Blood Quantum

Blood Quantum.

Mark H. Gardner, Attorney at Law
Re: blood quantum

First, in relation to determinations of tribal membership, no US standard will exist. US law leaves all jurisdiction over determinations of tribal membership to the particular recognized tribe or band in question.

Second, the degree of relationship of a party to a tribal member and the percentage of a party's tribal heritage or percentage of overall Indian heritage may be determined by any standard the particular tribe or band chooses to recognize. For example, a tribe might choose to count adopted relationship in one case and choose not to recognize adopted relationsip in another in another. No appeal to federal courts is be possible. The tribe's highest court or tribal council would simply determine, including simply determining what rules would apply -- temporarily or permanently.

Finally, the science of blood testing permits very authoritative determinations of parentage on either side, and also determination of sibling relationship. Determination of grandparent status is possible but rests on slightly less reliable statsitical results. All those blood-type and DNA tests are admitted routinely in paternity and probate cases. A tribal council therefore could not reasonably argue that the science underlying blood-type or genetic testing was unreliable.

A still more exotic and unusual form of testing rarely or never yet used in family matters, mitochondrial DNA analysis, can determine the matrilineal status of parties (mother's mother's mother's mother, etc.) running back for unbelievably long periods -- sometimes tens of thousands of years. Where an Indian father was proven and some quantum of Indian blood on the mother's side was suspected, the mitochondrial DNA test could bring the forefront of genetic testing into use in domestic relations for possibly the first time.


Many Native People have gotten so used to the idea of "blood quantum" (degree of "blood") that sometimes the origin of this racist concept is forgotten. It's use started in 1705 when the colony of Virginia adopted a series of laws which denied civil rights to any "negro, mulatto, or Indian" and which defined the above terms by stating that "the child of an Indian, and the child, grandchild, or great grandchild of a negro shall be deemed accounted, held, and taken to be a mulatto." Thus both a person of American race and a person of half-American race (a "half-blood" in other words) were treated as legally inferior persons. (Forbes, J.D. 2000).

Many Native People have gotten so used to the idea of "blood quantum" (degree of "blood") that sometimes the origin of this racist concept is forgotten. It's use started in 1705 when the colony of Virginia adopted a series of laws which denied civil rights to any "negro, mulatto, or Indian" and which defined the above terms by stating that "the child of an Indian, and the child, grandchild, or great grandchild of a negro shall be deemed accounted, held, and taken to be a mulatto." Thus both a person of American race and a person of half-American race (a "half-blood" in other words) were treated as legally inferior persons.

(Jack D. Forbes:2000)

Colony after colony and state after state followed Virginia's example in using blood quantum as a way of determining who could have the privileges accorded to white persons. For example, Alabama's code stated that "all negroes, mulattoes, Indians and all persons of mixed blood, to the third generation inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation may have been a white person, whether bond or free; shall be taken, and deemed incapable in law, to be witnesses.... except for or against each other." North Carolina possessed a code which prohibited marriages between white persons and "an Indian, Negro , Mustee, or Mulatto.... or any person of Mixed Blood to the Third Generation." Such laws meant that a part-Indian of one-eighth American ancestry and seven-eighth European ancestry would not have acquired sufficient European "blood" to be accorded the legal privileges of whiteness.

The racist use of blood quantum continued without a break. In 1866 Virginia decreed that "Every person having one-fourth or more Negro blood shall be deemed a colored person, and every person not a colored person having one-fourth or more Indian blood shall be deemed an Indian." (This is perhaps where the one-quarter blood concept used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs originated). In the 20th century Virginia broadened the term "colored" to include all Indians with any trace of African ancestry, if living off-reservation, and with more than 1/32 African ancestry, if living on either the Pamunkey or Mattaponi reservations.
(Jack D. Forbes:2000)

