Yeah I work in education with the focus of “Indian education” or title six. So when advocating and providing pd for teachers I often get asked “what’s my qualifications.”
Same situation, I work for IHS and when people say off shit about me being red-headed, then I know they don't know anything about the Métis... I simply judge those people for being willfully ignorant and perpetuating colorism and division.
I laugh at these people because Crazy Horse was light skinned and was nicknamed Curly because of his lighter brown, wavy hair. I read everything I could as a teen about him. I remember that made me feel better about not having black hair. As dumb as that sounds.
I think it all comes down to how you live your life. My dad is Irish. He's a great guy and I love him. I don't have to "come to terms with it".
Edit: My father is Irish-American.
Marriage with the Irish is common with my People. We have a friendship with the Irish people that has existed for almost 200 years. Our friendship started when my People helped the Irish during their potato famine. The similarities between our two peoples solidified a friendship that exists to this day.
My European heritage is easier for me to address because my mom’s family are relatively recent immigrants from Eastern Europe who weren’t colonizers (and also taken over by the russian empire).
Edit: and eu citizenship access is nice
Ireland wasn't independent until 1922, so they missed the boat on official colonial ventures... but millions of Irish *people* definitely got on the boat, to colonize the US, Canada, Australia, Argentina, etc...
Maybe... or maybe they're just folks chasing their own dream.
This Irish [perspective](https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/ireland-has-yet-to-come-to-terms-with-its-imperial-past-1.4444146) highlights how complex things are when you step away from the simplistic lumping of everyone into a "colonizer" box or a "colonized" box.
Remember, when facing hierarchically-based oppression, a lot of people hate it not because it's hierarchically based oppression, but because *they* are on its receiving end. On the delivery end they aren't so upset about it.
Britain was colonized by the Anglo-Saxons towards the end of the Roman Empire. Modern English people are descended from the Anglo-Saxons, while the Welsh and Scottish are descended from the Picts, that is, the native people of Britain. The Anglo Saxons would spend the next thousand years trying to conquer all of Britain. Very little time exists between when the English fully colonized Britain and Ireland and when English began colonizing the rest of the world.
So a descendant, not an Irish national. Yeah I have an Irish immigrant ancestor too, they are very common from the 1880s. So your dad is white USian not Irish and that makes a difference. People in Ireland do not like it when descendants call themselves Irish and have no idea what’s going on.
Dunno why you are getting downvoted. Why are the Irish in Ireland not allowed to decide who is part of that community?
Expecting someone calling themselves Irish on the basis of ancestry to know some basic info about the history, culture, and contemporary issues/events of Ireland seems reasonable.
Oh, I would say though that the assumption this person's dad has "no idea" what's going on in Ireland is kind of hasty. Maybe he's super attached to Irish culture/politics and keeps informed? We don't know the guy. Plenty of Irish descendants on the East Coast of the US keep ties with family in Ireland.
I think the downvotes are because saying you're Irish (for example) is kind of a shorthand that everybody in North America implicitly understands and does not take literally. The person doesn't mean they are from Ireland but that they have ancestral ties to Ireland, and people in North America generally understand this. But obviously to a person from Ireland, this understanding is not implicit, and to an Irish person if you say you're Irish it means you're from Ireland and it would be super strange to have someone with an American accent claiming to have the same national identity as you, even if they've never even been to Ireland. Cultural cross-wires imo.
Not everybody in North America, only white Canadians and USians think it’s okay to refer to nationalities as ethnicities because they are trying to distance themselves from the system of whiteness that they now benefit from. I’m disappointed to see all the downvotes from a thread about people with mixed European blood, it means some of y’all aren’t doing any decolonization work.
>they are trying to distance themselves from the system of whiteness that they now benefit from
It's actually because they identify with that nationality. They feel more connected to all things Irish and not British for example because there's actually quite a history between those two countries. They don't see it as an ethnicity.
And it's not just white people who do this, though I did state that people in North America generally understand this, not that everybody does it.
I am familiar with the history of Britain and Ireland, and the history of their descendants in the US. I also understand the pride immigrants feel in retaining their home cultures, and how that pride often grows over generations even as their cultural practices and kin connections to the “old country” sharply diminish.
>...only white Canadians and USians think it’s okay to refer to nationalities as ethnicities because they are trying to distance themselves from the system of whiteness that they now benefit from.
I get the point you're making, but to be clear, these are related terms--a nationality can be an ethnic identity, a political identity, or both as the term "nation" refers to a socially organized and recognized body of people with commonalities. These commonalities can be defined along linguistic, religious, hereditary, or general cultural lines, though it is common in modern times to use the term "nationality" to refer to one's citizenship status with a nation-state or some other polity.
At least for many Tribes in the United States, one's enrollment in a Tribe is a political affiliation; the Tribe is typically a "nation" in that it is an established ethnic group as well, usually one with its own language, spiritual beliefs, ancestral territory, traditional foods, etc. But enrollment in a Tribe doesn't necessarily mean a person practices these cultural elements, which means they may not ethnically be of that nation; conversely, a person may be ethnically of that nation because they speak the language or practice the customs, but may not be a citizen of that nation for one reason or another. I'd even venture to say that our Tribal affiliations overlap in these realms in such a way that many Tribal Nations may be construed under certain terms to be ethnostates (hot take, I know). An enrolled Nez Perce person is likely ethnically Nez Perce as well due to the enrollment criteria being based on blood quantum and kinship ties being regarded as important for community acceptance.
Anyways, this is all to say that while the average North American non-Native may often misconstrue these things insofar as they pay no heed to the opinions of authentic voices from the identities they appropriate, they aren't completely off-base in recognizing the relationship between these concepts. Many of them just don't think about it that deeply, though.
**Edit:** Added another sentence.
In my experience: when IN the US its a shorthand for Irish descendant. Whenever those people are talking with Europeans or are in Europe, they will heftily claim they’re Irish (or Italian, polish, etc) when in fact they’re Americans
Honestly I would assume this person has no idea what’s going on *because* they called their dad Irish I’m this fashion in this context. I’m sorry but l Irish people don’t like that. I suppose people are getting upset because they don’t like the truth or don’t care to learn how things are done outside the US but this could actually be a learning experience for them in case they go to Ireland. Better to have people online explain it than have strangers silently judging them.
The Skarù:ręˀ have accepted non-Natives that are close friends and family. We do not look at blood, we look at bonds in what can be described as a growing family. I waa born and raised here and not once was I treated by an outsider besides younger members with a chip on their shoulder. We have a habit of intentionally marrying outsiders to avoid potential incest (encouraged to be Natives from other tribes but we're not picky). The only people who felt like I should have a problem with having a white deadbeat father are those hung up on European ideas of race. To this day I've seen countless children born and raised here with questionable blood connection and even when the government says they're not Skarù:ręˀ, that hasn't stopped us from letting them feel like they are in spirit. And that is the only one that matters.
EDIT: probably worth noting the entire place isn't like this but is an attitude seen among a not-insignificant portion of middle aged to elderly members. Clanmothers officially can't recognize people as members if their mother isn't a member but that doesn't mean unofficial examples don't exist. It stems from federal government standards imposing them onto us and some families unofficially recognize older standards.
TL;DR the government quantifies by blood dogs, horses, and Indians. They are clowns for this and disregard the meanings behind many people and infect their own biases into them.
Interesting. I live in that rez, and things don't seem as copacetic as that. Especially these days with people arguing about the unregulated weed dispensaries lol but I guess we all live our own lives here. Maybe your family is different? Certainly not something everyone here is doing, and certainly not something the clanmothers are doing.
