Stop the Bleeding

love one-another

   Recently there has been a wave of media attention on Indian issues – casinos and blood quantum of course.  Starting with the Cherokee kicking the Freedmen off their roles and more recently the small gaming tribes in California dis-enrolling members based on lineage research and even DNA testing.  It has been sickening how biased the media has been due to their obvious bent against Indian gaming.  It seems like no one has any clue how to even approach these highly complex issues, mostly due to ignorance and laziness when it comes to understanding Indian sovereignty and policy, so they just report the most egregious manifestations of a long history of identity confusion and racism.  As with most “newsworthy” issues, what is debated is mostly irrelevant to the majority of those most affected.  What is telling from these discussions is how little people know about actual Indians, and what they do know is based purely on stereotypes that persist as others are challenged, and that most people still see Indians as a race of people – an ethnicity rather than as hundreds of distinct in-tact identities.

   Although race plays a role in the development of personal and group identity among Indians, as it is still indicative of heritage and ethnicity (the culture we are born into that is passed down regardless of the dominant culture).    But contrary to popular belief, blood quantum has little to do with individual tribal identity.  The blood quantum qualifier for tribal membership arose out of the unique historical relationship between Indian tribes and the U.S. government (BIA).  This is a unique relationship in the history of the U.S. because of the U.S. interest in Indian land and an actual strategy for elimination of Indian people over time.  This strategy seems to be working, although it probably took longer than they originally anticipated.  However, what people don’t know is that traditions and language and beliefs and worldviews are being passed down regardless of blood quantum or even tribal membership status.

   Often the most highly respected Indian families “married White”.  Many old-timers (not all) did not consider the future of tribal identity to be threatened by inter-marriage, and sometimes considered "marrying up”, potentially helping the family to cycle out of poverty. On the cultural level, being educated in white schools created a cultural and physical connection between Indians and Whites.  Ironically those who were in the best positions to marry Whites were often prestigious culture bearers in the Yurok world.   One hears of certain culture bearer families from the early part of the century, but their descendants are far flung. My family is spread out all over California and has married non-Yurok for three or four generations.  I am one of the few who has returned to the reservation to find that those who are now cultural leaders are often ineligible for tribal membership and conversely many tribal members living on or near the reservation have not had their traditions and culture passed down.

   In many cases those who were the most poor and destitute at the turn of the 20^th century have the closest ties to the ancestral lands as they never had the opportunity to move away.  The tension this creates is rarely discussed as it brings up a whole lot of pain and animosity.  Those who leave or make it out are labeled sell-outs, and those who stay are often so enmeshed in poverty they have not the resources to keep expensive traditions alive.  To boot many of those who have lived in poverty have turned to a life of substance abuse and violence.  There is almost always conflict and tension between those who make it out and those who don’t, which manifests itself in ironic live dramas in arenas like ceremonial grounds, cultural committees and council meetings. 

    I see this tension play out within my very own family.  I was raised away from the reservation by my White mom.  My father remarried a Yurok woman and they and their four kids toughed it out on or near the reservation. There are varied dramas, rifts, and sometimes gulfs among us siblings, but when it comes down to it we all intuitively understand that we were not in control of our own destiny when we were children, let alone choosing our parents.  That is what we can learn from each other.  The other thing we have discovered is that we can share our experiences and mutually benefit when resentments and envy are put aside.  Unfortunately the way it panned out we aren’t all one big happy family.  We are a series of loyalties and rifts, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.  There are a few bonds however, notably between us brothers, where our exchange is mutually beneficial.  We discover that we have more in common than it would seem – our lives, although different, we're formed from the same cloth.  We understand poverty and racism well.    

   Regardless of the past the blood is still spilling.  Even before contact with Whites Yurok did not marry strictly Yurok.  There was no concept of tribal nationhood – it was a village system, and nations were distinguished mainly by language and subtle cultural differences.  I have heard that traditionally the farther away one’s mate from the village, the more status the marriage would have, which makes sense considering wise laws against inbreeding.  It is simply wired in us to expand our gene pools, and we need to stop beating ourselves up over it and ask, who or what does it benefit to keep the races distinct?  There is no possible way to stop the mixing of races in this country, and only once we recognize that fact we can save our traditions. 

   The critical question is, will our traditions and beliefs fade out with the race?  With this in mind I have drafted a proposal for a Yurok Tribal Membership system, which we are going to need unless we lower the blood quantum requirements each generation.  If we continue to use race as a measure of Yurok identity, soon there will be nothing distinctly Yurok about the Yurok Tribe.  Thoughts and criticisms welcomed.

Josh’s Yurok Tribal Membership Plan

Reservation Membership

Requirements:

1.   Must be able to prove direct lineage through a family line back to an original enrollee

2.   Must live on the reservation

4.  Must not be a member of another tribe or nation

 Membership includes:  commercial/subsistence fishing rights, harvesting and gathering rights, Tribal trust land rights, social services and education/scholarships, housing/infrastructure, district/at large voting rights, annual meeting voting rights newsletter/educational media, tribal member discounts

Local Membership

Requirements:

1.   Must be able to prove direct lineage through a family line back to an original enrollee

2.   Must live within a 60 mile radius of reservation boundary

3.  Basic knowledge of Yurok culture and history

4.  Must not be a member of another tribe or nation

Membership includes:  subsistence fishing rights, harvesting and gathering rights, Tribal trust land rights, social services and education/scholarships, housing, district/at large voting rights, annual meeting voting rights, newsletter/educational media, tribal member discounts

BIA Membership (MAY ALSO BE RESERVATION OR LOCAL MEMBER)

UIHS benefits, HUD benefits, JOM, Title VII, annual meeting vote, Tribal trust land rights, vote for at large council seat, newsletter, may assist Local or Reservation member in subsistence/commercial fishing, tribal member discounts

1.  Must be 1/8 degree Yurok

Descendent level:

Requirements

1.   Must be able to prove direct lineage through a family line back to an original Yurok enrollee

2.  Basic Knowledge of Yurok culture and history

3.  Must vote in at least one election

Membership includes: Newsletter/educational media, at large voting rights, annual meeting voting rights, member discounts

Spousal Membership:

Requirements:

1.  Must be married legally or traditionally to a Reservation, Local, or BIA level member.

2.  Must live on the Reservation or Locally.

3.  Must have an above average knowledge of Yurok Culture and history.

Membership Includes:  Subsistence fishing rights, limited harvesting and gathering rights, Newsletter/educational media, at-large voting rights, annual meeting voting rights, member discounts

Non-Indian membership:

Requirements

1. 60$/year

2. Basic knowledge of Yurok culture and history

Membership Includes:  Newsletter/educational media, member discounts

Non-Indian honorary member:

1.  Must perform a direct service to Yurok tribal members (excluding personal relations)

2.  Must have an above average knowledge of Yurok culture and history

3.  Must be “cool”

Membership includes:   Warm fuzzy feeling, immunity from getting jacked up or run over