so-treu:

soofriends:

so-treu:

okay. cause what’s being ignored here, is that it’s not that people don’t understand the difference between a white person and an indigenous person that can pass for white/has passing privilege. we know that there is a difference between being perceived vs. actually being. no really, we KNOW. that tension is part of our history too. it’s part of our families, it’s part of US. we know that because you can pass it doesn’t mean that you don’t get discriminated against or don’t face oppression. that wasn’t the point.

the point was? that in that particular moment and generally speaking and historically, light-skinned & mixed race indigenous people have the same or at the least similar cultural and institutional power to deny black people vital aspects of their being. slavery by both whites and natives had a erasing effect on our history (there ARE. NO. DOCUMENTS. LEFT.) and the same anti-blackness that white folks employ to deny black people’s national belonging (by making us second-class citizens and barring access to resources in *whichever* nation we find ourselves in) is also being employed by Natives who would keep us from being recognized as part of various nations, either offically or discursively.

i dunno, i think dumbthingswhitepeoplesay’s question still stands: if the power relations echo and the effect upon black people is the same, as far as black folks’ lived experience goes, what *is* the difference?

And what natives have been telling you is that most of us never held slaves and most of us never had rolls like the Dawes roll in order to separate you out. We took you in as family and accepted you as members of our tribes.

Could you tell me about society in Cameroon? How about history of Morocco? Wait, aren’t all black people African? YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR HISTORY!!!??? «« This has been the frustrating thing for me, you’re talking about Cherokee Freedmen to people who aren’t Cherokee and do not know that history or only a little of it. This is why people keep telling you that you have to know who your nation/people are, it’s the same way that I have to find someone from Cameroon or Morocco to ask my questions and not just any random black person. We didn’t keep slaves, we haven’t got rolls, we didn’t make you second-class or bar you from anything, at least in my nation.

well then first of all, if it’s not about you, don’t make it about you. if your tribe has historically welcomes black members with open arms, that’s fantastic. this post is not about your tribe.

at no point did i say that all Natives owned slaves. nor did i mention the Cherokee Freedman issue specifically because the Cherokees aren’t the only ones who’ve done similar.

and i’m quite frankly confused at what you’re saying re: the Cameroon thing.

and lastly, this whole debacle started because there were some black people who were trying to talk about their native history, only to have natives come in and tell them that they are not, in fact, native, and that what their family has told them in regards to being native is invalid because we’re not officially members of the tribe. you guys keep telling us that we have to verify our native history before we can claim it, but every time we attempt to you rush in and tell us how wrong we are. so what the fuck are we supposed to do?

Exactly. We didn’t destroy the documentation or institute the One Drop Rule. No one is talking about Cherokee or Freedmen as the only possibilities. But, that’s all being ignored because engaging with the fact that some of us are just trying to reconnect with all of our ancestry is apparently too much. We lost ties with our roots in Africa because we were enslaved & then laws here conspired to keep us from being connected to anything but blackness because that served the economic & social purposes of our oppressors. And now we’re getting blamed for not knowing enough or not having proof? GMAFB.