Yes, I agree. I find that confusing as well.
A little about me:
All of my confirmed biological non-Indian grandparents were second generation American immigrations, so aside from my mother's father, my lineage is easy. 1/4 Irish (my dad's mother's parents were from Ireland), 1/4 French (my dad's father's parents were from France). 1/4 Jewish - My mother was adopted by white people, but we do know her biological mother's parents were Jewish immigrants. I am in the process of filing the paperwork to obtain her adoption records to confirm the identity of her father. The wife of her adopted mother's brother was a close friend of the biological mother, and told my mother (and later told me) that my mom's biological mother had confided in her that the father was American Indian (she told her he was a Sioux). But like I said, I am seeking to confirm this.
I never had any Irish people take me in, provide me shelter, feed me traditional Irish food, teach me to speak Irish, tell me about Irish history and the Irish culture.
I never had any French people take me in, provide me shelter, feed me traditional French cuisine, teach me to speak French, tell me about French history and the french culture.
I never had Jewish people take me in, provide me shelter, feed me traditional Jewish food, teach me to speak Hebrew, tell me about Jewish history and the Jewish culture and beliefs.
BUT, I did have several wonderful NDNs (Yankton and Oglala, but not at the same time) take me in, provide me shelter and clothing, feed me (sometimes traditional food, sometimes just ramen noodles and powdered milk... but always enough to keep me from feeling hunger pains), taught me some of the language so I could truly understand the messages they were giving me, taught me about the history and culture of who I have believed to be my grandfather's people since I can remember.
So yes, I have an equal number of ancestors from four distinct cultures (providing the adoption records confirm what we have been told). I do not wish to deny, ignore, or disrespect my Irish, French, or German (Jewish) ancestry. But I have had much more experience with those who I call my family, those who did the things that family does, those who cared for me and nurtured me, and taught me to have good character, no matter who my grandparents were. Those who stepped up and loved me when there was no one else. (In my other relatives' defense, they did not know me. The people who adopted my mother took custody of me for a while when I was little, and effectively kept my biological father and all his family away from me. I didn't know them, and I didn't know my mom's biological family since she was from a closed adoption). So if it weren't for those who stepped up and loved me, I would have had no one at all. They will always be my closest relations.
