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Date: Tue, 4 May 1999 16:37:17 EDT
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Subject: Re: 2000 Census Article
This was forwarded to me by a friend at Michigan State University.
Catherine
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Native Intelligence:
a column by
Jack D. Forbes
Native American Studies
University of California, Davis
2000 CENSUS WILL EFFECT ALL PERSONS OF
PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAN ANCESTRY
All persons who are descended from the original inhabitants of North,
Central and South America are now required to mark the "American Indian"
question on the United States Census for 2000, if they maintain
affiliation or "community attachment" to the indigenous world.
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has officially defined
"American Indian and Alaska Native" as being"a person having origins in
any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central
America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment."
This means that all persons whose ancestry goes back to the Americans
who were living in the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans now have
to tell about their Original American origins. Still further, they will be
asked to give the name of their principal native community or tribe,
such as Kanjobal Maya, Garifuna, Mixtec, Yaqui, Aztec, Cree, or Mescalero
Apache. Or they can name a specific pueblo (community or municipio),
such as Acoma, Hotevila, Acteal or Tepoztlan.
This is a new requirement of the US Government. But the Bureau of the
Census, in its 2000 census questionnaire, may confuse some persons by
not telling the reader that "American Indian" now includes all Mexican
Indians, Canadian Indians, Greenland Natives, South American Indians, and their
descendants. Also the census uses only "tribe" to stand for all types of
communities including pueblos, villages, nations, language groups,
bands, rancherias, and colonies.
Here is the way the census form may appear:
WHAT IS YOUR RACE? MARK [X] ONE OR MORE RACES
TO INDICATE WHAT YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE:
[ ] WHITE
[ ] BLACK, AFRICAN-AM., OR NEGRO
[ ] AMERICAN INDIAN OR ALASKA NATIVE- print name of
enrolled or principal tribe:
__________________________________________
[ ] SOME OTHER RACE:
Under the new rules, persons who come from Spanish-speaking countries or
have a Latin American heritage can mark two places on the census. They
can fill out the Hispanic/Spanish Origin/Latino question if they wish. And
then they also must answer the "American Indian" question in the "Race"
section if they have an attachment or connection to Original American
(indigenous) people.
If a person does not have indigenous American ancestry or if it is not
important to them, or if they are ashamed of it, then they can ignore
"American Indian" by selecting "White" (which will identify them as "a
person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the
Middle East, or North Africa"). The census form does not reprint the OMB rule
that "white" only refers to Europe or the African-Middle Eastern region, and
not to Ancient American peoples (peoples having origin in the original
peoples of the Americas).
In the same manner, a person who does not want to be counted as
"Hispanic," "Latino" or "Spanish Origin" does not have to mark that question.
Some persons may be of pure American Indigenous ancestry and they may not
want to be counted as "Hispanic." Others may not speak Spanish even if they
are from a Latin American country. Still others, may not like the terms used
(Hispanic, Spanish, Latino). Mexican-Americans or Chicanos may mark both
the Spanish and American Indian boxes if they so choose, since they can
write in Mexica, Xicano or whatever as their "tribe" under American
Indian. (It should be remembered that "Mexican" is an indigenous name just as
much as is Huasteca or Tarahumara, historically and genetically speaking).
On the new census a person can mark more than one place within the
"Race" question. A Puerto Rican, Dominican or Cuban, for example, who is of
mixed African and American (indigenous) races may want to mark both the
African and American Indian boxes, writing in Taino, Boricua, or Ciboney for
one's tribe. Some persons of Mexican origin might wish to check both the White
and American Indian boxes. Other Mexican-Americans may want to check
only the American Indian box, since the Mexican people have so much more
indigenous ancestry than they have of the European.
It is no longer necessary to write in mestizo, latino, or "cholo" under
"Some other race" because one can check both the White and American
Indian boxes to show ones mixed racial status, if that is what one wants to
emphasize. If a persons writes in "mestizo" etc. under "Some other race"
no one will know what mixture is meant.
When a person knows the name of their pueblo in Mexico, they can look it
up in Manuel Orozco y Berra (Geografia de las Lenguas de Mexico, a book
which lists every pueblo in Mexico in the 1860's and the languages spoken
there).
This book will be found only in major libraries. Persons can also
telephone their oldest relatives to locate their specific indigenous community.
They can also consult the maps in Handbook of Middle American Indians or
Handbook of South American Indians (at college libraries) to discover
the tribal names for the regions which they are from. The 2000 census
gives us
all a chance to identify ourselves in the manner in which we wish to be known.
It is very important that we identify ourselves with our indigenous
communities, such as Xicano, Mixtec, Taino, or Apache. We cannot
persuade educators to include us in the textbooks unless they know that we
exist. So it is for our children, also, that we must reverse the conquest and
recover our heritage as the FIRST AND ORIGINAL AMERICANS!
Professor Jack D. Forbes, Powhatan-Delaware, is the author of COLUMBUS
AND OTHER CANNIBALS, RED BLOOD, AFRICANS AND NATIVE AMERICANS,
AZTECAS DEL NORTE and other books. Phone: (916) 752-3626/3237; Fax:
(916) 752-7097
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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