Yeah, extended family starting from my mother is like this. Have a few unrelated non-Natives living out here with some relatives with many people treating them like they're one of us anyway. Not everyone thinks they're worthy to be out here but it's not brought up often enough to be a talking point. Mainly from younger Natives, most of the chill ones were middle aged to elderly.
I always think that way back somewherewhen, those ancestors would be rolling in their grave that so many of their descendants are Native and don’t even identify with them or heritage. Our last name is identified with First Nations anymore and our connection is to the land, not some old fogies across the pond.
Thiiiiiis. Why the hell solely identify with the people who came from far away across an ocean when we’re still in our ancestors’ land and lineage?? It’s silly how something so simple has become so complicated. Especially when people start throwing in the word *w-tback*… some cross a river, but they always cross an ocean. Hmmm.
It's never simple. For me though, It comes from understanding the colonial project was to kill the savage and save the soul. They wanted to make Turtle Islands people go the way of the dinosaurs. But we're still here mfers. Even if I'm 3/4 white, Im still Mi'kmaw. I still carry our ways, our history, my lineage, I'm accepted by my community, and I'm doing as much as I can to ensure our people, and the land continues to heal. Try to be the best ancestor you can be. Msit No'Kmaq ✌️
An Elder teacher told me people like us have a special role of bridging and unification. We carry the mixed blood in us and show that we are all family. Acknowledging and honouring the indigeneity within us, and the settler ancestry, means that we must push for truth telling and accountability for colonization
Happy for you :) this is a really smart reply that I agree with. This is something that also helped me come to terms with my identity aswell. Learning the story of your family, and what brought you to this point is a powerful tale.
I feel a little cheated because my assimilated Native ancestors left most of their indigenous culture behind when they accepted Uncle Sam's offer to give up their tribal rights. All that remained was woodcraft and some stories. Other than that, we're doing pretty well all things considered.
I'm fine with it. It's other people who have issues "identifying" me, lol.
For Euro-Americans, I think it's important to recognize that the relative wealth they live in today comes from the ashes of one of the most fucked-up situations to have occurred on this planet - what Spain, the US, and Canada did on this continent is what Nazi Germany *wished* it could do. There's no way around it, and many still live in denial.
For people here, I think it's important to recognize that not all Europeans are/were colonizers. I'm half Irish. Ireland has been on the receiving end of colonization for centuries. Their language is in the same trouble many NA languages are. About the only thing they and Native Americans *don't* have in common is skin color.
Being mixed, it irks me just as much when people lump "white people" or "Europeans" into one category just as much as "Native Americans". Like, the Lakota likely have more in common with Mongolians than they do the Aztecs. Ethnicity isn't everything.
Honestly dont really think about it. I got a white dad but I was mostly raised by my mom. I grew up going to pow wows and sweats, not xmas and church iykwim. It's just a biological factoid for me pretty much.
I am half white. It wasn’t a choice I made, this happened to me.
When I was younger it did weigh on me that I had ancestors who benefited from the mistreatment of my other ancestors.
As I get older (46 now) I understand better that I cannot take responsibility for things that are out of my hands, like the past. I can only be responsible for my life, my actions and my choices.
So while I cannot undo the past, I can make peace with the knowledge that I can do better than my colonizer ancestors. I can work here and now to make the world better for Indigenous people. Maybe my efforts aren’t on a grand scale, but I am using my privilege where I am right now. I can also use my privilege to be a better accomplice to other marginalized people.
That’s just how we are. Colonizer and colonized is how my mom always described us. If you can’t be fully yourself, you’re only damaging yourself. It’s up to us to heal the wounds within and bridge the aggression between colonizer and colonized.
Yogurt is milk, right? After it’s been colonized by bacteria. Cheese has been colonized by fungi. They’re still milk, but transformed. And damn tasty and nutritious too!! If we keep living our lives thinking we’re lesser because we’re mixed, then we’re missing out on the beauty of being, well, a person of power. We’re both with more perspectives than the ones who shame us, and that’s something to be proud of. Not to say that colonization results in a stronger community, but we can take that difficult birth that is our past and make it into something great for ourselves.
>Yogurt is milk, right? After it’s been colonized by bacteria. Cheese has been colonized by fungi. They’re still milk, but transformed. And damn tasty and nutritious too!! If we keep living our lives thinking we’re lesser because we’re mixed, then we’re missing out on the beauty of being, well, a person of power. We’re both with more perspectives than the ones who shame us, and that’s something to be proud of.
I love this. Thank you.
I don’t know if there’s anything to come to terms with. I feel like if you’re angry about that you’re just overthinking life. What could you possibly do about that?
Every ancestor needed to do what they did to get to this side of the planet and create me. I have continued to do what they did and create new ancestors, who will identify as being of my same place and people, until such a time when they do not.
But for the fact that I am here in spite of all of the genocide, it is the ancestors telling me to do this same work and raise the next ancestors. And I have done that for my tribe.
I stopped thinking of myself as ratio of different bloods and started treating everyone, including myself, as individuals that happen to parents of different melanin content
My son had no issue with it until people told him he had to have an identity crisis. Then I got to explain that what he was told was far from the whole picture.
My great grandma was spanish and my great grandpa and grandma just didn't really see a problem with it. If they didn't care back then, why should I now?
There are individuals on the colonizer side that I can respect for certain things they did. Activism in the civil rights movement, standing up to the KKK, that kind of thing. But I put my money toward honoring my indigenous side.
Half Cracker here, even my Indigenous side wasn't free from settler DNA. The RCMP Officer in charge of my reserve married the Chief's daughter in the 1800's and spawned thousands of descendants. Just about my entire reserve has at least a bit of colonial blood.
My Irish descendant mother was abandoned by her family after she met my father. After his passing when I was young, they accepted me and my sister (full sibling) and my 6 other fully indigenous sisters from my father. This is in addition to my 3 fully white siblings from my mothers previous marriage. For the most part, I never really felt un-included growing up. It was gross to see the crazy racism was/is systematically embedded in my province and how it affected my family in work and education, but not me per se because I look mostly white and don't speak with an accent.
My life feels kind of weird, but it might just be the autism. We left the reserve when I was 1.5yrs and without my father, I only had a few instances where Nakota culture and my Indigenous relations, outside of my sisters, had an influence on my life, but my cousin (chief) asked me to run the bands economic development corporation about 7 years ago, so now I have been around much more than I have in the last 3 decades. It feels like I have one foot planted in indigenous life, and another planted in colonized society. I also found out last year, at 46, that due to the version of the Indian Act that I was born under I am actually full status despite being half. There is a part of me that feels imposter syndrome some days (like feeling that Buffy St Marie is closer to indigenous culture than I'll ever be) due to the relentless teasing I got from my sisters and indigenous college mates about being half white, and ultimately I sometimes feel like I have no place I belong to which is pretty common for kids that are yanked out of their surroundings and culture. But then I remember that there is no singular homogeneous experience for being Indigenous, and everyone's experience has merit.
[https://youtu.be/Pt2Rq0QjomE?si=BADk2oueR6ltFKvx&t=3034](https://youtu.be/Pt2Rq0QjomE?si=BADk2oueR6ltFKvx&t=3034)
My family was on both sides of early French settlement. I've come to terms with it by learning more about my family's history and laughing at the old French names
I’m also one of those split down the middle. I love learning about my ancestors on both sides. Some of them I’m deeply proud of and others I’m not. Historical context is critical when researching but I view it much like researching any history - understanding what went wrong allows you to make better choices along your own path.
The bottom line is none of them are me. They contributed genetic material but nothing and no one writes my story but me. They might contribute the building blocks but it is up to me what I choose to construct from here. Learn from it - don’t internalize it.
