Keywords: reservation, American Indian, Native American, tribe, disenfranchisement, language, identity
Cleora Hill-Scott is the executive director of Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians. The following are her own words about whether American Indians are losing their identity.
I am a Crow tribal member of Eastern Montana. I was raised on the reservation up until fifth grade by my grandparents, which is very typical in my culture. Grandparents can actually ask for the oldest grandchild, and I am the oldest grandchild on both sides. However, my parents divorced, so my grandmother stepped in and said, "I'm taking her and her sister, too."
Because my grandparents were of the boarding-school generation, they felt it would be to my benefit to learn English. However, 80 percent of the tribe at the time spoke Crow, so of course I picked it up.
Who else could I be but native? Who else could I be but Crow? That's where I lived. I didn't understand anything different. So I identified myself as Crow, I identified myself as Native American, and when I moved off the reservation, I continued to identify myself in that way.
In fifth grade, I moved with my father to Dickinson, N.D., which does not have a native population. Largely, it was a German community at the time. I went to high school there up until my senior year, when I went back home [to] Crow Agency, Mont.
Within my tribe, education was always huge--and our last chief's quote was "Education is an equality." So I knew I would leave the reservation; however, I knew that I had a passion for improving the quality of life for those that I was leaving behind. So I pursued organizations that worked toward Native American initiatives and have found that here in the Portland area.
[Now] I have three children, all boys, and my home is surrounded by who they are. In fact, when they walk out the door, I have postcards of previous chiefs, so it's the last thing they see. They have a pride in who they are.
I recall them coming home one day and someone [had said] derogatory things to them because they were Native American. They never even questioned whether their ethnicity had anything negative associated with it. So they were like, "Yeah, so what? I'm Native American. I'm cool with it."
I keep it in my home. [My children are] surrounded by it all the time. There's a collection of legends called "Dream Keeper," and they wore that out. And as far as praying and smudging (a simple way of thanking the earth and purifying a space) and things I was taught, when we go home for the sundance and other cultural events like our annual Crow fair, we go home for those things because you can't really do them out here [in Portland].
Outside of that, in my daily work, has it been difficult [to stay true to American Indian traditions]? No, it hasn't. If anything, it's been difficult being native and staying true to what that means [in the workplace] because many times, the foundation of what I was taught as far as respect is that there is no "I" in our language. It's "us" or "we." [But] it doesn't always work in the business world and even [the] federal-government world or the nonprofit or the corporate world. Many times it's "I" or "What can you do for me?"
I've been saddened to know that there have been natives that I've come across who have dropped [those cultural traditions and values] completely, as if saying, "I can't appeal to that side anymore." That's hurtful to me because it's my family, it's my children; it's my grandchildren who are affected. Even though I work with different tribes that are not Crow, I see myself, because many years ago, 100 years ago, tribes were not identified with blood quantum. That's only come up in the last 50 to 60 years.
So when asked if American Indians are losing their identity, it's not a simple answer. I'd say yes and no. For myself, no, I haven't lost my identity. However, it has been a struggle to not follow the mainstream because that didn't always get me the promotion, that didn't always get me in favorable positions. However, here I am, executive director of ATNI (Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians).
And I'd have to say yes. I've witnessed others that have lost their identity, that are not staying true to the foundation of the people. I've actually had this conversation with tribal officials about "How do we hold Native American organizations beholding to the people? What does that look like and how do we do that?" We don't have the answer, but we both agreed it is a problem.
I just think that what's valued in my family, what walks with me every day, is different from what's valued in mainstream society. And I won't have anyone coming to me to pat me on the back and say "good for you." I just know what I was taught and I know what I believe to be right.
Readers' Comments
I enjoyed this article. I appreciated the personal journey the author shared. One reaction I had was a question -- "To what degree do we determine 'our identity' or 'our personal values' or 'our view of objective reality' based on our ancestral heritage?" Not that our ancestral history and traditions aren't interesting and valuable, but what if the exposure to other cultures results in a "meaning of life" that is different from the teachings of our natural culture?
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