America's first blood quantum law was passed in Virginia in 1705 in order to determine who had a high enough degree of Indian blood to be classified an Indian — and whose rights could be restricted as a result. You’d think, after all these years, we’d finally manage to kick the concept. But recently, casino-rich Indian tribes in California have been using it themselves to cast out members whose tribal bloodlines, they say, are not pure enough to share in the profits.
Read the rest of David Treuer's column here.
2 comments:
It's an odd situation. Some "tribes" (which may amount to a few dozen people) get around $10k a week, other tribes nothing more than the government pittance.
On the other hand, having stolen from the Indians for over a century, it's only poetic justice to let them steal from us (by the way of casinos).
Of course - wherever money is involved, the basics of human nature will prevail, to the extent of making sure that the "other guy" doesn't get yours.
ZZMike,
The casino dynamic has changed everything.
Michael
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