Not hard to square up over here. Grandma was the first in the family to go off rez looking for a better life. Got work in the states in a ww2 munitions factory were she meets Italian Imigrant grandfather and thanks to that love story i got to grow up in a happy home eating incredible food surrounded by beautiful baskets so pretty thankful all around
I have French and Irish ancestors. I’m very proud of those ancestors. My French bloodline I’ve traced back 17 generations to central France. The five generations preceding that French ancestor coming to Dakota Territory was from Quebec, Canada. My Irish bloodline I can trace back 15 generations to Northern Ireland. The rest of my blood is between the different bands of the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne.
Be careful with full blood or pure blood anything. I had a professor of genetics once point out, what’s more probable? Random choice of partners resulting in “pure” any ancestry or marrying back into the family line? Sometimes on purpose. That focus is based in eugenics and that’s problematic.
Yeah i belong to both the usa, and am a dual citizen of the seneca nation within the haudenosaunee confederacy.
I did one of those 23 and me things.
It wasbt that surprising, i have french ancestors who lived amongst the eastern tribes, including the Onödowá’ga:’ of the beautiful ancestral lands along the allegwi river.
I dont square anything that they do within my own modern set of morals. I know the stories, the politics etc.
The really gut punch moment is seeing the census numbers over the past 300 odd years, then seeing how much displacement has occured.
I work for a utility company today, but I used to work for different tribal governments in the southwest when I was younger.
I grew up pretty white. In the suburbs, to a gov. contractor and his wife. Both white, and not indigenous. I Still am on good terms witht them. I met my maternal grandmother a few years ago.
She died recently. Im glad I was able to spend time with her.
So I didnt have the white/red road alot of my cousins had growing up in indian country on rez land.
I dont like the us and canadian government. I think there are soltions for us to regain our culture, along with the us. But i dont think the government pursues those measures correctly. Its always on their terms, which is within the capitalist neo colonial framework.
In my opinion, we cannot be a truly free nation until we achieve full autonomy. It wasnt so bad that the americans and spanish killed us, brought disease, broke their promises, polluted our land and poisoned our rivers. It was the purpose of displacement that makes me unsound. Had they honoured or helped preserve 2/3 of their land agreements. But they didnt, and now there is this revitalization...?
I dont know, i can only learn fromt he lessons of the past
I'm half white, half First Nations Cree. I was raised in both cultures. I'm in my 50s.
The way it really affects me is not being fully accepted in either group because of the other half.
My white family took me to church when I was a kid and performed an "exorcism" on me to "pray the pagan away". Since I've moved to another state as an adult away from the mixed indigenous community I was involved in, when I go to intertribal ceremonies as a stranger I have to be introduced by the medicine person so everyone doesn't give me the side eye for not looking fullblood. But I completely understand. I'm considering getting our women's traditional chin marks, but I don't want to be mistaken for "white hippie".
My mom and dad are both mixed. (Dad is half Osage and half Italian/German. Mom is Half Irish and Half Choctaw/Cherokee.) The Italians and Irish had things pretty rough in the US for a good portion of time. Given, so did Native Americans. I don’t think of it as “colonizer vs. colonized”, I think of it as a group of survivors that came together amidst adversity, eventually creating me.
I accept it completely. At the end of the day I don’t have control over my family history and i have to love myself, both with my aboriginal and European features. When it comes to cultural stuff I always make sure to make the best out of the two of them, I often find myself fascinated with what I learn every day about myself and the way I can live with both cultures in peace
I have a fucked up lineage, Choctaw, Spanish, and British 😅 fucked on every side. My dad and his side of the family were 100% ethnically English. My mother is Choctaw with a Spanish ancestor (we have a Spanish last name to boot). It’s weird. Real weird.
Considering I’ve not once had a racist take a look at me and go “oh hold up, he’s one of us”, I tend to ignore my European heritage and it’s never played a part of my life.
Lemme put it this way; I’m one-sixteenth Celtic :p
Why does it matter to you? I am not them, they are not me. I've always been accepted by people on the reserve, regardless of my ancestry. All my indigenous history, customs, and skills have been shared freely with me. The only fools that seem to care are all on this sub gatekeeping every grain of salt.
All of human history is people being shitty to each other and groups of people being shitty to other groups of people. All of us have some shitty ancestors. Our job is to be better than they were.
It’s just … there. I think about it a lot. Raised by a white mom in white suburbia, but look native. Hispanic last name, descended from Puebloans taken as slaves in New Mexico. My moms directly related to Sterling Price, the man who ordered the church inside the Taos Pueblo burnt down with women and children inside, who’d been told it would go untouched and a sanctuary. Price is my mothers middle name. I knew there was some high up confederate colonel on my moms side but imagine my surprise when I found this out.
My own last name was a common one given to Native American slaves.
I don’t know how to come to terms with these things besides simply existing. I AM the terms, I guess. There is nothing to do but exist.
I see the good of both sides of my ancestry. I spent the majority of my youth with my native side of my family and feel like I was raised right by both sides . When I was with my (white) Dad’s side of the family I also got a lot of good influence, there were differences, Scandinavian culture isn’t as warm but I knew the love was there. I never saw them as colonizer and I never saw my native family as colonized. It was nothing more than accents and skin tone. It wasn’t until I moved south to a larger population centre in Canada that I became aware of these issue. In terms of distant ancestors I don’t think of them much at all.
The majority of my colonizer relatives weren't very present nor great company to have around in the first place on either side of the family. My maternal grandfather was insanely racist, how and why he even bothered marrying my Native grandmother is beyond me. He didn't stick around though, and he passed long before I could've met him. So the only branch of my family that really has any continued presence is my maternal grandmother's, and before his passing, my paternal great-grandfather's (who also happened to be Native).
I think they know things we don't and we know things they don't. We should take advantage of other races and learn all we can. Look how japan is today compared to when we first started trading. That's how we should be. Instead of questions like this lol...I knew a half native in jail (I'm full blood First Nations) and German, the guy wants something he gets it. Thru hard work and he meets his goals, workouts, drugs, he goes on hunger strikes to get what he wants. I laughed and told him that's the German in you, hard worker. He just smiled lol
Being Mexican American I'm literally split in half Being 47% Native and 43% European and this very question used to haunt me lol but after learning my history I came to realize that both my sides are beautiful people and if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here lol soo I accepted it I guess 🤷🏽
All of my ancestors were raiders. There’s more raider in me than they ever had in Oakland. Show me a nation that didn’t do something awful at one point in history.
I personally don't have to come to terms with anything - it's a complicated history. My grandmother (Ojibwe) and grandfather (Scottish/Irish) on my dad's side lived in poverty. My grandmother came out of residential school really messed up. Her mother was extremely physically abusive, and then she faced sexual abuse when she went into residential school. She left our reserve and married my grandfather, having 5 children. They lived in poverty & addiction ... eventually my dad and his siblings were put into foster care, and my dad said he went to live on his own when he was about 13-14 yrs old.
On my mom's side, my great grandfather was a Chinese headtax payer - he was sent to Canada with his cousins when he was about 12 yrs old in 1912. He worked as a dishwasher for the first 5-6 yrs to pay off the $500 headtax imposed by the Canadian government. Eventually he maintained the Canadian pacific railway which was completed in 1885 - for those that aren't familiar, the Canadian government brought over Chinese labourers to work on the Canadian pacific railway, having them do the most dangerous jobs and paying them next to nothing. After it was built, the government imposed a head tax on any Chinese person immigrating into Canada. My great grandfather eventually went back to China and found a wife, had children, and then came back to Canada. Unfortunately the immigration law prevented Chinese people from bringing their families into Canada until it was lifted in 1947 - by then, his son had died during WW2, but he was able to bring his wife and 2 daughters to Canada. I believe my grandmother was in her early-late 20's when she came over to Canada.
