“Federally Recognized Tribe”

[Defend the Sacred]

my impression leaves me believing this is some kind of bullshit sandbox.

Can you please explain what you mean by this?

[menotomy]

That was in response to a poster’s comment which said:

“LOL, thanks for the even more cryptic and vague answers. Funny, it's what you don't say that speaks volumes.”

I was not giving cryptic or vague answers and I don’t know what the poster believes I’m saying or doing. 
I’m still unsure of the poster’s intent though I suspect being a new member here immediately puts me in the crosshairs.
It was an unwarranted and unexpected comment.  I’m a big boy, I’m not going to take it personally, but it was a surprise and disappointment.

[menotomy]

Menotomy, I'm not sure where you're going with this, or where you're coming from.

To summarize, I feel the designation is exclusionary, to the detriment of others.

If I understand what you're saying, I don't think there is anything "random" about what factors have to be present to indicate a cultural group/tribe/nation has survived intact. It's about landbase, spirituality, language, all the things Earthw7 explained.

I of course see the importance of being intact for the arbitrary timeframe of the most recent 400 years.
My point is that it is a politically chosen timeframe. If the timeframe was the 400 year period from say the 1200s to the 1600s, a lot more people would have this federally recognized status.

Do you understand that being part of an intact cultural group is a different experience from being an assimilated person, from an assimilated family, who has only distant ancestry? Did you read those threads about whether BQ and enrollment matter, and what people think makes an NDN, well, NDN?

You know, that is a better summary of my problem with this than I gave above.
It gives only two choices:  “Federally Recognized” or “Assimilated Person”.
What about the family which retains everything except a physical location recorded in Land Court???  By the government’s decision, they’re out!
I don’t know.  I’d do better complaining elsewhere. Maybe I’m not doing a good job of explaining myself. I certainly should not be feeling the need to defend myself here.

[earthw7]

I dont think you need to defend yourself  but maybe explain more clearly
what you are trying to say.
This site is not about Federally Recognized tribes, state recognized or
unreconized tribes it is about fraud.
Those who abuse spiritual, cultural identity of people for montary gain.
We have a mixture of people here some enrolled members of Tribes,
some who are not enrolled, some who have Native descent,
some other parts of the world that are concerned about
what is happening in their world.
This is not a site where one has to say
they are from a recognized tribe to speak.
We have people from all over the world who come here because people
are being hurt, misguilded, and downright mislead by people.
We must keep alist tribes because so many of the fraud will give information
that is not true and the tribe can tell what is true to keep that balance.
So for what it matter Welcome and
I am TaMakeaWaste Win enrolled member
of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation Im Ihunktonwana, Pabaska, Sisseton, on my
Father's side and  Hunkpapa, Sihasapa and Ogala on my Mother's side or
as they say Im Lakota and Dakota and live on my reservation.

[Diana]

That was in response to a poster’s comment which said:

“LOL, thanks for the even more cryptic and vague answers. Funny, it's what you don't say that speaks volumes.”

I was not giving cryptic or vague answers and I don’t know what the poster believes I’m saying or doing. 
I’m still unsure of the poster’s intent though I suspect being a new member here immediately puts me in the crosshairs.
It was an unwarranted and unexpected comment.  I’m a big boy, I’m not going to take it personally, but it was a surprise and disappointment.

Oh pleaaase, don't flatter yourself you were never in any cross hairs, that's not how we operate here. Stop with the victim act. You're right, I don't know what you're saying or doing and I'm also unsure of you're intent. Again, I politely asked you a couple of very very simple and legitimate questions. You chose to give me some vague and irrelevant answers. You basically "chose" not to answer my questions. That in it's self looks a little suspect.  Again, if you don't like being asked questions don't post.

[Smart Mule]

Thank you, earthw7 and sky.

>>None of the above that you mentioned have continuously operated as a tribal entity

In my opinion this is totally random.  Or, rather worse than random, it is simply based on when Plague or  “Discovery” or Politics decided to start counting.  “Federally Recognized” starts counting when this area was “Settled”.   

Well before that time there were established groups, trade patterns, currencies, societies and 7,000 years of agreed upon business deals, truths, etc.

Please don't think I'm trying to attack you, I'm trying to understand your point and explain mine. 

I am sure that some where out here in western Massachusetts there are people with Pocumtuc ancestry way back in their family history.  Maybe there's a whole bunch of them.  How would they operate in a tribal manner?  They do not know the language of their ancestors (we do know it was Algonquin R dialect), they don't know traditions, they don't know how their tribal governments operated, they don't know their traditional stories, they don't know very much at all except for what was recorded by settlers.  It's not the fault of the descendants that this occurred but it did.  There are several extenuating circumstances as to why they are no longer a viable tribe. Some were absorbed by other Nations. How would it be respectful to their ancestors to call themselves members of the Pocumtuc tribe when they don't even know how to honor their ancestors? 

[earthw7]

Thank you, earthw7 and sky.

>>None of the above that you mentioned have continuously operated as a tribal entity

In my opinion this is totally random.  Or, rather worse than random, it is simply based on when Plague or  “Discovery” or Politics decided to start counting.  “Federally Recognized” starts counting when this area was “Settled”.   

Well before that time there were established groups, trade patterns, currencies, societies and 7,000 years of agreed upon business deals, truths, etc.

so true Sky

Please don't think I'm trying to attack you, I'm trying to understand your point and explain mine. 

I am sure that some where out here in western Massachusetts there are people with Pocumtuc ancestry way back in their family history.  Maybe there's a whole bunch of them.  How would they operate in a tribal manner?  They do not know the language of their ancestors (we do know it was Algonquin R dialect), they don't know traditions, they don't know how their tribal governments operated, they don't know their traditional stories, they don't know very much at all except for what was recorded by settlers.  It's not the fault of the descendants that this occurred but it did.  There are several extenuating circumstances as to why they are no longer a viable tribe. Some were absorbed by other Nations. How would it be respectful to their ancestors to call themselves members of the Pocumtuc tribe when they don't even know how to honor their ancestors?