Who is an Indian – from book: American Indians - answers to today’s questions by Jack Utter page 11 Book published by National Woodlands Publishing Company in 1993 A.D. ISBN 0-9628075-2-4 Who is an Indian? Before first European contact, the answer to "Who is an Indian?" was easy. Nobody was. "Indian" is a European-derived word and con-cept. Prior to contact, Native American people were not Indians but were members of their own socio-political and cultural groups-Delaware, Comanche, Yurok, Tlingit, or Chugach, for example, or sub-groups thereof-just as there were Frenchmen, Germans, English-men, and Italians in Europe. With the landing of the Europeans, an immediate dichotomy arose that was previously unknown in the hemisphere. Instantly the Native people lost some of their identity when they were all lumped together under a single defining word. The distinction between Native and non-Native peoples resulted in a highly significant legal, political, and social differentiation that remains with us today and is embodied in this first question. Today in the U.S. there may be 10 to 20 million people with some Indian blood, but only a small percentage identify themselves as being primarily Indian (Taylor 1984). Also, no single definition of "an Indian" exists-socially, administratively, legislatively, or judicially. The end purpose of the question "Who is an Indian?" is usually the determining factor in deciding which of the multiple definitions is used (Cohen 1982). For U.S. census purposes, as one example, an Indian is anyone who declares himself or herself to be one. Thus, the concept of Indian as used by the Bureau of the Census does not de-note a scientific or biological definition but, rather, is an indication of the race with which a person identifies. Tribal groups, themselves, have differing criteria for who is an Indian of their tribe. The Cherokee of Oklahoma require proof only of descent from a person on the 1906 tribal roll-no matter how small the percentage of Indian blood may be.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:16:48 +0000
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