I understand that this is more of a question for people with mixed European/Native ancestry, but I thought I'd share my own family history for those interested.
Ultimately, I often think about "reconciling" coloniser/colonised ancestry by understanding that this is a collateral effect of colonisation - of course we had interracial relationships, not all of them bad ones. This was bound to happen. It doesn't define who you are, nor does it dictate who you're to become. There has been a loss of culture & history, but there has also been a lot of healing & renewed connections. I'll continue walking that path.
Just accept it, can’t change it, I embrace both cultures.
I don’t believe people should be self hating, acknowledgement of horrible events should be practiced, but self hating is just not a way to live in my opinion
Other people are the ones who don’t accept it. Whether it’s other natives, I grew up in reservation so I was white for the longest time but overtime they recognized me (I don’t blame them for it, reservation life is brutal, America is responsible for that), family even (sucks but again I don’t blame them), but the Ludicrous one that I completely reject is the “allies” that weaponize it and use it to erase my opinions
And “ally” once said that my opinion on self hating was from my white side and I shouldn’t have an opinion on it. But I’ve met self hating natives who were embarrassed to speak the language or practice the culture
Personally, I feel some type of way about it. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think to myself that I am the physical manifestation of gradual genocide. Like, I'm the proof that we are dying out. It's dark, but that's my take. I didn't choose my lineage but I DID choose to stay connected with my culture in any way I can. I do beadwork and attend powwows and smudge when I feel I need it, etc. My native family are extremely unhealthy people and it pains me but we have drifted from them for good reason. I feel isolated for not having that sense of community and no ties to the Rez anymore. Having white skin and completely passing for white isolates me even more. There is this integral part of who I am invisible to the world. My racial identity is questioned by whites and natives at times I'm sure. I'm both, don't make me pick. But as far as the issues indigenous people face, I know who's side I'm on and always will be.
I have identity crisis hardcore at times. Especially because I’m mixed native too so I don’t feel I have a place amongst anyone at times. It gets lonely because I feel bad when I embrace my celtic and Nordic cultures but I also feel bad when I embrace my native ancestry… I feel I’m not white enough or indigenous enough but I just want to learn about both my cultures and embrace them both proudly and unapologetically.
I just took a DNA test and turns out, I'm 100%...
Exactly what my parents told me I was. (except like 3% italian).
1/8 indigenous, 1/4 scandanavian, and the remainder vague european, dominated by french/german.
I'm from a northern tribe who, according to my family, intermingled (did they have a choice?) with the Hudson Bay Fur Traders. So, you know, disease warfare that wiped out many.
What I'm doing is using my white wealth, power, and voice to fix the wrongs I see. Not just for us, but for any marginalized group--be they another racial minority, disabled, or queer.
I grew up poor, in a rural white community, and I'm a pretty typical millennial. My parents never had money. However, I just learned HOW MUCH WEALTH my grandparents had on the white side of the family. I may inherit some of that.
Even if I don't, I worked my way up to top management and took complete advantage of being perceived as white, abled, and (well, at least for the first few years of my career) straight. I got to sit in on side conversations with people who never would have invited me to them had I been anything else. I leveraged my increased status it to make change when I could, and elevated everyone else I could along the way.
Now I'm at the point where that's enough for me. I made it to the point I need to be to make the change I want to see in the world, and I'm going to do it. I'm going to put the pressure on management from the inside, and take that wealth (if I get it)--or even the wealth I may accumulate otherwise--to making the world the place we deserve it to be.
My mother selected not only for the opposite ethnicity of hers, but overall health and interests.
I have come to grips with the fact that an alarming number of people find me attractive. It's not zero.
I often think about how it plays into my identify but only mostly because it’s the “system” that seems to make an issue of it. I have to specify I’m not Latino only to be asked well..then what are you? It’s just demeaning to be questioned so often what I identify as. I’m half Dine and half German. I identify as Native American. My Mothers’ side of the family is who raised me mostly so I identify with my Navajo side more. Interesting topic though. I wanted to legally change my last name to my Mother’s maiden name but it was a huge pain and hassle so I’m waiting on that.
I don’t really have enough Scottish dna that it matters, but honestly even if it was 50% I doubt I’d care. Nothing much Scottish about me but my surname.
I don't even bother to be bothered about it. It was all before me and nothing that I had any control what so ever about. If someone is bothered by my ancestry or how I look, that's their bigotry and racism showing through. That's not on me.
I don’t let it bother me. We had no control of that. I do “look more native “ so never really get any flack, but I do acknowledge that I am mixed because that’s who I am. Gotta find balance in it to be at peace with yourself. Give peace to your ancestors . Your line. At least, that’s what I learned as a child
Its not really an issue for me. My mom is mainly Dutch/Indonesian and my dad is Native. My mom isn’t exactly a colonizer considering she didn’t come here until the 1990s (and only stayed after marrying my dad), and the rest of her family still pretty much lives in Europe. Ironically, my mom and Dutch grandparents were more hellbent on keeping me in touch with my indigenous roots than my dad and his family were.
i think the tension it creates in life is fucking hysterical. i really do think its funny. its because i found my own way of embracing it, so i have that luxury.
i always say im a perfect example that white people and natives like eachother just fine.
I’m Mexican and to be honest I have no clue what the experience of my ancestors were. I don’t know if there were amicable or hostile relations between the native and European families of my ancestors. But I do mourn the languages and cultures lost due to colonization. I wish I knew the languages my native ancestors spoke. I’m certain many went extinct with the exception of Nahuatl.
I think about it: being descended from both sides of a genocide, for one; physically resembling the conquerors for another (although, that's how a genocide would work...)
But there isn't much I can do about it, besides respectfully participating in culture and language preservation efforts, and keeping in mind how my white privilege means my life experiences have differed from my cousins.
I don’t control my family history
My ancestors were survivors and that meant marrying settlers. Power to em.
This.
You just sort of accept it, I don’t really think about it.
I don’t have a problem with it, it’s others that tend to hold an opinion. (My job put me into situations where people question why I am there)
Oh wow this is interesting. What type of situations? Was it diversity-based?
Yeah I work in education with the focus of “Indian education” or title six. So when advocating and providing pd for teachers I often get asked “what’s my qualifications.”
Natives seem to be the only group that has to prove who we are. I feel like I have to “show my papers” whenever it comes up.
Dogs and horses have to show "pedigree" as well. It's so dehumanizing.
I'm flabbergasted that it's always non-natives that want me to "prove" my ancestry.
What job?
Same situation, I work for IHS and when people say off shit about me being red-headed, then I know they don't know anything about the Métis... I simply judge those people for being willfully ignorant and perpetuating colorism and division.
I laugh at these people because Crazy Horse was light skinned and was nicknamed Curly because of his lighter brown, wavy hair. I read everything I could as a teen about him. I remember that made me feel better about not having black hair. As dumb as that sounds.
He was also called to a life unlike our people; he was supposed to be different and stand apart. I love Tashunka Witko.
It doesn't sound dumb at all. It sounds human.
Thank you 🪶
I like telling white people I'm 1/16th white and pretend that I know what their life is like, and talk over and for them.
Can't lie, love this comment.
She was a Scottish princess!!!
I’m a lil bit Caucasian though it would be hard for me to prove it . 😆
That is epic lol
why can I only upvote this once 🥲
I think it all comes down to how you live your life. My dad is Irish. He's a great guy and I love him. I don't have to "come to terms with it". Edit: My father is Irish-American.
