NATIVE IDENTITY

The debate over who is and is not a “real” Native American has been going on for decades. 

 

And while individuals are quick to debate over DNA testing and the legitimacy of their family lore, another categorization of identity continues to loom over the Native American community altogether: the federal recognition of tribes. 

 

The Office of Federal Acknowledgement of the Bureau of Indian Affairs is responsible for the federal recognition process of Native American tribes. The organization has played a role in tribal identity since 1978, which has stirred members of the Native American community into debates separating which groups are “recognized tribes”—and which ones are not. 

 

There are currently 573 recognized tribes in the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

 

As of the U.S. Department of Interior’s latest press release(edited in 2016), 17 tribes have been federally recognized since 1978. 

 

The Department denied acknowledgment to 34 other petitioning groups, according to the press release. There are countless more tribes, however, that are either currently not recognized or actively have chosen not to go through the federal recognition process. 

 

“There are no Native American tribes in the sense of formally recognized reservations in Missouri because Missouri is prime farmland and very valuable,” Alex Barker, the director of the MU Museum of Art and Archaeology, said.

 

Historical events such as the Indian Removal Act of 1830 also play a role in the lack of federally recognized tribes in the state today; the Indian Removal Act forcefully removed all Native Americans from east of the Mississippi River to lands west, otherwise known as Indian Territory.

 

Barker argues that the system for recognition, in its entirety, is complex—especially considering the large role it can play when it comes to forming one’s identity within the Native American community. 

 

Barker said that the process of tribes becoming federally recognized by the U.S. government is rather paradoxical; the same entity that once stripped Native Americans of their land and attempted to eradicate their culture is the same entity that is categorizing their identity.

 

“Which is an odd thing when you think about it, because it means that tribes don’t exist by virtue of their own existence, they exist as federally recognized tribes to the degree that the U.S. government says, ‘We recognize you as a valid Native American group with whom we have to consult,’” Barker said.

 

The process

 

In order for tribes to become federally recognized, petitioning groups are required to go through an extensive administrative process. 

 

The Office of Federal Acknowledgement, part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior, applies historical, anthropological and genealogical research methods in order to verify the tribes’ petitions. 

 

However, the process can be time consuming.

 

Erica Mackey is an attorney at Shelton Walkley Mackey in Oklahoma and has a certificate in American Indian Law. Mackey can attest to what some consider a cumbersome process. 

 

“The process takes forever,” Mackey said.  “It can take eight, nine years...it can be quite expensive.”

 

In some cases, it can take over 30 years to consider an application, according to the National Congress of American Indians.

 

And due to the strict requirements, the process can become further complicated and costly through the tracking down of historical paperwork and other information required to prove a tribe’s legitimacy. 

 

“You’ve got to put this all down,” Mackey said. “A lot of it is oral history [and] things have been lost. It’s a very complicated process.”

 

Andrew Jolivette is a professor and former chair of the American Indian Studies Department at San Francisco State University. He is also a Creole of Opelousa, Choctaw, Atakapa-Ishak, French, African and Spanish descent. Jolivette says that the process is somewhat of a double-edged sword. 

 

Sometimes, it even urges Native American tribes to question their identity in relation to the U.S. government. 

 

 “On the one hand, tribes are still fighting for their own, to actually have more sovereign status,” Jolivette said. “And on the other hand, you know, there are those of us who say, you know, do we need another government to recognize us in order for us to exist?”

 

The benefits 

 

If a tribe meet the required criteria, it can receive a number of benefits. 

 

One of the main benefits of becoming a federally recognized tribe is the sovereign status tribes are able to receive.

 

“They can operate outside of certain jurisdictional rules,” Mackey said. “What it does it confirms that ability and recognizes that sovereign to sovereign relationship between the United States and that tribe.”

 

This relationship also allows tribes to establish their own land-use laws and zoning on their reservations or tribal land. Tribes can also be exempt from certain taxes and laws, which allows them to establish big gaming locations such as casinos, according to The National Gambling Impact Study Commission. 

 

Individuals of federally recognized tribes can also receive benefits. Younger members of federally recognized tribes, for example, can be eligible for scholarships and or financial aid, according to the Bureau of Indian Education’s website. 

 

Greg Olson, an independent scholar, author and former curator of exhibits and special projects in the Missouri State Archives, says that becoming federally recognized can also give individuals a sense of legitimacy. 

 

“Do they want this recognition so that ... it kind of legitimizes their story of who they are?” Olson said. “Yeah. Oh yeah … I can't blame them for wanting that.”

 

The controversy

 

Misrepresentation can also occur through this process, according to experts and individuals of federally recognized tribes. 

 

Elizabeth Kronk Warner is a professor of law and the director of the Tribal Law and Government Center at the University of Kansas. She is also a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, based out of Marie, Michigan. 

 

Kronk Warner says that individuals claiming false Native American descent in order to receive benefits are problematic. 

 

“I certainly recognize that our method of tracking of who is and who is not an Indian is historically damaged, but I would really encourage individuals who believe that they are of native ancestry, to do the research,” Kronk Warner said. “And then, reaching out to the tribes that they think they might have a contact with and really, really finding out if that’s true or not.”

 

Jolivette says that there is a certain appeal to Native American culture—one that could encourage people to research their ancestry, or find ways to be a part of it. 

 

“People want to be Native American and want to do DNA tests because it is this longing for something in the past,” Jolivette said. He said some people romanticize Native Americans through what they see in the media.

 

Yet despite the controversies over whether a tribe should be federally recognized or not, Barker ultimately says that the benefits from the recognition process do not make up for the atrocities the U.S. government has placed on Native Americans. A point, he argues, that is important to remember. 

 

“From the standpoint of the United States government, they’d say that all of these benefits are being provided to tribal members,” Barker said. “I think a lot of tribes would feel that those benefits really don’t in any way match the amount of dislocation, the disenfranchisement and the disadvantages they face because of European expansion.”