This is all a hot mess, but I find stories like Joseph M. Pierce's authenticate the harm being
done by rigidity within populations that should embrace the complexities of heritage and
identity, especially to the vast population who are products of non traditional relationships
that carry a heavy burden, stigma of legitimacy of worth as human. I was told recently
that I should shut up because I'm not a "practicing native". No one cares what I have to
say. It's amazing how people will use a culture to culture shame another person. Hmmmm...
We need to be careful who we drag along with Elizabeth Warren's condemnation besides
her, which is unacceptable and vicious, in my view. Discovering MORE about the past,
who we are, what courses through our blood is important for many reasons regardless of
whether "you" personally care or not. Many people don't care about the past and that's
ok, but it is not ok to condemn others that do and not realize it is why we have historical
dialog in the first place. It also represents a white dominate past that many cannot see,
viewed through white eyes, as anything but racist, with a valid point.
Yes, there are reasons to fight this past, but it is there and cannot be erased. I am not
a racist purely decided because I have predominantly Irish and British heritage, BUT
there are many things I have been allowed to be oblivious of because of my whiteness
and privilege. There were many white people much more privileged than I as well.
My immigrants were poor Irish, Scottish, not so poor-not so rich British, German, Swiss, etc...
Many families, including mine and my wife's were a huge melting pot of culture, and
suppressed culture. My step-dad from the age of 6 on was Mexican, my twin sisters
1/2 Mexican, my wife 1/2 Vietnamese, born in Vietnam. My nephews 1/2 black, 1/4
Vietnamese. Who the hell are we all?? Does my embrace of bloodline discoveries
demonize other "legitimate" populations? Why? These are valid questions that don't
have definitive answers.
You can judge me on my authenticity more by my actions and ability to change. You
will get nowhere by telling me my whiteness means I don't have a clue before you know
anything about me. Who is the judge and jury? No one seems to care that what is genuine
is Elizabeth Warren's family story. She distances herself from tribal councils probably
because it will be viewed as her attempt to claim something she doesn't want to do
because how it will look. What the hell is she supposed to do when everyone has a
different opinion about what is the right thing to do?
What defines families for better or worse through many generations is what we are talking
about. It's a huge mucky mess, but we should talk about it. As a genealogist it's a
double edged sword. Oral histories are wonderful starting points that many times turn out
to be not what they seem. Misconstrued information by just common error, or downright
made up to hide other unpleasant events, or a variety of scenarios many times leading
to having to change the "oral history" documentation to match real documents. This
doesn't mean there is not a purpose for oral history, without it the indigenous population is
left with a scarce history.
Sally Hemmings had children with Thomas Jefferson proven through extensive research,
AND DNA. That is important to history. Documentation aided by DNA testing can be very
important tools. Diluting this by trying to say her descendants can't claim blackness or
whiteness is a silly argument. Elizabeth Warren will probably be able to find the exact
grandfather or mother, in time, who was full blood indigenous, it may prove to be
Mexican indigenous, Cherokee indigenous or many of the other tribes that were forced
into Oklahoma by white settlers, but not all whites. It's a messed up stew to make huge
generalities. What is White? That term is a slippery slop.
How much blood is enough? DNA is a starting point to lead to more documentation,
not a diffinitive test like all the testing sites claim it to be. They were in the business of
selling kits with bad marketing ideas. We are all paying for this greed.
How much blood is enough can never be answered, but yet we all seem to have an opinion
on that. Why is the Dawes Roll, which was a government controlled census, used to
determine authentic Cherokee admittance to the Cherokee Nation when history tells
us how many people rejected this "white man's" census and were not counted? Why
is this the gauge for purity? How do we all understand and parcel out heritage and culture?
Are they definitively separate and un-mutable? Much of this is taken out of historical
context. Much of this is about helping a deeply depressed population have access to
more opportunities.
How do we meld all the good intentions together without demagoguing individuals with
good intentions? I have lots of questions, while everyone around me seems to have
deep opinions that don't answer these questions. At least, not in ways that speak to a large
swath of the population that is trying to understand this and not loose more connections to
people.
I understand we are dealing with a hugely, enormous problem with a disparaged indigenous
population that is on reservations. We are also dealing with people who want to use ethnic
cleansing using this info for harm. I'm not going to say "so and so" is an expert on all of this,
because quite frankly it could not be more complicated for experts as well. But, we do
need to listen. All we have that is genuine and human is intent. Does a person intend
harm with claiming a heritage ever so distant? We can call a person on their mistakes
and ask for a dialog about what this brings up. BUT, what has happened here is the
ugliest form of tribalism from all sides. I hate joining clubs, religions, social groups.
I have many reasons based on "heritage" to belong to soldier groups from the most prestigious
to common ones among big wars. I come from a long line of warrior patriots that were very
white. I don't need to join an exclusive
I'm not so proud of. BUT, that is not why I don't join. It's a huge complicated mess
for me that causes me anxiety. I'm uncomfortable with people wanting to join the
Mayflower Society. But, I don't see why people can't celebrate this heritage,
even though it is white, represents people who clashed with the native population.
I think people would join the Iroquois Confederacy Society if they could prove lineage,
and it existed. You can honor the past and see it's horrors as well. It's when used as
a weapon to suppress people that we have an issue. BUT, for some damn reason we
can't seem to parcel out the differences. We judge...it's our damn nature.
What we need is MORE space to be authentic to our experiences, not less.
Thank you, Joseph, for sharing your experiences. I'm hoping to spread your authenticity
a little further. Cheers!
Joseph M. Pierce"In the end, I am writing this to attempt to be authentic
to my experience of self in the face of this unknowing but also this new
knowledge. It seems to me that to deny this legacy, this heritage, however
distant and bureaucratic it has been, is to participate in the erasure of the
Indian populations of the Americas. It is to continue to silence that history.
It is inauthentic. My choice is not to do that. So I do say now that I am
Indian. But I say those words with humility. I say those words knowing that
they are part of a circuitous path toward Indigeneity. I say those words
knowing that I do not speak Cherokee, knowing that I do not know so
much about what it means to be Cherokee. But I also say those words
knowing that not having access to our oral history is an authentic
Indian experience."
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