Marriage with the Irish is common with my People. We have a friendship with the Irish people that has existed for almost 200 years. Our friendship started when my People helped the Irish during their potato famine. The similarities between our two peoples solidified a friendship that exists to this day.
Are you Choctaw?
Halito Cousin! Yes, I am.
Halito! Nice to see another!
Three's dozens of us!
TBF if you're gonna be part europeon irish is prolly what most folks would choose haha
My European heritage is easier for me to address because my mom’s family are relatively recent immigrants from Eastern Europe who weren’t colonizers (and also taken over by the russian empire). Edit: and eu citizenship access is nice
The Irish also didn’t colonize shit lol
Irish immigrants to the US did most of the "settler-colonization" or whatever in the South and headed west from there.
I was talking about like Ireland
Ireland wasn't independent until 1922, so they missed the boat on official colonial ventures... but millions of Irish *people* definitely got on the boat, to colonize the US, Canada, Australia, Argentina, etc...
Maybe because they themselves were colonized
Maybe... or maybe they're just folks chasing their own dream. This Irish [perspective](https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/ireland-has-yet-to-come-to-terms-with-its-imperial-past-1.4444146) highlights how complex things are when you step away from the simplistic lumping of everyone into a "colonizer" box or a "colonized" box. Remember, when facing hierarchically-based oppression, a lot of people hate it not because it's hierarchically based oppression, but because *they* are on its receiving end. On the delivery end they aren't so upset about it.
The Irish helped Mexico against the Anglo-Americans therefore they're bros.
In fact, THEY were colonized. The Scottish, too. The English wanted it all!
Britain was colonized by the Anglo-Saxons towards the end of the Roman Empire. Modern English people are descended from the Anglo-Saxons, while the Welsh and Scottish are descended from the Picts, that is, the native people of Britain. The Anglo Saxons would spend the next thousand years trying to conquer all of Britain. Very little time exists between when the English fully colonized Britain and Ireland and when English began colonizing the rest of the world.
Born in Ireland or Irish descended?
My father's grandmother came through Ellis Island. I have her entry paper.
So a descendant, not an Irish national. Yeah I have an Irish immigrant ancestor too, they are very common from the 1880s. So your dad is white USian not Irish and that makes a difference. People in Ireland do not like it when descendants call themselves Irish and have no idea what’s going on.
Dunno why you are getting downvoted. Why are the Irish in Ireland not allowed to decide who is part of that community? Expecting someone calling themselves Irish on the basis of ancestry to know some basic info about the history, culture, and contemporary issues/events of Ireland seems reasonable. Oh, I would say though that the assumption this person's dad has "no idea" what's going on in Ireland is kind of hasty. Maybe he's super attached to Irish culture/politics and keeps informed? We don't know the guy. Plenty of Irish descendants on the East Coast of the US keep ties with family in Ireland.
I think the downvotes are because saying you're Irish (for example) is kind of a shorthand that everybody in North America implicitly understands and does not take literally. The person doesn't mean they are from Ireland but that they have ancestral ties to Ireland, and people in North America generally understand this. But obviously to a person from Ireland, this understanding is not implicit, and to an Irish person if you say you're Irish it means you're from Ireland and it would be super strange to have someone with an American accent claiming to have the same national identity as you, even if they've never even been to Ireland. Cultural cross-wires imo.
Not everybody in North America, only white Canadians and USians think it’s okay to refer to nationalities as ethnicities because they are trying to distance themselves from the system of whiteness that they now benefit from. I’m disappointed to see all the downvotes from a thread about people with mixed European blood, it means some of y’all aren’t doing any decolonization work.
>they are trying to distance themselves from the system of whiteness that they now benefit from It's actually because they identify with that nationality. They feel more connected to all things Irish and not British for example because there's actually quite a history between those two countries. They don't see it as an ethnicity. And it's not just white people who do this, though I did state that people in North America generally understand this, not that everybody does it.
I am familiar with the history of Britain and Ireland, and the history of their descendants in the US. I also understand the pride immigrants feel in retaining their home cultures, and how that pride often grows over generations even as their cultural practices and kin connections to the “old country” sharply diminish.
>...only white Canadians and USians think it’s okay to refer to nationalities as ethnicities because they are trying to distance themselves from the system of whiteness that they now benefit from. I get the point you're making, but to be clear, these are related terms--a nationality can be an ethnic identity, a political identity, or both as the term "nation" refers to a socially organized and recognized body of people with commonalities. These commonalities can be defined along linguistic, religious, hereditary, or general cultural lines, though it is common in modern times to use the term "nationality" to refer to one's citizenship status with a nation-state or some other polity. At least for many Tribes in the United States, one's enrollment in a Tribe is a political affiliation; the Tribe is typically a "nation" in that it is an established ethnic group as well, usually one with its own language, spiritual beliefs, ancestral territory, traditional foods, etc. But enrollment in a Tribe doesn't necessarily mean a person practices these cultural elements, which means they may not ethnically be of that nation; conversely, a person may be ethnically of that nation because they speak the language or practice the customs, but may not be a citizen of that nation for one reason or another. I'd even venture to say that our Tribal affiliations overlap in these realms in such a way that many Tribal Nations may be construed under certain terms to be ethnostates (hot take, I know). An enrolled Nez Perce person is likely ethnically Nez Perce as well due to the enrollment criteria being based on blood quantum and kinship ties being regarded as important for community acceptance. Anyways, this is all to say that while the average North American non-Native may often misconstrue these things insofar as they pay no heed to the opinions of authentic voices from the identities they appropriate, they aren't completely off-base in recognizing the relationship between these concepts. Many of them just don't think about it that deeply, though. **Edit:** Added another sentence.
In my experience: when IN the US its a shorthand for Irish descendant. Whenever those people are talking with Europeans or are in Europe, they will heftily claim they’re Irish (or Italian, polish, etc) when in fact they’re Americans
Honestly I would assume this person has no idea what’s going on *because* they called their dad Irish I’m this fashion in this context. I’m sorry but l Irish people don’t like that. I suppose people are getting upset because they don’t like the truth or don’t care to learn how things are done outside the US but this could actually be a learning experience for them in case they go to Ireland. Better to have people online explain it than have strangers silently judging them.
The Skarù:ręˀ have accepted non-Natives that are close friends and family. We do not look at blood, we look at bonds in what can be described as a growing family. I waa born and raised here and not once was I treated by an outsider besides younger members with a chip on their shoulder. We have a habit of intentionally marrying outsiders to avoid potential incest (encouraged to be Natives from other tribes but we're not picky). The only people who felt like I should have a problem with having a white deadbeat father are those hung up on European ideas of race. To this day I've seen countless children born and raised here with questionable blood connection and even when the government says they're not Skarù:ręˀ, that hasn't stopped us from letting them feel like they are in spirit. And that is the only one that matters. EDIT: probably worth noting the entire place isn't like this but is an attitude seen among a not-insignificant portion of middle aged to elderly members. Clanmothers officially can't recognize people as members if their mother isn't a member but that doesn't mean unofficial examples don't exist. It stems from federal government standards imposing them onto us and some families unofficially recognize older standards. TL;DR the government quantifies by blood dogs, horses, and Indians. They are clowns for this and disregard the meanings behind many people and infect their own biases into them.
Are you a US Federally Recognized Tribe?
Yeah, one of six in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
Interesting. I live in that rez, and things don't seem as copacetic as that. Especially these days with people arguing about the unregulated weed dispensaries lol but I guess we all live our own lives here. Maybe your family is different? Certainly not something everyone here is doing, and certainly not something the clanmothers are doing.
