Originally Posted by Furiously-Fancy

You meant to post.......they're still not Indian as well.


This is true.


So who's more tolerable.....
A. someone who's adopted in?
B. a hobbiest?
C. a real Indian who is racist?

Originally Posted by Furiously-Fancy

This should be the last post in this thread.

Originally Posted by Furiously-Fancy

If a pow-wow committee can't find a decent headstaff.......they have no business try'n to have a pow-wow.
This should be the last post in this thread.

Originally Posted by Lil Stinker

The thing about extinction in what was quoted - 50 years. 200 years?

This could only happen if you are now 50/50 and you married a %100 non-indian. Your children would be 1/4. In all probabilities, they would marry non. That would make your g-child 1/8. This would most likely carry on for whenever. Is this the reason that Zeke insists that culture is the only thing? Otherwise, extinction is imminent? I'm just doing the math, like he says.

Originally Posted by Lil Stinker

Zeke are you a 50/50 indian married to a non-Indian?

I'm just trying to understand where you are coming from here. If you are a in that category, I can more understand your feelings on this subject. Give us a clue. You seem to be worried about your offspring and their offspring that they may lose something in the future.

Protecting our Indianess is a true concern to everyone. It is to you, suuzeq, myself and many others.

Loss of blood, mathematically speaking is a real concern. I've met people who no-one would guess are native and also those who are unmistakenably Indian. Doesn't really matter to me.
Indian clothes don't make one Indian, but thanks to those people who went underground to protect the language and ceremonies, there are still many people on the reservations who are able to keep these things safe. Yes, many do wear their tradish outfits to these ceremonies and conduct them in the language.
You seem to have a dislike for these folks who, mostly, are very poor and behind the times. Why is that?
I am not trying to accuse you of discrimination against reservation Indians, but some of your words indicate that you lean that way.
Help us out.

Originally Posted by SuzzeQ4

Hey you changed your pic!
anyway like I've said before, I'm mixed too (half Lakota, half French), I definatly looked mixed (cause I am) & I think most of our people realize we don't all look so hollywood, we all know someone who is lighter skinned, One of my own children (also half ) is blond.
So yep I know full well that some of us are light some of us are dark, some of us have cards & some of us don't, but if we're born NDN then we are NDN regardless of cards & colour; if someone wasn't born NDN then there not right? Not really sure why this concept is so hard for Zeke to understand, or what the problem is. So I'd like to see the discussion move on a bit, I believe it started out about a non-NDN head dancer, so lets pertend that we are all clear that we mean non-NDN as someone who is not NDN, as in they were not born to an NDN family. And lets assume (as this discussion has made clear; over & over) that we are all aware that some who are born NDN are not dark & some don't got thier cards but they are still NDN.

I think a head dancer (or anyone in regalia) should be NDN, and that a head dancer should also know the teachings, the dances, whats expected in the dance circle and I think they should also be a nice person, respected by the community, personally this represents almost every head dancer I've ever known.

Or maybe I'm off here because some people think that anyone who wants to be NDN is NDN??? Well I'm sure someone will tell me if this is thier definition of NDN; But it sure isn't mine !
Suzze

Originally Posted by Zeke

Have you seen any white Africans lately? OF COURSE. South Africa, for example, is filled with tons of them. Skin color doesn't matter -- eradicating a short-sighted argument -- and neither does anything beyond the furthering of the culture. Not liking where that culture goes is the problem of those that do not adapt, not those at the fore. The only folks who would be upset with you running an African event would be those whose profession, or social identity, is, SADLY, tied to their own useless identification of race.

Originally Posted by sokoki_wolf

culture is one factor but one only, in determining who is and isnt indian or any other ethnic group...knowing one's tribal and personal family history is also one...

Originally Posted by SuzzeQ4

So well said!!!

Also the point about the arts is a good point, OUR people wanted that, for OUR own good. Why? because if it didn't matter then we'd be buying all our trad stuff from the dollar store, right next to the dream catchers they sell there!!

Suzze

Originally Posted by Zeke

I would say that they are not intrinsically qualified to be a Head Dancer, which is what the original query was about. It is FAR more important to HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE then to be curtailed by some personally-defined bar set forth by those holding onto the only thing they have left: which will, eventually, be <1/256 of race/blood status.

I find this to be short-sighted to the extreme. Ignorance. NOT strategic.

Do you know why the United States went away from the Gold Standard? Because there wasn't enough cash in circulation and the maintaining of such an arbitrary mark was hurting, not helping, the strength of our currency.

"Do the math."

It HAS to be based on culture or we wind up marginalized, in factions, eating cheese, uneducated, living in backwater locations that nobody else desires, with a washing machine rusting away in the front lawn, thinking this is the GOOD LIFE because we've remained true to some isolationist ideal that was foisted upon us by the Federal government to BEGIN with!

Try throwing off the yoke...

Originally Posted by SuzzeQ4

So well said!!!

Also the point about the arts is a good point, OUR people wanted that, for OUR own good. Why? because if it didn't matter then we'd be buying all our trad stuff from the dollar store, right next to the dream catchers they sell there!!

Suzze