.

[racaulk]

2. Well, redqueen is OK.

But she is a bit of a pev...

[SallyMander]

3. I don't have any Native ancestry

but i can understand the "Wanabees"... i think there are many people like me who have German/Irish/whatever ancestry, but they don't feel a strong connection to those places. There is a desire to feel connected to something, and Native cultures have deep roots. I have a lot of respect for that, and sometimes wish that i could feel the sense of belonging that must go along with being part of a "people," rather than just being an Anglo mutt.

All that said, i also think i have a (perhaps) unusual affinity/attachment to Native American culture, especially for a white girl from Boston. My grandma used to work at the Haffenreffer Museum in Rhode Island, which is an anthropological museum loaded with amazing Native art and artifacts. So many of my earliest memories of her involve learning about various beading techniques, how to make wampum from quahog shells, etc. So in a way even though i'm not Native i have this association between Native cultures and my own heritage. Since my grandma passed on the Museum has started a yearly memorial for her where they showcase various types of Native art... here's the one from 2005:

http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/Haffenreffer/news.php?s...


Edit for typos

[KitchenWitch]

4. I try to honor all peoples.

I am married to an Amerasian man. My grandfather was half Ojibwe. My family is almost a United Nations, in some respects.

[IndianaJones]

6. Amerasian in the traditional usage, or born in this country? nt.

[KitchenWitch]

7. Born in this country but conceived in Asia

[IndianaJones]

9. same here...Korea. nt.

[KitchenWitch]

11. Thailand

[Deep13]

5. They took all my money! Stupid slot machines!

Just kidding. That was actually Las Vegas. The American Indians I have seen are not actually red. Of course, Black Americans are not usually black either. Most of us in the USA are a bunch of mongrels anyway.

[Parche]

8. NAP

My aunt is from the tribe near Minot ND, and ironicaly I was stationed their when I was in the Air Force..........


By the way, she is awesome!!!!

[ThomCat]

10. I think we owe red people

a hell of a lot of money, huge tracts of land, and a whole lot of appolgies. I think we need to recognize east coast tribes that are ignored, and native Hawaiians too. But I don't see any of those things happening.

[seemunkee]

12. My grandfather used to claim that he was part Iroquois

But I have the family tree and it goes back to the Old World without any NA blood.

I find NA spirituality and reverence for nature to be very much in line with my own beliefs. I spent a lot of my teen years hiking and climbing and can identify with those beliefs. My wife notices a distinct change in my demeanor when we go out into the woods. Be thankful for what the world has given you. I read Black Elk Speaks back then and loved it. A couple of years ago someone recommended Song of Heyoehkah to me. Are you familiar with it?

[puerco-bellies]

14. No I am not familial with the book, but the term is herd in lodges.

What is the book about?

[seemunkee]

16. Here is the Amazon blurb

In this long-awaited second novel by the best-selling author of SEVEN ARROWS, Little Wolf, a follower of the Old Way, is the sole survivor of a village massacre. As he travels, his adventures mirror an inner search along the hidden pathways of the mind and heart.
Estchimah is a female shaman. Her path to self-discovery leads through dazzling worlds of natural beauty, dream landscapes, and the borderlands where these spheres overlap.
SONG OF HEYOEKHAH is a Vision Quest, a search for meaning, harmony, and balance that returns the reader to "the time of the Medicine Ways," "the place of imagination," and the very heart of human nature, in a compelling, unforgettable, and magical reading experience.

The authors website
http://www.hyemeyohstsstorm.com /

The book was recommended to my by a Cheyenne who used it in a prisoner outreach program. He wanted to get the NA prisoners involved with their culture and used it like a Bible.

[many a good man]

19. Heyoka is a Lakota clown

He does everything backwards, or the opposite of the way it should be done. For example they would ride with warriors into battle on a horse backwards like a coward running away from battle. They would clown around and act a fool in very serious situations. They were comic relief and considered holy.

[puerco-bellies]

21. I tended fire at a sweat for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

I would bring the rocks in on the same side of the alter/buffalo skull situated between the fire and the lodge. I did not know if I should cross the umbilical cord (and imaginary line that connects the fire, and the sweat lodge) so I just kept to one side.

After the lodge was over the leader mentioned it and suggested that it is better to move the rocks in a clockwise direction, and a buddy of mine said "he put some heyoka medicine in the lodge" The leader agreed and we all had a little laugh.

[mainegreen]

13. It's a culture I don't know bupkus about.

That, and that my sister in law teaches on a Blackfoot reservation.

[Blue-Jay]

15. I always raise my hand and say "How."

Then I run like hell!

[stuntcat]

17. My husband

is 1/2 Lumbee. Both his dad's parents were Indian.
Lumbee's kind of a mixed up tribe, with some slaves (and probably Lost Colonists) mixed in so they had a hard time getting recognition even though they are definitely a native American people!

[AnneD]

18. I always knew I had Indian in me...

I thought it was 1/4...Then my brother showed me his tribal roll card. Seems I am 1/2 Cherokee. Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit. It means squat-I hope to get some health care benefits. But it did answer a lot of questions for me like.....

Why Dad left home and joined the USAF-seldom to return, or what language my elders were speaking when they tended the fire in the pot bellied stove over night-when they thought I was sleeping, why my relatives had to place newspaper in the chinks of their houses to keep out the drafts, why we slept in one room with blankets covering all the doors in a futile effort to keep the cold out, why my Aunt didn't get electricity and indoor plumbing until 1967, why I can smell the things I can and read animals like I do, why my brothers track things, how I could shoot a bulls eye first time I ever picked up a bow (sling or rock), why my brothers can't drink alcohol, why my older brother can break train and ride horses-even the most difficult.

My Grandmother had brown hair brown eyes-Grandpa black hair and blue eyes. Their full Cherokee children had every colour imaginable. Cherokee, after all, were civilized, mixing in with agricultural communities on the eastern seaboard.

Oh and the irony of it all...My husband is Indian...from India. The difference between an Indian and an Indian.....chest and facial hair.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. My dear puerco-bellies...

I have the greatest respect for NAP...

No Indian blood runs in my veins....not even!

But I was always fascinated as well as appalled at what we did to the NAP...

And you know how I feel about your jewelry!

[IntravenousDemilo]

22. Oh, at first I thought you meant Commies... n/m

[idgiehkt]

23. I think people should be forced to read Chrystos

in high school. She is Menominee and French, and most of her poetry is about her encounters with racism from 'white' people. She is the most powerful paradigm shifter I've ever encountered, sometimes I feel like she 'taught me how to think' about racism and genocide. Her work has impacted my life more than any other artist of any kind, exponentially.

[SeattleGirl]

24. I am married to a man who is part Chippewa, on his dad's side.

The blood line is somewhat diluted, but according to his Tribe, he is an official member. Many of his paternal relatives live on the reservation in northern Minnesota

For years, I have been interested in Native American culture and history, and have a lot of respect for both, as well as anger at what happened to many of the Peoples when the white man came.

I have heard that there is some native heritage in my bloodline, but I believe that it is so far back as to be nearly non-existent in my generation.

[Guava Jelly]

25. I have a great respect for Native Americans.

I figure even the Posers do it out of admiration and maybe even respect.
Hey we took your land poisoned it and then ethnically cleansed it of it's habitants..
Well at least we celebrate Columbus day

[hisownpetard]

26. I love people who are well-red.