The mixed-blood population in America faces a unique set of challenges. Gaining cultural respect and fighting for basic rights are still high on the agenda.
Native Americans have been marginalized and confined to reservations; genocide and a history of discrimination have restricted Native American’s involvement in this society to the point of near invisibility. Indeed, they have been virtually obliterated.When Europeans first arrived in the Americas in the late 1400’s, native peoples comprised the total population (100%). Five-hundred years later, cccording to the 2000 Census, they now account for only 1.5%, 0.6% of whom list another ethnic group.
However, it is this mixed group of Native Americans that receives little attention yet cannot be ignored if we must truly appreciate the diversity and richness of Native Americans and the socio-political and cultural challenges they face. Mixbloods are next to you in line, waiting for their table reservation at the restaurant. They are your university classmates or the new supervisor with the corner office.
According to Louis Whitehead, a mixed-blood is “a person who can trace his or her lineage to at least one American Indian group and to at least one other non-Native nation,” although, as Whitehead notes, the term can have different meanings. Many mixed-bloods do not fit the traditional conception of Native Americans; they often live in urban areas and are connected with numerous different cultures.
Despite the heterogeneous nature of the group, mixed-bloods face some common challenges. Of particular concern, is blood quantum – how much is enough, who has the right to determine, and should it even be recognized. Blood quantum is a criterion established by the government to determine whether someone is a “real” Indian. It is measured by one’s amount of inherited Native American ancestry. The government issues CDIB (Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood) cards, which allegedly confirm one’s Indian status. This quantification of cultural identity is a result of the Dawes Act, also known as the General Allotment Act (1887), which attempted to divide tribal lands into individual allotments for those who could prove their Indian ancestry.
Such federal regulations still profoundly affect the lives of mixed-bloods, indeed, everyone of Indian ancestry. Many mixed-bloods are not enrolled in federally-recognized tribes, which have implications for everything from tribal rights to scholarship funding. Their lack of ties to reservation communities also presents cultural challenges, such as, dislocation from their heritage, identity issues, and rejection from both Indian and non-native groups. Even more disturbing, however, is the continued cultural hegemony imposed by the government, which ensures Native Americans cannot determine their own sense of what it means to be Indian.
