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WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES AN INDIAN?

 What is it that makes an Indian,

Aboriginal,

Indigenous,

Native American?

Black hair,

red skin,

brown eyes,

buckskins,

treaty rights?

(What?)

Over 500 laws to terminate,

identify,

get by,

assimilate?

What about cultural isolation?

Fish bowl reservations?

Separate, alien nations?

What did our families have to do to survive

cultural genocide,

keep traditions alive?

Did they have to fight and die,

become an enemy bride,

or make an escape to the outside?

What does it mean “sovereignty”?

Does it mean that you are a free,

self-determined human being,

with rights and needs,

an equal part of society?

Or does it mean

you are the enemy,

dissident,

subordinant,

third-class citizen,

American Indian?