I am filing our new students into three categories:
Red—Federally recognized tribe and proof of either student’s parent(s) or grandparent(s) being enrolled
Green—Proof of student’s Great-Grandparent enrolled in a federally recognized tribe
Manila—Students with no proof, proof but the tribe stop their enrollments, and students who have proof but the tribe is not federally recognized
So far the red folders are outnumbering the greens and manilas, but every time I come across a student who I have to put into a manila folder because their tribe is not federally recognize I stop and stare. I think about the injustice of that label. They are put into the “no proof” category while I hold their proof in my hands. Then I file the students who have proof but their grandparent(s) did not register before the tribe closed their enrollments. In California, where I am living, the tribes cannot enroll any more members. So all these children whose parents were full blooded, or their grandparents were full blooded, or were whatever blood quantum and still involved and living within their culture and community, will not have their heritage recognized. This has been a topic in our office many times about how some tribes do not want any more people enrolled because they do not want to “lose” money. I see child after child grow up in this program, living within their community, knowing or learning their language, learning and teaching their ways, and yet these children will not be enrolled in their tribe..