Unenrolled Indians, Indian Descendants, and people of American Indian Heritage

[Wayne]

Boy!, where to begin in my reply....
Ok, let's see: German/Netherlands/Yewish/NA/spanish and probably more, that i don't know of.
Those are my ancestors, i honour them all.
Does that make me 1/5th of all the above mentioned? off course not!
What makes a person is not only determined by the birthplace of the person itself, or his/her ancestors.
A person is formed by his/her upbringing, surroundings, character and so on.
There is a heritage offcourse in who were/are your ancestors, but their role is not as big as people tend to believe.
You are what you believe you are!
But you must really believe this and feel it.
So if you would say:"i'm american indian", then you should live by your claim and live as a native.
I never claimed to be a native, i was told, that a little part of me is from Lakota.
Since it is such a small part..... all other parts are as small.
So, i honour each part as equally important.
I was honoured to meet natives, living as much as they could as natives.
I was mesmorised by their compassion for eachother and for life itself.
I was given the chance to learn more, but never lived with them.
Now i'm relaying the message of this compassion to the best of my abilities.

Many blessings,

Wayne

[Defend the Sacred]

You are what you believe you are!
But you must really believe this and feel it.
So if you would say:"i'm american indian", then you should live by your claim and live as a native.

... Wayne, are you saying you think white Europeans can "believe" they are Native and this makes it so?

[Wayne]

In a way yes, but will they be able to live as a native american?
I don't think so, thus will they never be native american.
It is all in the eye of the beholder so to say.
A european will know (deep down) he/she is not a native, so the believe is not valid.
When they would have given the chance to live with a nation as a member of that nation, then that would make them a native american...... over time (a long time).

Many blessings,

Wayne

[Defend the Sacred]

No. It has nothing to do with the beliefs, fantasies or delusions of non-Natives. It's up to the Native people, of the particular Nation in question, to determine who is a member of their Nation.

[flyaway]

 Wayne ,so if I believe strong enough that I am a horse does that make me a horse? LOL NO I will never be a horse just because I think I am that is delusional. I am Cherokee not because I believe I am but because it is so!

[Wayne]

Could any man live as a horse?
Please read carefully.
Is it up to the members of the tribe?.... yes, offcourse.
White people know this too, so they could never become native.
If members would decide to grant this "membership", then it could be possible.
I understand why no non-native would ever have the honour to become native.
I was only trying to make a point. 
The rest of my reply is not taken into account here, so what about the rest?
Please understand, that i'm not defending the exploiters.

Many blessings,

Wayne

[critter - a white non-ndn person]

Flyaway, you will be a horse if you "live" like a horse for a long (very long) time!   

[Wayne]

Good one critter!
I do like this kind of humor.

Many blessings,

Wayne

[flyaway]

Quote from Wayne:
What makes a person is not only determined by the birthplace of the person itself, or his/her ancestors.
A person is formed by his/her upbringing, surroundings, character and so on.
There is a heritage offcourse in who were/are your ancestors, but their role is not as big as people tend to believe.
You are what you believe you are!
But you must really believe this and feel it.
So if you would say:"i'm american indian", then you should live by your claim and live as a native.

Wayne your thinking "you are what you believe you are" is true but not in the case: So if you would say:"i'm american indian", then you should live by your claim and live as a native.
To just say I am an American Indian Does Not make you one even if you lived with a tribe for a very long time, even if you are adopted ,say by a Lakota or Cherokee family does NOT make you one. You will NEVER be an American Indian if you are NOT ONE! You can say it until you are blue in the face and it will not make it so! You have no rites to do any ceremonies, healings, NOTHING that belongs to any tribe, NONE! AND the American Indians do NOT have shamans, I get so sick of hearing this!
BE who you Really are,there is nothing wrong with that, unless you are not willing to walk your own personal path.

[Wayne]

I feel, that i need to make a humble apology.....
It was never my intention to mock or otherwise hurt anyone with the remark about believing who you are.
I only said it to give an example.
Offcourse it is never so, that you can become something you are not.
What i was trying to get across is that everyone has a right to believe in whatever.
If someone believes he is native american..... let him, spirit will deal with him in one way or an other.
Just let him be, but warn others, so they are not hurt by him.
That's in my opinion the right thing to do.
I do have my own path to follow, as do all of you, sometimes these paths cross and we meet new friends.
That is what i was trying to say.

My sincere apologies for possibly hurting anyone with my words.

Many blessings,

Wayne

[earthw7]

As a Lakota grandmother it is important for my people to know who they are
which means if you claim 1/5 Native American -Lakota
you should be able to tell me
which Band come from,
what is your Territory,
what is your Tiospaye and
reservation name
which Tiwahe you come.
there 14 Lakota-Dakota-Nakota Reservation located in 8 states

if you have been removed from your people then how do you know
what is true and what is not true?
If you don't live among your people why bother to claim to be one of them?
If you do not help your people then why brother to claim to be one of them!