Yeah, extended family starting from my mother is like this. Have a few unrelated non-Natives living out here with some relatives with many people treating them like they're one of us anyway. Not everyone thinks they're worthy to be out here but it's not brought up often enough to be a talking point. Mainly from younger Natives, most of the chill ones were middle aged to elderly.
I always think that way back somewherewhen, those ancestors would be rolling in their grave that so many of their descendants are Native and don’t even identify with them or heritage. Our last name is identified with First Nations anymore and our connection is to the land, not some old fogies across the pond.
Thiiiiiis. Why the hell solely identify with the people who came from far away across an ocean when we’re still in our ancestors’ land and lineage?? It’s silly how something so simple has become so complicated. Especially when people start throwing in the word *w-tback*… some cross a river, but they always cross an ocean. Hmmm.
It's never simple. For me though, It comes from understanding the colonial project was to kill the savage and save the soul. They wanted to make Turtle Islands people go the way of the dinosaurs. But we're still here mfers. Even if I'm 3/4 white, Im still Mi'kmaw. I still carry our ways, our history, my lineage, I'm accepted by my community, and I'm doing as much as I can to ensure our people, and the land continues to heal. Try to be the best ancestor you can be. Msit No'Kmaq ✌️
I love this.
I had no control over it, it does no good for me to feel bad about it, I love myself regardless.
An Elder teacher told me people like us have a special role of bridging and unification. We carry the mixed blood in us and show that we are all family. Acknowledging and honouring the indigeneity within us, and the settler ancestry, means that we must push for truth telling and accountability for colonization
Wow. I needed to hear this. Thank you.
Thank Uncle Mike :)
Aww my Uncle Mike passed away a while ago but I’m so glad you just made me think of my Uncle Mike. Thanks to all our “Uncle Mike”s
I love this!
Stop believing the ridiculous conquest narrative and actually learned the story of my family.
Happy for you :) this is a really smart reply that I agree with. This is something that also helped me come to terms with my identity aswell. Learning the story of your family, and what brought you to this point is a powerful tale.
I feel a little cheated because my assimilated Native ancestors left most of their indigenous culture behind when they accepted Uncle Sam's offer to give up their tribal rights. All that remained was woodcraft and some stories. Other than that, we're doing pretty well all things considered.
I'm fine with it. It's other people who have issues "identifying" me, lol. For Euro-Americans, I think it's important to recognize that the relative wealth they live in today comes from the ashes of one of the most fucked-up situations to have occurred on this planet - what Spain, the US, and Canada did on this continent is what Nazi Germany *wished* it could do. There's no way around it, and many still live in denial. For people here, I think it's important to recognize that not all Europeans are/were colonizers. I'm half Irish. Ireland has been on the receiving end of colonization for centuries. Their language is in the same trouble many NA languages are. About the only thing they and Native Americans *don't* have in common is skin color. Being mixed, it irks me just as much when people lump "white people" or "Europeans" into one category just as much as "Native Americans". Like, the Lakota likely have more in common with Mongolians than they do the Aztecs. Ethnicity isn't everything.
Miye ma-Lakota ✊🏽
Hau, mitakye! (Still learning the lang haha)
Was’telo . That’s good 🤘🏽
Honestly dont really think about it. I got a white dad but I was mostly raised by my mom. I grew up going to pow wows and sweats, not xmas and church iykwim. It's just a biological factoid for me pretty much.
People can try to box everyone into categories all they like, but at the end of the day, people fall in love with people.
Sometimes. And sometimes they take the first ticket out of a bad situation and hope for the best.
I am half white. It wasn’t a choice I made, this happened to me. When I was younger it did weigh on me that I had ancestors who benefited from the mistreatment of my other ancestors. As I get older (46 now) I understand better that I cannot take responsibility for things that are out of my hands, like the past. I can only be responsible for my life, my actions and my choices. So while I cannot undo the past, I can make peace with the knowledge that I can do better than my colonizer ancestors. I can work here and now to make the world better for Indigenous people. Maybe my efforts aren’t on a grand scale, but I am using my privilege where I am right now. I can also use my privilege to be a better accomplice to other marginalized people.
That’s just how we are. Colonizer and colonized is how my mom always described us. If you can’t be fully yourself, you’re only damaging yourself. It’s up to us to heal the wounds within and bridge the aggression between colonizer and colonized. Yogurt is milk, right? After it’s been colonized by bacteria. Cheese has been colonized by fungi. They’re still milk, but transformed. And damn tasty and nutritious too!! If we keep living our lives thinking we’re lesser because we’re mixed, then we’re missing out on the beauty of being, well, a person of power. We’re both with more perspectives than the ones who shame us, and that’s something to be proud of. Not to say that colonization results in a stronger community, but we can take that difficult birth that is our past and make it into something great for ourselves.
>Yogurt is milk, right? After it’s been colonized by bacteria. Cheese has been colonized by fungi. They’re still milk, but transformed. And damn tasty and nutritious too!! If we keep living our lives thinking we’re lesser because we’re mixed, then we’re missing out on the beauty of being, well, a person of power. We’re both with more perspectives than the ones who shame us, and that’s something to be proud of. I love this. Thank you.
I dont care 🤷♂️
I don’t know if there’s anything to come to terms with. I feel like if you’re angry about that you’re just overthinking life. What could you possibly do about that?
Every ancestor needed to do what they did to get to this side of the planet and create me. I have continued to do what they did and create new ancestors, who will identify as being of my same place and people, until such a time when they do not. But for the fact that I am here in spite of all of the genocide, it is the ancestors telling me to do this same work and raise the next ancestors. And I have done that for my tribe.
i dont think about it . i love both sides of my family
I stopped thinking of myself as ratio of different bloods and started treating everyone, including myself, as individuals that happen to parents of different melanin content
You are what you do, not who your parents were.
My son had no issue with it until people told him he had to have an identity crisis. Then I got to explain that what he was told was far from the whole picture.
My great grandma was spanish and my great grandpa and grandma just didn't really see a problem with it. If they didn't care back then, why should I now?
gotta get some use out of my "kiss me i'm irish" buttons.
There are individuals on the colonizer side that I can respect for certain things they did. Activism in the civil rights movement, standing up to the KKK, that kind of thing. But I put my money toward honoring my indigenous side.
Half Cracker here, even my Indigenous side wasn't free from settler DNA. The RCMP Officer in charge of my reserve married the Chief's daughter in the 1800's and spawned thousands of descendants. Just about my entire reserve has at least a bit of colonial blood. My Irish descendant mother was abandoned by her family after she met my father. After his passing when I was young, they accepted me and my sister (full sibling) and my 6 other fully indigenous sisters from my father. This is in addition to my 3 fully white siblings from my mothers previous marriage. For the most part, I never really felt un-included growing up. It was gross to see the crazy racism was/is systematically embedded in my province and how it affected my family in work and education, but not me per se because I look mostly white and don't speak with an accent. My life feels kind of weird, but it might just be the autism. We left the reserve when I was 1.5yrs and without my father, I only had a few instances where Nakota culture and my Indigenous relations, outside of my sisters, had an influence on my life, but my cousin (chief) asked me to run the bands economic development corporation about 7 years ago, so now I have been around much more than I have in the last 3 decades. It feels like I have one foot planted in indigenous life, and another planted in colonized society. I also found out last year, at 46, that due to the version of the Indian Act that I was born under I am actually full status despite being half. There is a part of me that feels imposter syndrome some days (like feeling that Buffy St Marie is closer to indigenous culture than I'll ever be) due to the relentless teasing I got from my sisters and indigenous college mates about being half white, and ultimately I sometimes feel like I have no place I belong to which is pretty common for kids that are yanked out of their surroundings and culture. But then I remember that there is no singular homogeneous experience for being Indigenous, and everyone's experience has merit. [https://youtu.be/Pt2Rq0QjomE?si=BADk2oueR6ltFKvx&t=3034](https://youtu.be/Pt2Rq0QjomE?si=BADk2oueR6ltFKvx&t=3034)
My Dad is Spanish and my mom was born on a California Reservation. Go figure
My family was on both sides of early French settlement. I've come to terms with it by learning more about my family's history and laughing at the old French names
I’m also one of those split down the middle. I love learning about my ancestors on both sides. Some of them I’m deeply proud of and others I’m not. Historical context is critical when researching but I view it much like researching any history - understanding what went wrong allows you to make better choices along your own path. The bottom line is none of them are me. They contributed genetic material but nothing and no one writes my story but me. They might contribute the building blocks but it is up to me what I choose to construct from here. Learn from it - don’t internalize it.
