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Why so many white Americans claim to be native? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 day ago by choihanna@lemmy.zip to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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For some reason when I'm talking to an American from the North East and the fact that I'm mixed comes up they always say they aren't white they're actually native because his grandpa once mentioned something about a Cherokee ancestor.

It's always Cherokee, no other tribe but that one. And it's always the whitest looking person ever, straight up 6ft tall blue eyed and blond guy.

I get it, I'm mostly white too, Spanish and Slavic. But even tho I'm not mostly native American I still look native enough that people think I'm Asian.

But when your ancestry has been so diluted over the generations... You're not native. It's not just that you don't look native, it's also that you don't even participate in the culture.

Dude you're just a farm boy from Philadelphia you're probably more Amish than Cherokee, if that supposed ancestor is even real at all and not just some random claim by some of your ancestors to have a "right over these lands".

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[–] Hexarei@beehaw.org 5 points 1 day ago

My great grandmother was a Catawba, I spent a lot of time with her as a kid, and I remember her telling me about a few things. She used to make little trinkets and decorations because her grandmother taught her how, and I wish I had paid more attention because that's so cool and I hate that her knowledge died with her.

Instead, I was very little, so the only thing I actually got from her is some memories and my resilience against the sun. I'm a fairly pale lady due to being inside a lot, but I have an uncanny ability to recover from sunburn real quick, just like my mom and her mom. My wife will burn after 2-3 hours and be in pain for days but I'll be fine the next morning after the same amount of time in the sun. The burn will have already become a tan.

... But importantly, I have never used that to say I am not white, and it confuses the heck out of me that anyone does.