The black-Indian connection
More Blacks Are Exploring the African-American/Native American ConnectionAbout 15 years ago, a group of blacks attending the Silver Star Pow Wow in California decided to go out into the circle and dance together in an intertribal dance. Almost immediately, they felt a bond, said Don Little Cloud Davenport, leader of the Black Native American Association.
“There was something special about that moment,” Davenport told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “We are under the philosophy that you can’t be a whole person unless we acknowledge all that we are.”
William Loren Katz, author of Black Indians and a nationally noted expert on the subject, estimates the number of blacks with Native American ancestry to be 90 to 95 percent of blacks in America. You can see the features in blacks from Michael Jackson and Lena Horne to LL Cool J and Frederick Douglass, he told BlackAmericaWeb.com. 
“There was something special about that moment,” Davenport told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “We are under the philosophy that you can’t be a whole person unless we acknowledge all that we are.”
William Loren Katz, author of Black Indians and a nationally noted expert on the subject, estimates the number of blacks with Native American ancestry to be 90 to 95 percent of blacks in America. You can see the features in blacks from Michael Jackson and Lena Horne to LL Cool J and Frederick Douglass, he told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
posted by Rob at 2:58 AM
6 Comments:
"You can see the features in blacks from Michael Jackson..."
I'm not sure what this pale noseless freak resembles anymore, but I suspect it is not a human species. Whatever his ethnic heritage was, Jackson despised it enough to order all traces removed of it.
Now, now. Let's not take too many cheap shots at Jackson's expense. Hasn't he suffered enough?
...all of it self-inflicted.
No, Rob, Michael Jackson hasn't suffered enough. He's a sick man who has refused help. And, though legally unproven, he's predatory around children.
And that photo of him you posted is enough to give me nightmares....
Writerfella here --
Principally, it was the 'Five Civilized Tribes' that kept Black slaves and intermixed themselves with Caucasians, and now in modern times are having to deal with the 'Freedmen' and whites among their numbers.
Herwith, the text of a newspaper item from Oct. 9, 2006:
"Indian Blood Requirement Election Called."
Tahlequah, OK. -- Members of the Cherokee Nation will vote on Feb. 10 to determine whether non-Indians should be excluded from tribal membership, Principal Chief Chad Smith decided Friday.
His decision came one day after the Supremem Court of the Cherokee Nation determined that a citizens' petition requiring that tribal members have Indian ancestry has enough signatures to go to a vote of the people. Historical tribal rolls, which include some non-Indians (read: Freedmen and whites -RLB), now determine membership.
The Cherokee Nation has more than 250,000 citizens.
"The people have spoken clearly, demanding the right to decide this Constitutional issue for themselves," Smith said. "Some of them believe that you should have to be Indian to be in an Indian tribe.
"Others think that we should have a policy that allows descendants of non-Indians who were affiliated with our tribe in the past to have citizenship. Regardless, this is obviously an issue that demands the attention of Cherokee voters."
In March, the Cherokee Nation's highest court reversed a previous decision and ruled that the Cherokee Nation's Constitution allowed citizenship for non-Indian descendants who were listed on the tribe's historical rolls. (NOTE: the decision that was reversed concerned the Freedmen and white 'Cherokees,' who were to be excluded from tribal rights and privileges.)
What is the old statement about hindsight's visual acuity? Seems that the Cherokees made their Trail of Tears but now do not want to lay on it.
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
What's the percent threshold for Cherokee membership now?
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