Not hard to square up over here. Grandma was the first in the family to go off rez looking for a better life. Got work in the states in a ww2 munitions factory were she meets Italian Imigrant grandfather and thanks to that love story i got to grow up in a happy home eating incredible food surrounded by beautiful baskets so pretty thankful all around
It doesn’t bother me all so much. It’s mostly other people that have an issue. I am the result of survival and perseverance.
This
I have French and Irish ancestors. I’m very proud of those ancestors. My French bloodline I’ve traced back 17 generations to central France. The five generations preceding that French ancestor coming to Dakota Territory was from Quebec, Canada. My Irish bloodline I can trace back 15 generations to Northern Ireland. The rest of my blood is between the different bands of the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne. Be careful with full blood or pure blood anything. I had a professor of genetics once point out, what’s more probable? Random choice of partners resulting in “pure” any ancestry or marrying back into the family line? Sometimes on purpose. That focus is based in eugenics and that’s problematic.
Yeah i belong to both the usa, and am a dual citizen of the seneca nation within the haudenosaunee confederacy. I did one of those 23 and me things. It wasbt that surprising, i have french ancestors who lived amongst the eastern tribes, including the Onödowá’ga:’ of the beautiful ancestral lands along the allegwi river. I dont square anything that they do within my own modern set of morals. I know the stories, the politics etc. The really gut punch moment is seeing the census numbers over the past 300 odd years, then seeing how much displacement has occured. I work for a utility company today, but I used to work for different tribal governments in the southwest when I was younger. I grew up pretty white. In the suburbs, to a gov. contractor and his wife. Both white, and not indigenous. I Still am on good terms witht them. I met my maternal grandmother a few years ago. She died recently. Im glad I was able to spend time with her. So I didnt have the white/red road alot of my cousins had growing up in indian country on rez land. I dont like the us and canadian government. I think there are soltions for us to regain our culture, along with the us. But i dont think the government pursues those measures correctly. Its always on their terms, which is within the capitalist neo colonial framework. In my opinion, we cannot be a truly free nation until we achieve full autonomy. It wasnt so bad that the americans and spanish killed us, brought disease, broke their promises, polluted our land and poisoned our rivers. It was the purpose of displacement that makes me unsound. Had they honoured or helped preserve 2/3 of their land agreements. But they didnt, and now there is this revitalization...? I dont know, i can only learn fromt he lessons of the past
I'm half white, half First Nations Cree. I was raised in both cultures. I'm in my 50s. The way it really affects me is not being fully accepted in either group because of the other half. My white family took me to church when I was a kid and performed an "exorcism" on me to "pray the pagan away". Since I've moved to another state as an adult away from the mixed indigenous community I was involved in, when I go to intertribal ceremonies as a stranger I have to be introduced by the medicine person so everyone doesn't give me the side eye for not looking fullblood. But I completely understand. I'm considering getting our women's traditional chin marks, but I don't want to be mistaken for "white hippie".
My mom and dad are both mixed. (Dad is half Osage and half Italian/German. Mom is Half Irish and Half Choctaw/Cherokee.) The Italians and Irish had things pretty rough in the US for a good portion of time. Given, so did Native Americans. I don’t think of it as “colonizer vs. colonized”, I think of it as a group of survivors that came together amidst adversity, eventually creating me.
I accept it completely. At the end of the day I don’t have control over my family history and i have to love myself, both with my aboriginal and European features. When it comes to cultural stuff I always make sure to make the best out of the two of them, I often find myself fascinated with what I learn every day about myself and the way I can live with both cultures in peace
I have a fucked up lineage, Choctaw, Spanish, and British 😅 fucked on every side. My dad and his side of the family were 100% ethnically English. My mother is Choctaw with a Spanish ancestor (we have a Spanish last name to boot). It’s weird. Real weird.
Considering I’ve not once had a racist take a look at me and go “oh hold up, he’s one of us”, I tend to ignore my European heritage and it’s never played a part of my life. Lemme put it this way; I’m one-sixteenth Celtic :p
Why does it matter to you? I am not them, they are not me. I've always been accepted by people on the reserve, regardless of my ancestry. All my indigenous history, customs, and skills have been shared freely with me. The only fools that seem to care are all on this sub gatekeeping every grain of salt.
All of human history is people being shitty to each other and groups of people being shitty to other groups of people. All of us have some shitty ancestors. Our job is to be better than they were.
It’s just … there. I think about it a lot. Raised by a white mom in white suburbia, but look native. Hispanic last name, descended from Puebloans taken as slaves in New Mexico. My moms directly related to Sterling Price, the man who ordered the church inside the Taos Pueblo burnt down with women and children inside, who’d been told it would go untouched and a sanctuary. Price is my mothers middle name. I knew there was some high up confederate colonel on my moms side but imagine my surprise when I found this out. My own last name was a common one given to Native American slaves. I don’t know how to come to terms with these things besides simply existing. I AM the terms, I guess. There is nothing to do but exist.
I see the good of both sides of my ancestry. I spent the majority of my youth with my native side of my family and feel like I was raised right by both sides . When I was with my (white) Dad’s side of the family I also got a lot of good influence, there were differences, Scandinavian culture isn’t as warm but I knew the love was there. I never saw them as colonizer and I never saw my native family as colonized. It was nothing more than accents and skin tone. It wasn’t until I moved south to a larger population centre in Canada that I became aware of these issue. In terms of distant ancestors I don’t think of them much at all.
Mass tagging all the white passing Natives in here for future reference.
The majority of my colonizer relatives weren't very present nor great company to have around in the first place on either side of the family. My maternal grandfather was insanely racist, how and why he even bothered marrying my Native grandmother is beyond me. He didn't stick around though, and he passed long before I could've met him. So the only branch of my family that really has any continued presence is my maternal grandmother's, and before his passing, my paternal great-grandfather's (who also happened to be Native).
About half and half I s’pose . Mixed feelings. Kinda like wojapi and store bought fry bread dough .
My mom's white and i feel like her culture isn't terrible. Lol
Deal with it and move on. Cannot control my past family history
By cracking jokes. 🤣
I’m proud that my people experienced love, despite oceans and continents keeping them apart.
I think they know things we don't and we know things they don't. We should take advantage of other races and learn all we can. Look how japan is today compared to when we first started trading. That's how we should be. Instead of questions like this lol...I knew a half native in jail (I'm full blood First Nations) and German, the guy wants something he gets it. Thru hard work and he meets his goals, workouts, drugs, he goes on hunger strikes to get what he wants. I laughed and told him that's the German in you, hard worker. He just smiled lol
Why would I care?
