LES PEAUX-ROUGES ONT, EUX AUSSI, DES PROBLEMES D'IDENTITE

American Indians Object to “Loss of Identity”

American Indians are increasingly concerned that assimilation is causing them to lose their unique identity and will result in their disappearance according to a number of US news sources.

“Does intermarriage threaten Native American culture?” is the headline of an article in The Oregonian newspaper from the state of Oregon.

According to that paper, American Indians fear that “continued assimilation will relegate Native American culture to history books.”

The article quotes an American Indian, Marcus Luke, as saying that, “We are not just like everybody else. My blood comes from this land; my religion comes from this land.”

He says that he is encouraging his son, Aaron, to seek a Native American spouse when he grows up.

Intermarriage has become so rampant, says Mr Luke, that Natives are in danger of losing their culture.

“It’s a touchy issue. It’s tough, really tough,” Mr Luke, who lives near the Umatilla Indian Reservation, was quoted as saying.

“Too much assimilation is what it comes down to. My son is half Native American and half Caucasian. Which way does he go?”

According to The Oregonian, Mr Luke is among many Native Americans across the nation grappling with thorny issues of identity, culture and tribal resources as more among them marry outside tribe and race.

“For both individuals and tribes, questions surrounding intermarriage strike at the heart of what it means to be a Native American,” the paper continued.

The article goes on to reveal that American Indians define who they are by their racial ancestry. “Just how much ‘blood quantum’ — a term US officials coined in the 19th century — does it take to be considered a Native American?” the paper asked.

“And where do tribes set the bar for enrollment? If they set it too high, they risk shutting out members and dwindling into oblivion; too low, and they spread resources too thin or render their identity meaningless. The proliferation of casinos has raised the financial stakes.”

The article goes on to quote Gary Garrison, a US Bureau of Indian Affairs spokesman in Washington, DC, to say that if current assimilation levels continue, “within a century . . . ‘marrying out’” will leave “tribal members with little resemblance to their forebears and little reason to call themselves Natives.”

The paper goes on to quote a number of American Indians who agree. Brooklyn D. Baptiste, vice chairman of the tribal government at Idaho’s Nez Perce Reservation, is quoted as saying: “We do need to let the people know, ‘If you continue on this way, there will be a sunset to our tribe, maybe in 70 or 80 years,’” he says. “What is the point of fighting for all these treaty rights if there is nobody left to exercise them?”

According to the paper, at the Nez Perce Reservation, members of the tribe must be one-quarter Nez Perce to qualify for enrolment.

That has excluded about 200 young residents from the tribe’s enrolment of about 3,400. “They live the same lifestyle, in the same community, have the same needs, but without a tribal card,” Mr Baptiste said. “And without tribal hunting and fishing privileges, they can’t carry on a tradition of providing food for elderly grandparents.”

The British National Party wholeheartedly endorses the right of the American Indians to retain their own identity and decries the loss of that diversity.

It is the same right that the BNP demands for the indigenous inhabitants of Britain, and which is enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

(www.bnp.org.uk) """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""