I suppose it’s similar to people here claiming to be Celtic etc. It’s largely notional but for the most part harmless.
I think that’s why it bothers me. I think in the case of blacks claiming NA great grandparents, it may not be harmless. I think some self hate action is going down.
My grandmother was adopted after her mother died in childbirth or shortly thereafter. We never really had a good idea of our heritage. She liked the idea of being French so she just told everyone we were. She went by “grandmere” to all the grandchildren. Someone found out later that there’s no French blood in our family. None of this explains why my dad looked a bit like a Puerto Rican hitman in his youth.
I agree with this. Living in Canada I’ve found that there are a lot (lots and lots) of people who do have legitimate Aboriginal heritage (in Canada it’s “Aboriginal” rather than “Native American”). Eg/ A co-worker who had only one white parent and she grew up on a reservation, and my fiancee who has a great grandparent from a First Nations community. It’s no big deal, a lot of people here are of mixed heritage.
But I think the OP is referring to people who try to make their heritage seem more exotic, and “extra special”, with vague references to a relative of a relative. It’s one thing to have an old black and white photo of a Métis woman and say “This is my great grandma” and another to say: “My great grandmother, that nobody remembers, was the decendant of a Cherokee chief’s daughter. But there’s no proof because everyone tried to cover it up!”
Personally, I’m more curious as to why people do this. It kind of implies a dissatisfaction with your true heritage. I’m a mutt. I think that’s cool enough.
So what? My point is that just about anyone can plausibly claim to be descended from someone or something “special”. You have not in any way counter-argued.
I’m sure my paternal grandfather was part Native American. I’m also like 1/16th Ninja. And at least 1/8 robot. So that would make me a Ninja Indian Robot American. I totally need to build a casino.
Along with long, curly molar roots which make extraction difficult and painful.:smack:
I also look white as white, but I do have documented NA blood on both sides of the family. Cherokee (my great-great grandfather was a minor chief–died on the Trail of Tears) and Seminole. I think that’s neat. But I also think it’s neat that I have Norwegian, English, Irish, German and others that I may not know about. I embrace all my ancestry, and wish I knew all their stories. It’s nice to be able to say something besides “generic European descent,” IMHO.
And frankly, considering how many generations have been born since your generic European ancestors came to the Americas, it’s really not surprising that there are so many people with NA ancestry. And Cherokee being so popular? Well, when you consider how many parts of the US the Cherokee tribe ended up being scattered to during the whole Trail of Tears thing, that’s not really so unbelievable, either.
What, no cowboy?
Yeah, but your kid is going to be something like a 7-cultures kid, the way you guys move 
so anything that sounds like “a root” is of interest.
Your story reminds me of the way my classmates (whose families, being less Basque than my paternal side, weren’t so much into genealogy) used to go 
when I pointed out their Basque lastnames (1). Those names were their link to the land, they said their family had been living there since before Roman times.
I agree with several posters that people clinging to one particular itty bit of their ancestry because they think it’s cooler than other parts are sad. Knowing about it and looking at it as a curious bit of trivia or as something that “roots” you into your homeland, though, I think that’s good.
1: this was before the independentists managed to drill it into people’s heads that you can’t be Basque, Navarrese and Spanish at the same time, let’s not go there but please note that nowadays many Navarrese or non-independentist folk from Euskadi are likely to have the opposite reaction, sadly.
That’s funny - you don’t look Robot.
I do not claim aboriginal or native heritage of any kind. Go, me.
Don’t you qualify for some kinds of gubmint assistance if you can demonstrate 1/8 or more NA ancestry?
Mine date from the early 1600s, but the family killed NAs, they didn’t fuck them. The family was too poor to own slaves, as far as our researching can tell. I would no more claim NA ancestry than I would claim the throne of Romania. People who do make such specious claims annoy the snot out of me.
I’ve has several co-workers tell me the same thing.
I always reply:
“Why, that would mean that her father was THE KING OF THE INDIANS!”