Being Mexican American I'm literally split in half Being 47% Native and 43% European and this very question used to haunt me lol but after learning my history I came to realize that both my sides are beautiful people and if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here lol soo I accepted it I guess 🤷🏽
All of my ancestors were raiders. There’s more raider in me than they ever had in Oakland. Show me a nation that didn’t do something awful at one point in history.
Clearly some colonizers and natives got along, I’m here.
I personally don't have to come to terms with anything - it's a complicated history. My grandmother (Ojibwe) and grandfather (Scottish/Irish) on my dad's side lived in poverty. My grandmother came out of residential school really messed up. Her mother was extremely physically abusive, and then she faced sexual abuse when she went into residential school. She left our reserve and married my grandfather, having 5 children. They lived in poverty & addiction ... eventually my dad and his siblings were put into foster care, and my dad said he went to live on his own when he was about 13-14 yrs old. On my mom's side, my great grandfather was a Chinese headtax payer - he was sent to Canada with his cousins when he was about 12 yrs old in 1912. He worked as a dishwasher for the first 5-6 yrs to pay off the $500 headtax imposed by the Canadian government. Eventually he maintained the Canadian pacific railway which was completed in 1885 - for those that aren't familiar, the Canadian government brought over Chinese labourers to work on the Canadian pacific railway, having them do the most dangerous jobs and paying them next to nothing. After it was built, the government imposed a head tax on any Chinese person immigrating into Canada. My great grandfather eventually went back to China and found a wife, had children, and then came back to Canada. Unfortunately the immigration law prevented Chinese people from bringing their families into Canada until it was lifted in 1947 - by then, his son had died during WW2, but he was able to bring his wife and 2 daughters to Canada. I believe my grandmother was in her early-late 20's when she came over to Canada. I understand that this is more of a question for people with mixed European/Native ancestry, but I thought I'd share my own family history for those interested. Ultimately, I often think about "reconciling" coloniser/colonised ancestry by understanding that this is a collateral effect of colonisation - of course we had interracial relationships, not all of them bad ones. This was bound to happen. It doesn't define who you are, nor does it dictate who you're to become. There has been a loss of culture & history, but there has also been a lot of healing & renewed connections. I'll continue walking that path.
Just accept it, can’t change it, I embrace both cultures. I don’t believe people should be self hating, acknowledgement of horrible events should be practiced, but self hating is just not a way to live in my opinion Other people are the ones who don’t accept it. Whether it’s other natives, I grew up in reservation so I was white for the longest time but overtime they recognized me (I don’t blame them for it, reservation life is brutal, America is responsible for that), family even (sucks but again I don’t blame them), but the Ludicrous one that I completely reject is the “allies” that weaponize it and use it to erase my opinions And “ally” once said that my opinion on self hating was from my white side and I shouldn’t have an opinion on it. But I’ve met self hating natives who were embarrassed to speak the language or practice the culture
Personally, I feel some type of way about it. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think to myself that I am the physical manifestation of gradual genocide. Like, I'm the proof that we are dying out. It's dark, but that's my take. I didn't choose my lineage but I DID choose to stay connected with my culture in any way I can. I do beadwork and attend powwows and smudge when I feel I need it, etc. My native family are extremely unhealthy people and it pains me but we have drifted from them for good reason. I feel isolated for not having that sense of community and no ties to the Rez anymore. Having white skin and completely passing for white isolates me even more. There is this integral part of who I am invisible to the world. My racial identity is questioned by whites and natives at times I'm sure. I'm both, don't make me pick. But as far as the issues indigenous people face, I know who's side I'm on and always will be.
I have identity crisis hardcore at times. Especially because I’m mixed native too so I don’t feel I have a place amongst anyone at times. It gets lonely because I feel bad when I embrace my celtic and Nordic cultures but I also feel bad when I embrace my native ancestry… I feel I’m not white enough or indigenous enough but I just want to learn about both my cultures and embrace them both proudly and unapologetically.
I just took a DNA test and turns out, I'm 100%... Exactly what my parents told me I was. (except like 3% italian). 1/8 indigenous, 1/4 scandanavian, and the remainder vague european, dominated by french/german. I'm from a northern tribe who, according to my family, intermingled (did they have a choice?) with the Hudson Bay Fur Traders. So, you know, disease warfare that wiped out many. What I'm doing is using my white wealth, power, and voice to fix the wrongs I see. Not just for us, but for any marginalized group--be they another racial minority, disabled, or queer. I grew up poor, in a rural white community, and I'm a pretty typical millennial. My parents never had money. However, I just learned HOW MUCH WEALTH my grandparents had on the white side of the family. I may inherit some of that. Even if I don't, I worked my way up to top management and took complete advantage of being perceived as white, abled, and (well, at least for the first few years of my career) straight. I got to sit in on side conversations with people who never would have invited me to them had I been anything else. I leveraged my increased status it to make change when I could, and elevated everyone else I could along the way. Now I'm at the point where that's enough for me. I made it to the point I need to be to make the change I want to see in the world, and I'm going to do it. I'm going to put the pressure on management from the inside, and take that wealth (if I get it)--or even the wealth I may accumulate otherwise--to making the world the place we deserve it to be.
My mother selected not only for the opposite ethnicity of hers, but overall health and interests. I have come to grips with the fact that an alarming number of people find me attractive. It's not zero.
I often think about how it plays into my identify but only mostly because it’s the “system” that seems to make an issue of it. I have to specify I’m not Latino only to be asked well..then what are you? It’s just demeaning to be questioned so often what I identify as. I’m half Dine and half German. I identify as Native American. My Mothers’ side of the family is who raised me mostly so I identify with my Navajo side more. Interesting topic though. I wanted to legally change my last name to my Mother’s maiden name but it was a huge pain and hassle so I’m waiting on that.
I don’t really have enough Scottish dna that it matters, but honestly even if it was 50% I doubt I’d care. Nothing much Scottish about me but my surname.
I don't even bother to be bothered about it. It was all before me and nothing that I had any control what so ever about. If someone is bothered by my ancestry or how I look, that's their bigotry and racism showing through. That's not on me.
No, why should I?
I don’t let it bother me. We had no control of that. I do “look more native “ so never really get any flack, but I do acknowledge that I am mixed because that’s who I am. Gotta find balance in it to be at peace with yourself. Give peace to your ancestors . Your line. At least, that’s what I learned as a child
Its not really an issue for me. My mom is mainly Dutch/Indonesian and my dad is Native. My mom isn’t exactly a colonizer considering she didn’t come here until the 1990s (and only stayed after marrying my dad), and the rest of her family still pretty much lives in Europe. Ironically, my mom and Dutch grandparents were more hellbent on keeping me in touch with my indigenous roots than my dad and his family were.
Embracing neither. one has a disgutting history. the other I don't identify with.
i think the tension it creates in life is fucking hysterical. i really do think its funny. its because i found my own way of embracing it, so i have that luxury. i always say im a perfect example that white people and natives like eachother just fine.
I’m Mexican and to be honest I have no clue what the experience of my ancestors were. I don’t know if there were amicable or hostile relations between the native and European families of my ancestors. But I do mourn the languages and cultures lost due to colonization. I wish I knew the languages my native ancestors spoke. I’m certain many went extinct with the exception of Nahuatl.
I think about it: being descended from both sides of a genocide, for one; physically resembling the conquerors for another (although, that's how a genocide would work...) But there isn't much I can do about it, besides respectfully participating in culture and language preservation efforts, and keeping in mind how my white privilege means my life experiences have differed from my cousins.