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 within 4-6 generations ago that I had direct lineal African ancestors and I hope someday I discover the confirmed genealogy of some individuals.
My curiosity runs wild and that would be a super exciting day, but I still won’t be able to own it.
DNA does not equal culture or identity
An ally is the most I’ll ever be. Which is still a great thing to be.
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. Or any other culture for that matter.
To be Native
To be Native, you must at minimum, have lineal descent from a Native Nation citizen. This means you must know your Native Nation. If you do not know your Native Nation and citizen relative, you cannot claim you are Native, Native-American, Indigenous, First Nations, etc. on the basis of DNA results or even worse family lore. You must know exactly who your relatives are. I feel ya, sometimes this means some difficult, time and money consuming research, but this is not optional.
Individual Native Nations may also have other citizenship requirements that I won’t discuss in this post. No matter what, DNA or family lore is not enough to claim Native heritage. There must be a clear and unbroken record of birth certificates (and adoption records if applicable) to the last Native Nation citizen in your lineage.
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.
In my opinion the terminology would be as the following example. I am a Mvskoke citizen, so I would generally say I am a Mvskoke citizen or Mvskoke. 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. All this of course applies to North America.
DNA is great for finding relatives, or factually determining who your biological parents are though. It does not make someone Native.
My Native heritage is mixed obviously
Keep telling yourself, there is no such thing as a part-Native person. The only valid percentages for either are 0% or 100%. 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.
Like blood quantum, DNA should not be used to attack Native heritage and bolster white supremacy.
