Tribal Status: Blood is a Definition for Identity

For most Americans of European decent or other variations of ancestry the specific amount by percentage of blood from different countries or ethnicities means absolutely nothing.  It is not uncommon for these people to claim their ancestral affiliations in the loosest and most disorganized of terms as well as often being unsure or incorrect on the details.  For most Non-Native Americans the percentages of ethnic blood or nationality don’t matter and it is not something that has any sort of impact on personal identity, social issues or issues concerning legality.  Yet Native Americans or American Indians are to this day subject to dehumanizing and animalistic classifications that early colonization has imposed upon them and that continue to be upheld within tribes because of motivating factors of greed, exclusivity and a once forced but now generally accepted European ideology.   “We must show our pedigree, much like a dog or horse” (Mitchell).  This article intends to examine what blood quantum is, the history of it, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Certificate Degree of Indian Blood, what blood quantum means today and where it stands for the future.

 “They’re just trying to see how close we are or are not to white” (Lewis)

 “Blood quantum--- in its most basic of principles, blood quantum is mathematical genocide.  It’s a concept that logistically destroys any hope for an indigenous nation to build a sustainable future.  At this rate, in two generations, if you stick to the parameters of blood quantum, you will no longer have the mathematical sum of what it takes to be an Indian” (Goldtooth).  Blood Quantum is the percentage amount of Native American blood that a person contains within their DNA based off of their personal ancestry.  “They have some arcane way of doing this by dividing the number of generations since all your ancestors were pure-blood by the number of marriages with people who aren't pure-blood” (Lewis).  This technique is used to define one’s “Indian-ness” for the purposes of obtaining enrollment within a tribal nation, for federal recognition through a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) or for federal or tribal services, supplements or services that require either or both of these forms of documentation.  Without at least one of these documents to prove the degree of blood, a person is not legally an Indian, Native American, or American Indian.  According to Red Lake Nation’s website, an “Indian” is defined as “any person who [has] one-quarter or more Indian blood quantum by heritage or an enrolled tribal member of an Indian Tribe” (Barrett).  “Some allege that the federal government applies blood quantum to eliminate its responsibilities to Indian people by legally defining Indians out of existence” (Spruhan).

 “How can someone be a quarter Native?

In other words, is one of their legs considered their only Native part?” (Walker).

 “According to the official: Half-breeds are neither white men nor Indians, as expressed in their name; and the proper treatment of them is neither defined in the regulations, nor, perhaps, established by usage.  If it is said they are not Indians, and must therefore be treated as white men, it may more plausibly be said that they are not white men, and ought therefore to be treated as Indians” (Spruhan).  Treating a person who was not white as less than human was a commonplace practice of the time from early contact to the establishment of reservations and beyond, therefore, using blood to determine how a person “ought” to be treated, for that time, seemed appropriate.  The United States government imposed the system of using blood quantum upon Native Americans for many uses.  The early English used fractional amounts of blood for purposes of inheritance, defining legal status, eligibility to testify in court proceedings, voting and interracial marriage prohibitions (Spruhan).  Congress defined Indian status in the context of the distribution of Indian property, the allotment of Indian lands, granting various benefits and monetary payments, all while applying varying rules to specific situations, utilizing the “language of blood” (Spruhan).  “Blood quantum in treaties defined entitlement to specific property or benefits, later courts used these provisions out of context to bolster their positions that mixed-bloods were or were not Indians or tribal members” (Spruhan).  This inhumane system was applied to Native Americans as a way of counting and hoping to eventually eliminate them by a culture that saw themselves as superior.

 “We are the only U.S. citizens who have to report our blood quantum” (Walker).

Not only must a Native American prove they are native by using the blood quantum system for obtaining enrollment within a tribe but also with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for similar purposes as enrolling with a tribe and to be legally recognized as Native American by the United States Government.  If a person can prove that they are Native American to the BIA by using blood quantum the government will issue that person a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood, more commonly known as a CDIB.  In order to obtain a CDIB one must show their relationship to an individual Indian listed on a census roll, tribal base roll, Indian judgment fund distribution roll that includes Indian blood degrees, or other documents prepared by the Secretary of the Interior (B.I.A.).  The BIA demands a bulk of documentation and records regarding ancestry and proof of relation that most citizens of the United States would not have access to or even know where to find it.  According to the BIA enrollment of this sort preserves the unique character, customs, traditions, language and tribal blood.  Apparently the BIA would like people to believe that defining yourself by percentages of blood is the key component in what it takes for a culture to thrive and not the people themselves.

 “A sense of pride, a sense of belonging” (Walker.)

