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December 19, 2003
On the Pueblo / In the Jungle
We all know what the term "blood quantum" means, right?
Lucky, ignint mother fucker if you don't.
By way of the invaluable Indianz.com, which I only read when I'm in a good mood because I just know some shit there gonna piss me off, Isleta Demands Proof of Heritage:
Update: S'funny, ain't get the subscriber redirect when I hit it. . . go to Indianz.com > News > Elders have until New Year to prove they are Indian and hit the link there if you're having trouble getting in.
ISLETA PUEBLO— Lupita Abeita was born in a one-room adobe house in the middle of the pueblo in 1914.She grew up speaking Tiwa and cooking beans and red chile for the feast day of St. Augustine each September. Before he died in 1998, her older brother, Joe M. Abeita, was the leader of the pueblo's religious rituals.
So imagine Lupita Abeita's surprise when she received a typed letter on official Pueblo of Isleta stationery this week, telling her the tribe had questions about whether she was a legitimate member— and that her $2,000 Christmas-time payment from the tribe would be held until she could prove her Isleta heritage.
"She said, 'If they don't recognize me as a child of the pueblo, who am I? What am I supposed to do?' '' said her daughter, Juana Jiron.
Abeita is not the only elder to have her identity as a tribal member questioned this week. Her surviving brother, Joe D. Abeita, also received a letter.
In all, according to a member of the Isleta Tribal Council, 132 of the approximately 2,800 people listed as tribal members got letters notifying them that the pueblo was reviewing its membership rolls and that they would have until Jan. 2 to prove they are at least half Isleta in order to continue to be considered tribal members.
[. . .] Many tribes in New Mexico and elsewhere use a one-quarter blood standard to determine tribal membership. The Isleta constitution says an Isleta tribal member must have at least one-half Isleta lineage. There is also a provision for adoption or naturalization, Teller-Velardez said.
U.S. Census data shows the pueblo's total population as 3,166. About 84 percent of pueblo residents— 2,675— identified themselves as American Indian with no other race. Another 181 people identified themselves as American Indian, but bi- or multi-racial.
About 300 pueblo residents said they were black, white or other races.
Luckily, I'm fairly certain it's a group of helpful white (not mixed, just white. And mixed-up) folks fighting against any sort of blood quantum tribal membership stuff, for no other reason than because they're evil and must be destroyed.
Sorry, because they believe we're all one race, the human race, and giving any sorts of benefits to mud people the lesser races indigenous people only creates divisiveness and resentment.
And shit.
Oddly, they usually also champion the rights of indigenous people in, say, Iraq or Tibet. Or Nicaragua. The Miskito had all kinds of helpful conservative white folk in their corner.
When it was politically convenient, anyway. From that previous link:
Nicaragua village in grip of madnessA team of doctors, psychiatrists, and anthropologists have reached a remote Miskito community in the jungles of northern Nicaragua where 60 people are suffering from a mysterious "collective madness".
The outbreak of the malady, known as grisi siknis in the local Miskut language, began in the Raiti community near the Honduran border a month ago. Seven cases were reported in neighbouring Namahka last week, where one 15-year-old girl is said to have died.
Other cases have appeared in three other nearby communities.
In all cases, the patients have the same symptoms: long periods of coma-like unconsciousness, interrupted by sudden bouts of frenzied behaviour.
During the attacks, sufferers attempt to flee their communities with their eyes closed, seizing any weapon they can find with which they appear to try to defend themselves against invisible attackers.
According to local press reports, they have extraordinary strength and often four people are required to restrain them.
Moral of the story: Never take help from conservative white folks. The gods see right through that shit, and payback's a bitch.
Posted by Aaron at December 19, 2003 08:47 AM
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