I have no idea bout the U.S., but in Canada “Status Indians” are entitled to certain treaty rights and payments that are not available to other citizens, including tax exemptions and free college/university. Qualifying for “status” can be confusing and the rules have been amended over the last 20 years or so (it used to be that if a native woman married awhite dude, she would lose her status) to update some silly arcane rules.
(Note: In Canada “Aboriginal” is the collective term for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. “Indian” refers specifically to First Nations peoples and it has been kept mostly because it’s entrenched in long-standing legislation and treaties.)
I think although I’m not sure, that you can have status if you have one Indian grandparent, but subsequen generations can lose status. Eg/ A child with one status and one non-status parent will maintain status. But if that child has kids with someone non-status, then that generation no longer has status… or some such thing.
There are some social issues, stigmas etc. that sometimes accompany being a “Status Indian” vs. a “Non-Status Indian”.
Meanwhile… Aboriginal communities have their own system for determining who is a member of the band and who isn’t. So you can be accepted as an Indian by your community (through heritage, marriage, or adoption), while not being recognized as an Indian by the government of Canada. So you can still have a legitimate native heritage without qualifying for benefits.
Confused yet?
My husband is one-quarter Mohawk. His grandmother was born and grew up on a reserve, but married a white man and spent the rest of her life off-reserve.
As far as I know, my family doesn’t have any aboriginal roots, even though on my mother’s side the family came here nearly 400 years ago. All of us in Canada are the descendants of immigrants, the First Nations have just been here longer. I think the desire to claim some First Nation ancestry speaks of wanting deeper roots to this continent.
My first husband was European, and he couldn’t understand how so many of us here in Canada (and the US) are so interested in geneology.
corrected one typo
If one of your great (or great-great) grandparents was full-blooded Native American, does that qualify you to claim heritage?
That’s just funny!
Without wishing to be immodest, on one side of my family I am all of that plus part Nazi Zombie,secret agent with laser eyes.
That apart I was at first tempted to say that speaking as a Brit it seems to be an American thing regardless of colour.
I’ve lost count of the number of Americans who have told me that they are so much percent Swedish so much percent Greek,SMP Italian and so on.
My Irish friends seem to get particulary irate when someone who is totally and absolutely American,descended from a long line of Americans tells them that he is Irish(Not Irish American or has some Irish ancestor etc.) but perhaps the Irish Dopers can tell us their feelings on that.
Personally I can never understand who the actual American-Americans are.
But I’m just as much a hypocrite as anyone else because though I was born in England,raised in England and have a totally English accent I am fiercely proud of my being the son of a Scotsman(Though the man himself I totally hated and still do).
I seem to be much more into Clans,tartans and Scottish achievements then "Real"Scots are themselves.
So I for one am not pointing any fingers.
Are you asking legally or culturally?
Personally, I tend to culturally identify with the background that’s closest to me and/or to which I’ve been exposed the most. I’m a Heinz 57 mix. My dad came from a long line of Scots, and we still have tartans and various clan paraphanelia around the house, and my grandma was the first in the family that didn’t speak with a thick Scottish accent, but I don’t consider myself a Scot. My mom is French Canadian (and there may be some indigenous genes in that mix somewhere way back), but I don’t consider myself acadien or either. I’m your standard whitey-boy, middleclass American, with a Canadian accent (or so midwesterners tell me).
Meanwhile, I had a college roommate who was proudly Italian. A red-headed, white skinned, freckle-faced Italian. He was adopted and that’s the culture he knows and identifies with.
ETA: But growing up, I secretly hoped I was really a space alien in human form, seeded into the human popluation as an observer. I’m still waiting to develop my telekinetic powers and superhuman traits.
I was wondering when a Canuck would come in. 
Up here, there’s no thought of an exotic, honourable heritage - the only reason anyone wants to be labelled Native is for government benefits. I know, sounds harsh, but there’s palpable racial tension here, and plenty of people who would never want to step foot on a reserve and don’t know the difference between a teepee and a wigwam dig into their family history in the hopes of having enough blood to be considered Metis by the government.
Mind you, in the paragraph above I’m talking about people white as snow. Yeah, getting lots of money to go to university isn’t such a nice idea when you spend your entire youth living in a crappy house on the reserve.