<p>My kids are in the same position. We have documentation from a tribe whose lineage keeper attested to our family line. However, we cannot get a card of membership because our actual tribe was wiped out by smallpox, warfare, and by the Paxton Boys. The only surviving members married into European American families. We are also DAR eligible–my sister got her DAR membership but it’s too conservative for my tastes. As of the last census, 2010, we were allowed to mark whatever ethnic groups we identify with. I marked us as Native American for the first time and then had my children’s records in the school system officially changed to reflect this status–finally we were legally able to mark our important heritage. Also, I work at an Ivy institution and there is a tribal group there that I’ve participated in . I’m not anything like those people in terms of culture any more. On the other hand, you often have a feeling esp. for East Coast Tribes that the genocide was so complete that they are recreating their cultures too. My feeling is that if identifying yourself as Native is done because it honors your ancestors and identity, then it’s okay. But if it’s done just to get some special benefit of admissions, then it’s not okay–and I say that because this is what some people feel it may do, that native status confers advantage. I am weighing what to do. It’s just a little box to check, but it has so much history behind it. Being acknowledged officially as who you actually are is important. I have always found it frustrating that I cannot state outright that I too am Native American because of some weird rule that either the government comes up with at a given moment or a tribe, and they can change the rules at whim, while I have no control over this. Now the US census allows you to mark your native heritage, then it must be okay on this application. I was thinking that we could provide a statement of explanation, summarizing the above hsitory, for the committees and then let them decide if we qualify or not. You see, we are in a bind, because our tribe was completely decimated rather than just partly decimated. You are punished by the tribe being gone and then you’re in a Catch 22 because you cannot claim tribal affiliation. </p>
<p>It seems a little silly to invoke the one-drop rule for some races and ethnicities in the US but not for all of them. </p>