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Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,649
Registered: ‎06-20-2010

DO YOU OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ANCESTRY???

Do you openly acknowledge who  you are???? I am Wolfclan Cherokee....HOWEVER....I grew up in a time that is was taboo to voice that I was Native American.....It was enough hardship if you said you  were Black, but so not stated if you came from Native American blood....You sure did not tell if you were Black and Native American mixed...

I am so glad that I can now hold on to where I came from, and aknowledge who I am...Anyone here, who has ever seen me around, knows that I am Wolfclan Cherokee...I am glad that I can state this fact now, without being an outcast.....I now embrace my heritage...NOT hide it....

Definition of a Native American Indian... I am a green-eyed redhead so no one believes me when I tell them my grandpa was full-blood. It doesn't change who I am.

People will say....."what % of Indian are you??"

Are you going to try to get into the money from casinos???? Does % matter, and I do see money going back into the reservation, so....NO.....I will not collect on the casino's....The money needs to remain on the Cherokee lands....

Are you proud to say who you are, or do you hide who you are???????

I know of some that denounce their heritage, regardless of race, religion, or national orgin...Where do you sit???

The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf.......
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,709
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: DO YOU OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ANCESTRY???

Yes, I do openly acknowledge my ancestry but I never had any reason to  to deny my heritage growing up where and when I did.  That is both a blessing and a loss.

 

It deeply pains me that there are so many that did/do have to hide who they are.

 

This is very shallow but when I read "You sure did not tell if you were Black and Native American mixed..." my first thought was that you must be stunning.

 

The eyes through which you see others may be the same as how they see you.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,504
Registered: ‎05-23-2010

Re: DO YOU OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ANCESTRY???

I have never hidden, nor had a reason to hide, my ancestry. My maternal grandmother, however, who was prejudiced against anyone not just like her, hid the fact that her mother was 1/2 or more Cherokee from my mother, who only learned it after her mother had died and she was told by an aunt. As far as I'm aware, my grandmother was the only one in the family it bothered. My mother and I, once we both knew, have been very proud of the fact.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all
Valued Contributor
Posts: 619
Registered: ‎07-08-2010

Re: DO YOU OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ANCESTRY???

As soon as people see my last name, they know it's Italian.  Once in a while I'm asked if I'm Italian, and I say yes.  Sometimes I'm asked if I'm Spanish.  I guess we Italians and Spaniards share similar Mediterranean features; the languages are very similar, so I guess the looks go along with it!  

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,042
Registered: ‎04-30-2012

Re: DO YOU OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ANCESTRY???

I am German and Austrian

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,153
Registered: ‎05-04-2015

Re: DO YOU OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ANCESTRY???

I used to ask my mother and grandmother, "What are we?"  They would always tell me that we were "Dukes Mixture".  What?  Well, you have some of every nationality.  We are Irish, Scandinavian, Scottish, Cherokee, Mexican, and African.  Those are just the ones we know of.  Well, growing up I always wanted to be full blood something.  

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 30,238
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: DO YOU OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ANCESTRY???

My great-grandmother (my grandmother raised me, that  was her mother) was a full Cherokee Indian, on my Father's side.  On my Mother's side her parents were Scotch/Irish.  So a good part of me isn't an immigrant.  Of that I am proud that I am a true part of this country.  My husband's family heritage was traced back to the 1500's, British.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,408
Registered: ‎01-27-2014

Re: DO YOU OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ANCESTRY???

No one should ever feel uncomfortable acknowledging their ancestry. It makes no difference what it is. Frankly, I don't understand the fascination with ancestry. Your life right now is what matters.....and what you choose to do with it and how you choose to "be" in this life.  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 41,469
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Re: DO YOU OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ANCESTRY???

To be honest, I don't know all my heritage and some details will never be known as my entire side of Pa's family is gone - there went the knowledge of the Native American side.  Grandma didn't talk about it much - hard times and she and her sister were split and adopted out.  Grandma didn't get the best hand in the deal and didn't get to see her sister much at all on life.  

 

I have natural red hair, that could also be some of the Irish I think was mixed on Pa's side of the family.

 

Kashubian on Ma's side.  Didn't quite fit it with the Poles in the neighborhood.  Identified more with the Germans, lol.

 

I remember I used to work with a guy who loved to try to bait me with a race card when we were out smoking in the courtyard at work.  I looked at him and said, I need you to get on a slow boat to wherever you came from and feel free to take these white people with you.  Mind you I give new meaning to the word pale and there I am with flame red hair saying this.  

 

I said, my people were here first and got the raw end of the deal when the setllers came so I wish all y'all would go.

 

We ended up getting along like a house on fire after that.  Crazy is univeral, he he he.

There are many elements: wind, fire, water
But none quite like the element of surprise
Honored Contributor
Posts: 32,486
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: DO YOU OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ANCESTRY???

I certainly did try to cover up my ancestry 40 years ago to keep college classmates from finding out I was a hillbilly from a very very poor white town out in the sticks.  I also covered that up to get and keep a good job.

 

A LOT of people are discriminated against for more than race. Age, weight, where they were raised, how they speak (their accent), etc.  The shame is that we seem to be going backwards in leaps and bounds now in seeing people as just people---for who they personally are.

 

It makes me sick.