If native communities uphold strict blood quantum rules, it is inevitable that enrollment numbers will decline and tribal communities will no longer be viable as sovereign nations. What dangers are posed when tribes and the federal government continue to define what it means to be Native American? Does any other ethnicity have to enroll to be a member of their own ethnicity? Do you have to enroll to be White? African American? Natives have to carry a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB, issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs). In order to federally be considered native, you have to be enrolled. It is almost as if this erasure was premeditated by the government.Īlso, unlike any other ethnic group, Native Americans have to continuously prove their identity. Blood Quantum policies are little other than genocidal and will eventually lead to the extinction of indigenous people.įor example, if the blood quantum limit is set at ¼ in tribal enrollment, and intermarriage proceeds, natives will eventually be defined out of existence. Over 90 million of the 138 million acres originally designated as Indian territory were lost, and thousands of AIs (American Indians) were displaced.”īlood Quantum, as a way to ascribe Native American membership, has dire consequences. “Surplus” reservation land was then open to homesteaders and corporations for purchase, creating patchwork quilt-like reservations with both American Indian and non-American Indian landholdings. Due to the blood quantum qualification, many people were ineligible, thereby effectively reducing the Indian holding of land. Reservation-bound male heads of households received allotments, though in many cases a 1/4 American Indian blood quantum was used to determine who was eligible for an allotment of land. The allotment period is best described here by the University of New Mexico, “During the allotment period between 18, the term “blood quantum” was officially integrated into the legal status of native identity for the purpose of dividing reservation land into individual allotments. However, tribes were granted the authority/ability to create their own enrollment qualifications after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.īlood quantum, as a way to define native identity, was first seen during the allotment period between 18. The blood quantum policy was first implemented by the federal government within tribes to limit native citizenship. This measurement can affect a person’s tribal identity and ability to become a federal member. The amount a person has is measured in fractions, such as ¼ or ½. Blood Quantum is a strategy used by the government and tribes to authenticate the amount of “Native blood” a person has by tracing individual and group ancestry.
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