Blood quantum is still in active use today.  It is used more by the tribes themselves than by the government to say who is and who is not Indian.  “The whole exclusion of tribal members, based solely on the fact that they maybe full [blood], but not enough from a specific tribe is a clear example of internalized oppression.  It’s a birth child of divide and conquer tactics used by colonial states.  It creates a mentality of superiority between tribes, forcing the distinction between them is a choice of politics and not a choice of culture/clan distinction” (Goldtooth).  “In 1994 twenty-one tribes had a blood requirement of more than one-fourth, 183 required one-fourth or less, and 98 had no minimum requirement.  Uniform membership requirements do not exist” (Wilson).  Some tribes are even so specifically exclusive to the point that they will not allow enrollment of a potential member because the applicant has Ojibwe blood deriving from different reservations and therefore lessening the amount of reservation specific blood.  This system has caused an abundance of tension within the Native American communities to the point that enrollment; the blood percentage itself has become a status symbol and brings about a sense of pride instead of having pride in the culture, community or traditions.  Tribal membership in some instances is something that has become political and motivated by money and financial gain.  Many people, who in traditional ways, would have been accepted as members of the tribe are being denied now because of the basic principle that the more people who are put onto the “rolls”, the less money and services there are to go around.  The aforementioned tension is disheartening and has come to a point of Native on Native hatred, oppression, violence, discrimination and ultimately leads to cultural degradation as a whole.  “City Indian, reservation Indian, country Indian…we are all the same.  Just because you grew up on the reservation doesn’t mean you have more credibility over city Indians or vice versa” (Walker).  “Basically, there are four problems with this.  One, it puts pressure on Indians not to marry white people or their children will lose their heritage, and that bothers a lot of people.  Two, it means that if some of your ancestors aren’t in the records, you can be denied being an Indian.  Three, it’s wrong for outsiders to tell you if you can or can’t belong to an ethnic group.  Nobody makes African-Americans prove their entire family line and apply for some governmental Certificate of Degree of African Blood before they can get a scholarship from the NAACP or put “Black-owned” on their business if they want to.  And four, most disturbingly: it guarantees the extinction of the American Indian.  By this standard, white is the default, and everyone is approaching whiteness. Someone who is 1/8 Indian is considered white, and that is the end of their Indianness” (Lewis).

 “This system will flounder, like a dead Nemo in a dirty fish tank” (Goldtooth).

A grim future is pushing forward for most Native American Tribes across the nation.  If blood quantum continues to be the standard for tribal enrollment than it will only be a few short years and these tribes will cease to exist.  “Estimates done in 1986 by the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment projected that by the year 2080, only 8.2 percent of the entire Native population will have 50 percent or more tribal blood.  Approximately 32.9 percent will have one-quarter to less than half Native blood, and 58.9 percent of the entire Native population will have less than one quarter blood” (Wilson).  That may sound like a lot but in reality that is approximately only two or three generations following the children that are being born now.  “Blood quantum will always be an issue.  It was created so one day we would be extinct.  I guess that day is coming quicker than we anticipated” (Walker).  It is said widely that in approximately four generations from now most of the tribes will have divided themselves out of existence.  With no one to enroll and seek membership, scholarships will disappear, government aids, programs and benefits will be pulled from the areas and families of these highly Native populated regions will suffer even greater economic disparities.  “We are facing the back wall, with not much room to move, we are gonna have to do something.  Tribal governments are [flawed] but they are all about self-preservation, and therefore they are going to have to adapt to the realities or face extinction” (Goldtooth).  This “something” that Goldtooth makes reference to is changing the requirements for enrollment.  Many tribes have thrown out the system of blood quantum entirely and have chosen to take on the approach of lineal descendency.  Lineal descendency only requires that you can prove your relationship to a member on a census that was cast at a certain time or tribal roll of a specified time.  Instead of having to prove how Native you are, you only have to prove that you are.

 “Blood quantum [is] very shortsighted and dangerous to the survival of our identity, which should be determined by more than out blood ‘pedigree’” (Wilson).

 Without significant change Native Americans are facing extinction.  This extinction will certainly not mean a total loss of culture or identity but will diminish both.  For hundreds of years Europeans have claimed the right to define Native Americans by their own set of rules and guidelines.  Blood quantum is just another way for others to come in and define who a person is and how valid their claim to their own culture really is by using numbers and percentages.  Native Americans are the only group of human beings that are subject to the dehumanizing system of Blood Quantum which is also commonly used on dogs and horses.  No person or group should have the right to define another by any standard or any rule and especially not by the system of blood quantum.

Works Cited:
Barrett , Michael. "Red Lake Net News: Tribal Code". Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.       6/15/10 <http://www.rlnn.com/main/RLTCdC1500.html>.
B.I.A. "U.S. Department of the Interior: Indian Affairs". U.S. Department of the Interior. 6/15/10            <http://www.bia.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/text/idc002653.pdf>.
Goldtooth, Dallas. Community Dakota Language Teacher. Personal Interview.  8 Feb. 2010.
Lewis, Orrin. "Measuring Blood: The American Indian Blood Quantum". Native Languages of     the Americas . 6/15/10 <http://www.native-languages.org/blood.htm>.
Mitchell, Kenn. "Blood quantum is no measure". Indian Country Today. 6/15/10 <http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/letters/39556522.html>.
Spruhan, Paul. "A Legal History of Blood Quantum in Federal Indian Law to 1935 ". Social         Science Research Network. 6/15/2010    <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=955032>.
Walker, Dalton. "Blood quantum, federal recognition and everything in between". Red Lake        Band of Chippewa Indians. 6/15/10          <http://www.rlnn.com/ArtMar07/BloodQuantumFedRecEverythingInBetween.html>.
Wilson, Waziyatawin Angela , and Yellow Bird Michael . For Indigenous Eyes Only. School of   American Research Native America, 2007.