Can one reclaim their Indianness?

iight so your girl is fuckin up as usual. So aside from me having feelings of depression and inadequacy about finding a job and this new guy (that i prob scared off cuz i am too damn clingy) i would say that my personal life is def. going in the opposite direction than planned. None the less aside from all that I use reading as a means of trying to get my mind off of the stuff that bugs me.

So currently i am reading Spirit and Resistance by George E. Tinker. This book looks at the concept of Indianness and how europeans have been the ones to define what it means to be Indian. During my final semester at New Paltz I took a course called Indians of North America and we never discussed the concept of Indianness and how one defines themselves. Well let me take that back we did but we did it from the colonizers perspective and not the perspective of those anthropology has termed the "other" Anywho so I am reading a few chapters of the book that i had photocopied. Reading this book (alongside God is Red) is my attempt to make parallels between Native Americans experience with europeans to African peoples experiences with europeans.

One issue that I have with Tinker is his response to someone who is of mixed blood (those individuals of Native American and european descent who have been denied their right to know their heritage in some instances) None the less the issue here with mixed bloods is that they are the ones who are reaping all the benefits from reclaiming their heritage that should be entitled to those Native American people who are most effected by the United States governments racists laws.

In Tinkers response to a mixed blood he states essentially that it is a lost cause for there to be a reconnection of ones Native Am. heritage being that they have been immersed in european culture for such a long time that it becomes 2nd nature. I find this point of information interesting being that couldnt the same be said for people of African descent. It is obvious that europeans are the ones running things (and you cant disagree esp if you look at the major institutions and who is in control of them). Lets not be confused with the idea that euros are only controlling politics and economics but they are in control of culture (essentially if they are controlling how a people govern themselves and sustain their communities they def are controlling their culture...its all connected).

Anywho so people of color (African ppl throughout the diaspora in particular) are trying to emulate their colonizers in all aspects of their lives...you name it relationships, how we run our communities, how we define success, being individualistic....etc. These are all actions that are alien to us and unnatural and because we are diverting so far away from who we are culturally we are essentially killing ourselves spiritually and mentally. So being that we are immersed in European culture so much would we be unable to go back and reclaim our past (sankofa) the same can be said for African people of mixed heritage...does this mean that because they are immersed in european culture so much they are unable to reclaim their past?

I ask this being that I am grappling with Tinkers opinion. There are different things at stake when we talk about Native Am and Africans. There are cultural differences but i dont think that they are that far apart.

I think in denying mixed bloods the ability to reclaim their past can be damaging to themselves and the Indian community. I do understand that there are those who are calling themselves native am. only to reap the benefits and that can def. be a major reason to the hesitancy and dismissal of Tinker...I am not quite prepared to answer this issue as of yet but it is a factor that i do take into consideration.

Okay so this is the most that i have written and i think I am kinda burnt out but there will be more tomorrow stay tuned as i attempt to share the knowledge i gain with the masses....

Keep being critical folks...later days...