However, you won’t see me claim I’m African-American
Or a Black person… though I’d be thrilled and honored to make these claims. My Senegal, Ivory Coast/Ghana and Nigeria DNA together beat Elizabeth Warren’s Native-American DNA 3 times over, but I don’t know my African ancestor(s). I haven’t lived a life with any of their experiences. I can’t own this.
It is cool though!
I estimate 5 generations ago on my mother’s paternal side of the family, that I have a non-mixed African ancestor and I hope someday I discover their confirmed genealogy. Here’s what I’m thinking:
Me
~3% African DNA
My mother
~6% African DNA
My grandfather
~12% African DNA
Great-grandparent
~25% African DNA
Great-great-grandparent
~50% African DNA
Great-great-great-grandparent
~100% African DNA
My curiosity runs wild and that would be a super exciting day, but I still won’t be able to own it. If I ever know the details, there is likely to be some sorrow too. As we know there wasn’t a lot of voluntary migration from Africa, or Black and white child bearing in those days…
DNA does not equal culture or identity
An ally is the most I’ll ever be. Which is still a great thing to be.
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DNA is cool, but as they say – strictly for entertainment
First of all, it is extremely important to state that DNA does NOT make you Native. Period, no exceptions. DNA does not make you Native or any other culture/ethnicity for that matter. Especially in small amounts which might not be accurate for starters.
DNA is part science and part art. Results can and do change. DNA results are generally updated over time as the data sets grow and interpretations improve. As an example, in years past, my Ancestry.com DNA results showed that I had a small amount of Mexican Indigenous and Colombian Indigenous heritage. This was very interesting and a complete surprise to me, but alas in recent years refinement, those results were no longer there.
Ok, so if DNA or family lore doesn’t make you Native, what does?
Native descent
This is from a United States perspective, though it should generally apply to the whole of North America. To be Native, you must at minimum, have lineal descent from a member of a Native Nation. This means you must know your Native Nation and member relative.
If you do not know your Native Nation and member relative, you should not claim you are Native, Native-American, Indigenous, First Nations, etc. for any reason, including on the basis of DNA results or even worse family lore. You must know exactly who your relatives are (no gaps), exactly which Native Nation(s) they are a part of, and exactly how they connect (lineal only).
I feel ya, sometimes this means some difficult, time and money consuming genealogy research, but this is not optional.
Native Nation citizenship
Note: the way I am using the terms, member is not the same thing as citizen. Native Nation membership could be confirmed from a wider selection of censuses or other documents over a larger time period than citizenship can. Citizenship is generally determined by relation to a specific official census from a specific time period and is a semi-modern legal status.
For Native Nation citizenship, this type of descent is always a requirement. Individual Native Nations may also have other requirements besides descent. There are well over a thousand Native Nations in North America so do your research. No matter what, DNA or family lore is not enough to claim Native citizenship. At minimum, there must be a clear and unbroken record of birth/death certificates (and adoption records if applicable) to the last Native Nation citizen in your lineage.
As an example of specific official census, my nation the Muscogee (Creek) Nation uses the Creek Nation Dawes Rolls from between 1899 and 1907. You can see some of the paper work in this post: My Mvskoke ancestors and historical documents.
It is very rare, but true that some Native people for various reasons are left off of Native Nation citizenship qualifying censuses. This situation will not likely qualify for citizenship, but for heritage confirmation purposes, there will always be siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. of the missing relative on the citizenship qualifying censuses. A handful of Native people may slip through the systems, but whole extended families and tribes just do not escape governmental attention.
Clans and family membership are usually matrilineal or passed from mother to child. There are exceptions to this but that is usually how it rolls. Citizenship though is usually derived from either parent, but Native Nations have a wide variety of requirements, so do your research.
Why are you Native?
Regardless of all the above and the importance of ancestors, there is only one reason and one answer to the question ‘Why are you Native?’. The only answer is because my mother, father or both parents are Native.
Identity terminology
These days, I think it is important to use accurate identity terminology. In my opinion the terminology would be as the following example. I am a Mvskoke citizen, so I would generally say I am Mvskoke, a Mvskoke citizen or citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. A relative of mine with lineal descent that is not a citizen, would generally say they are a Mvskoke descendant or of Mvskoke descent. In my opinion, either of us could say we are Native or Indigenous.
Also note: It is a strong part of Native culture to be transparent about who your relatives are.
No, you are not part-Native
Keep telling yourself, there is no such thing as a part-Native person. The only valid percentages are 0% or 100%. You are Native or you’re not Native. People are not fractional, they are whole. Racial/ethnic percentages also known as blood quantum are not real. Blood quantum is a white invention meant to bolster white supremacy.
And P.S. Blood quantum and DNA should not be used to attack Native heritage and bolster white supremacy.
DNA is great for factually determining who your biological parents or relations are. You might even find a relative that enables you to fill in a Native Nation or genealogy blank. But DNA by itself, or even worse family lore, does not make someone Native.
This post is subject to content updates/additions. If you think any content should be updated or added, please leave a private comment on Bluesky @Yehuda.TurtleIs.land or Mastodon TurtleIsland.social/@Yehuda. Mvto!
