[Linda]

A lot of what’s behind this are the BIA guidelines for federal recognition. In order to have a ghost of a chance, you have to have a community that lived in the same area together for the past 200 years. If you let people on your rolls who moved away some generations back, forget about it. You’ll never get that recognition. The policy is right up the BIA’s alley, since it divides people and gives them incentives to stay small, divisive and ineffectual. And we’ve got a culture that says you can’t claim an Indian heritage unless you have that scrap of paper from the government saying that’s what you are.

That’s part of it, and another part is that a lot of those communities are isolate communities which by their very nature are exclusive and non-trusting of outsiders.

So, don’t let it get to you. You know who you are. It’s their loss.

[DHarden]

Thank you for the encouragement. That is true it is their loss. But what makes this sad is that 85% of my family never left the area period. They still live in the same community that they have lived in since 1848. That’s why I am a little ticked. How can you deny a family that has never left their home community? Most of my relatives were born there to include my own mother. It’s okay because atleast the Town of Hillsborough is recognizing that fact that she is Native and also Native to that community. Her picture will be posted in the museum after it is restored by them.

[Author]

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