Hint: No CDIB card, no benefits...from AllThingsCherokee:.
At least once a week I receive a question about how to prove Cherokee ancestry or join the Nation. Joining the Cherokee Nation is a common goal among Cherokee genealogy hobbyists. Unfortunately, the majority of the people tracing their Cherokee roots are ineligible to join. There is a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding about tribal membership and what is required to join. I hope the following information will help clear up any misconceptions.
What is required to join the Nation and why are so many Cherokees ineligible?a lot of assimilated Cherokee didn't sign up, so they are not on the rolls.
In order to register with the Cherokee Nation you must be issued a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The white card (as the CDIB is often called) certifies your degree of Indian blood (blood quantum) and the tribe you are affiliated with. To obtain a white card, you must provide legal documents that prove your lineage from an ancestor who is listed, with a roll number and a blood degree, on the Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, Cherokee Nation. This roll is commonly known as the Dawes Roll.
the usual cut off is 1/4 ancestry for federal benefits, but some tribes allow 1/8, and the Eastern Cherokee 1/16.
Heck, half of Oklahoma and a lot of people in Tennesee and Kentucky have Native American ancestry. But without a card, they are not eligible for benefits.
----------------------
And libertarian lawblog Instapundit quips:
ELIZABETH WARREN now says 1/32 Cherokee. Hey, I’ve got double that amount of Cherokee ancestry. If I’d known that was all it took to get a job at Harvard . . .
But George Zimmerman is 1/8 black and that doesn’t count, apparently — he’s still a “white Hispanic.” And he doesn’t look nearly as white as Elizabeth Warren.
UPDATE: Reader David Stine suggests that this is just another case of life imitating South Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment