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Hi,
I want to first say that I truly enjoy reading through your site. It is nice for someone like me, who is not on the roll, to be able to be somehow connected with my people. I was raised to believe that I am Chippewa. My father's family is from the Red Lake band and my family still visits the reservation regularly but they do not live on the reservation. My grandmothers brother Olaf was the last of us to live there I believe and he died in the 90's. I spent my entire life thinking that I belonged to Red Lake. I never thought of myself as anything but Chippewa and I even have been studying the language. Yet, it is so sad to me that I can not be considered one of you because my mother is white with a little Shoshone. Apparently, my fathers father was diluted too but his parents were from the res and its all so confusing. I read alot where people complain about the racist white men in America. I am so inclined to agree! However, what about the racists Indians that turn there back on those of us who aren't 100% pure but have the ancestry. Im not talking about those blonde rednecks in Texas who say they are Cherokee because they have a drop of blood in them from five generations ago. (They accept anyone in there tribe to beef the numbers) Im talking about my Aunts, Uncles, Grandmother, Father all are connected deeply with the tribe, ALL ,members. Hell, my father has had the tribal council involved with things like custody disputes with my mother over my younger sister! If the tribal council can tell the police in another state that they have to release my sister to my father because she is "one of there's" why cant I visit the res and be a part of my people? I was last there in the 80's. My great grandmother died. We attended the funeral. That was the last time there because my Mother and I had such a poor treatment. We were called racial slurs and treated badly my parents claimed but I was too young to remember much. I have been told numerous times by my Grandmother not to go to the res when I told her that I really wanted to visit. She says that I am not considered one of you and that I cant go. Her daughter, my aunt, has a WHITE father and she is on the roll and receives all sorts of acceptance! My grandpa (by marriage not blood) is a white Midwestern boy who is whiter than white. Why is this? I feel that I everything I ever identified with in my life was a hoax. I feel that I am one of you but I cant LEGALLY be recognized as one. Why is the Red Lake band in particular so hard about this? Other tribes require much less blood than I have to be considered one of them legally. If you were smart you would want to include "mutts" like me to strengthen the numbers too. We are truly beautiful people, the Ojibwe. We are strong, resilient, and proud. We are rebels, we don't bow down to society or the government. It makes me proud. Is there ever a chance that I will be accepted, will the policies ever change? Or will the racism continue forever? If anyone has a thought about this please feel free to write me back at wemusgrow@comcast.net.
Thanks,
The invisible woman
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