The Federal government began to also use "degree of blood" in the latter part of the nineteenth-century, especially in relation to the enrollment of persons before the Dawes allotment commission. The use of "full," "one-half" etc. at that time was both an extension of the previous racist system and also a step in terminating Native Americans. Persons with greater amounts of white ancestry were assumed to be more competent than persons with lesser amounts. In other words, the degree of white blood was much more important than the degree of American ancestry. The white blood entitled an Indian citizen to greater privileges, including being able to have "wardship" restrictions removed, being able to sell property, acquire the right to vote in state and federal elections, and so on. Thus it may be that many persons chose to exaggerate their amount of white ancestry when enrolling. Persons without white ancestry were restricted persons, with the Bureau controlling their financial lives. It was also expected that when a person became "competent" ( white enough) he would no longer be an Indian and that process would eventually terminate a tribe's existence.
(Jack D. Forbes:2000)

Thus the recording of blood quantum is both a product of white racism and of white social science theories of a racist nature, and also a product of a plan wherein Native nations are expected to vanish when the white blood quantum reaches a certain level (above three-fourths, for example). For this latter reason alone, the use of blood quantum is exceedingly dangerous for Native Nations today, although the Bureau and some eastern Oklahoma Indians don't seem to care about this danger.
(Jack D. Forbes:2000)

First, Indian ancestry is to be computed only from so-called Federally-recognized tribes ( in spite of the ambiguous status of some tribes at this time). The changes specifically limit "Indian blood" to ancestry from a Federally-recognized tribe and define the latter as one listed in the Federal Register as a tribe recognized by the Secretary of the Interior. This means that one's degree of Indian blood cannot include American Indian or Eskimo-Inuit ancestry derived from a terminated tribe, from an administratively-deleted tribe, from a Canadian, Greenlandic, Mexican or other non-US group, or from any state-recognized tribe (as along the east coast), or perhaps from any newly-recognized tribe. Thus a person who is 1/2 Inuit from Alaska and 1/2 Inuit from Canada or Greenland can only be counted as 1/2. (Jack D. Forbes)

The possibility exists that numerous persons of full American indigenous racial ancestry will be counted as mixed-bloods and that, gradually, American Indians will be eliminated as a people as they marry non-Indians or currently non-Federally recognized Natives. This is a form of self-termination. (Jack D. Forbes:2000)


Well, the way the government defines whether someone is a "real" Indian or not is they measure their blood. They have some arcane way of doing this by dividing the number of generations since all your ancestors were pure-blood by the number of marriages with people who aren't pure-blood. By their counting, I think I'm 7/8 Indian. Some of it is Muskogee, but they don't care about that. They're just trying to see how close we are or are not to white. (Orrin:2008)

One, it puts pressure on Indians not to marry white people or their children will lose their heritage, and that bothers a lot of people. Two, it means that if some of your ancestors aren't in the records, you can be denied being an Indian. Three, it's wrong for outsiders to tell you if you can or can't belong to an ethnic group. Nobody makes African-Americans prove their entire family line and apply for some governmental Certificate of Degree of African Blood before they can get a scholarship from the NAACP or put "Black-owned" on their business if they want to. And four, most disturbingly: it guarantees the extinction of the American Indian. By this standard, white is the default, and everyone is approaching whiteness. Someone who is 1/8 Indian is considered white, and that is the end of their Indianness-- they are white and their children will be white, forever.(Orrin:2008)


More than 560 tribes are recognized by the federal government. More are fighting for recognition. With recognition come certain benefits such as health care, but more importantly, there comes a sense of pride, a sense of belonging. (Walker, D. 2009).

Rarely is blood quantum ever brought up unless it has to do with enrollment. Most non-Natives don’t understand the process of how someone is enrolled or federally recognized by their blood quantum. It’s confusing, some have told me. I agree. We are the only U.S. citizens who have to report our Native blood quantum..(Walker, D. 2009).

How can someone be a quarter Native? In other words, is one of their legs considered their only Native part? It’s laughable, yet very serious and, to most Natives, it’s an everyday struggle. .(Walker, D. 2009).

It’s kind of scary knowing tribes can oust other Natives at any time. Does that mean they are no longer Native? But it goes back to the age-old question: Who is Native?

"Well they don’t look Native." Yeah, we all heard that one before. What are we supposed to look like? Chief Yahoo? Are we supposed to have ponytails and wear feathers? Is our skin tone supposed to be dark brown along with our stoic facial expressions?

The bottom line is that things are changing. Natives can look like anyone. They can be black, white, Asian … whatever. Why are we judging one another? It’s bad enough when another race judges us. Blood quantum will always be an issue. It was created so one day we would be extinct. I guess that day is coming quicker than we anticipated

"Well, they don’t act Native." Act Native? Teach me, please. City Indian, reservation Indian, country Indian … we are all the same. Just because you grew up on the reservation doesn’t mean you have more credibility over city Indians or vice versa. What kind of example are we leaving the young ones? It should come down to the individual. It should come down to the Native pride inside. It should come down to how much you care about Native peoples, not by the way you look or if you are enrolled or not. (Walker, D. 2009).

"You're an Indian? What part?"

That's the universal question many mixed-blood Native Americans are asked every day. How many times have you mentioned in passing that you are Cherokee to find your conversation interrupted by intrusive questions about percentage? How many times have you answered those questions? Well stop! That's right -- stop answering rude questions. (Berry, C. 2009).

The history of blood quantum begins with the Indian rolls and is a concept introduced to Native Americans from white culture. Throughout Native history blood has never really been a factor in determining who was or was not included in a tribe. Many Native American tribes practiced adoption, a process whereby non-tribal members would be adopted into the tribe and over time become fully functioning members of the group. Adoption was occasionally preceded by capture. Many tribes would capture members of neighboring tribes, white settlers, or members of enemy tribes.... The fact that the adoptee was sometimes of a different ethnic origin was of little importance to the tribe. (Berry, C. 2009).



In this day and age, however, quantum is important in many ways. In order to become a registered member of any federally recognized Indian Nation you must first get a CDIB (Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood). This CDIB is issued by the BIA and simply states that the United States government certifies that you have a specified degree of Indian blood and are a member of a given federally recognized tribe. Once you have a CDIB you can become a recognized member of that tribe. Without a quantum you cannot become a registered member of a tribe. (Berry, C. 2009).



Blood quantum, while it appears harmless, has had a very negative effect on many Indian Nations. In many cases the issue of quantum has divided full-bloods and mixed-bloods, causing resentment. The issue also divides tribal members and non-members on the issue of proof. From a historical and cultural perspective, the idea of blood quantum is dangerous.(Berry, C. 2009).

Blood quantum is a scientific, government-approved method of determining blood purity and race purity. One of the most frightening examples of a government's interest in blood purity comes as recently as the Twentieth century in Nazi Germany, when Hitler wanted to create an Aryan master race. The consequence was that millions of people were killed because they were not Aryan. While Nazi Germany is an extreme example, blood quantum is nonetheless a clinical, inhuman, and careless way to determine the ethnic authenticity of a person. We are not Gregor Mendel's cross-pollinated pea plants; we are people. Our ethnicity and cultural identity are tied to our family history, our surroundings, our own hopes and expectations, and our self-identity. To measure our "Indianness" by a percentage is to completely eliminate the human element. And to allow others to judge us based on a number is to continue a harmful trend.(Berry, C. 2009)

References.

1. Cook, R (No date) Heart of Colonilism Bleeds Blood Quantum [online] available from: http://americanindiansource.com/bloodquantum.html [accessed: 03.03.2009]

2. Orrin (No date) Measuring Blood: The American Indian Blood Quantum [online] available from: Measuring Blood: The American Indian Blood Quantum
[accessed: 03.03.2009]

3.Forbes, J.D (2000) Blood Quantum: A relic of Racism and Termination [online] available from: http://www.weyanoke.org/jdf-BloodQuantum.html
[accessed: 03.03.2009]

4. Walker, D (2007) Blood quantum, federal recognition and everything in between [online] available from: http://www.reznetnews.org/blogs/red-clout/blood-quantum-federal-recognition-and-everything-between-480[accessed: 03.03.2009]

5. Schmidt, R.W (No date) America Indian Identity, Blood Quantum and Heritage in the 21st Century: A Bioanthropological Perspective. [online] available from: http://montana.academia.edu/RyanSchmidt/Papers/9161/American-Indian-Identity--Blood-Quantum-and-Heritage-in-the-21st-Century--A-Bioanthropological-Perspective
[accessed: 03.03.2009]

6. Berry, C (2009) Blood Quantum-Why It matters, and Why it shouldn't [online] available from: http://www.allthingscherokee.com/articles_gene_040101.html
[accessed: 03.03.2009]