I personally consider myself mixed, my family considers me mixed, and I have tribal ID and all that,

But Im only 22% native alaskan (from my grandmother) and besides the fact I tan really well and get bad ear infections like a lot of another native Alaskans, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking.

However I’ve lived more than half of my life (granted I’m still in HS) in a native rural river village where nearly everyone was native or mixed. I know way more of my native family than I do white family, and even though I don’t live in the village anymore I’d still say culturally I’m more native than I am white. Like for most of my life the native culture was just the life, and not some special thing that I was honored to be participating in, I’ve always participated in native dances, wearing traditional clothes, eating and producing traditional food etc etc. I even remember back in the day when I was really little my native grandma would call me her Indian boy and me getting really sad after my mom explained to me that I’m only a quarter Indian. Oh I’m also Russian orthodox which a very high percentage of Alaskan natives, and I get it from my native side too.

Besides that I can barely get along with white people man, like I can be good friends with native guys within 30 minutes while it will take me a month to start talking to the white guys in my classes, similar thing white native girls for me, can’t stand these crazy white girls lmao. I don’t think this is literally because they are white, but there is a very distinct village culture in Alaska and that group of people tend to be native.

Hi. Due to colonization and genocide, I hesitate to post here as I am a white person. I am in Washington State and the adoptive parent of an amazing 4 year old whose mom is part of the Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe), we are working with the Canadian government to get our daughter registered as well. We unfortunately do not have contact with her mom nor any other her mother's family, besides her two older children, who we have a lot of contact with and live near us in Seattle. We attend powwows and are doing 19 weeks of dance classes through the United Indians of All Tribes with our daughter for her to have as much exposure and learning she can. As she gets older and as she begins to collect more regalia, we really would like her to have knowledge, not just from elders and community members we have met (which is obviously incredibly important) but from elders and community members in the Kainai Nation. I have reached out to the Blood Tribe on their site and also a couple of Facebook groups but haven't had any luck yet ( I will keep trying) so I figured I would try here!

To be specific, we would love to meet someone who would be willing to meet on Zoom (or in person if you are near Seattle) to share more information about regalia - color, how to wear certain pieces, etc. As well as stories, knowledge, meditations, etc.

Thank you so much,

The first tribal nation in the U.S. to sue opioid manufacturers, Cherokee Nation is using settlement money to build a culturally competent healthcare system for people struggling with addiction, including a new treatment center opening next year.

Some context:

I’m pretty laidback, my voice is deep monotone (relevant according to peers), and I’m not always the neatest. I am also a student at a PWI in an area with a little exposure to us.

A bit ago I applied to a fast food job referred by a friend which I did not receive for a pretty particular reason as is revealed by the title.

According to my friend (non-indig), this is entirely to do with my presentation given I did have pretty stale braids in and I was 3 minutes late. However, I think its plausible that some things I discussed in the interview may have had a sway in what the GM said.

Like I was asked about what I do outside of my classes to which I replied I am in elected positions for the Native Cultural organization on our campus as well as heavily involved in service including seed-saving for tribes, language revitalization, and why they are important.

It is generally my real-lived experience that people do internalize stereotypes that anything to do with any indigenous culture, especially if relationship to land is brought up, is just tree-hugging hippie bullshit (especially given but not solely due to cultural appropriation by “hippies”)

My friend believes that since the GM did not explicitly say it, it must not be the case that what I discussed had anything to do with it. I think though that if the GM had said that then it would lowkey be a fucking crime so like ofc they wouldn’t admit it and that they don’t even have to be conscious of it for it to be a thing. Furthermore, if it was solely about my presentation and punctuality it just seems that unprofessional or sloppy would make a lot more sense.

I want to disclaim that I don’t think the GM is some monster nor is it the case that my friend is a terribly ignorant person. Furthermore, it sucks i didnt get the job, but in general I am not passionately disheartened by not being hired or the comment itself, I just have my reading of why she said it to which my friend was upset I suggested such a thing.

I worry now I could be reading too much into it, please let me know if I’m being unreasonable. This disagreement has driven a wedge in our relationship.

Tldr/Edit: I was 3 mins late and wore a button up and black jeans (which is dress code for the restaurant) as well as had my hair in day old braids (prolly pretty bad tbh). I admit that this presentation had plenty to do with me not being hired. I just thought it was interesting that the employer specifically said she did not hire me because I was Hippieish rather than Unprofessional or something. Me and my friend seem to disagree that such discretion between Unprofessional and Hippieish would be connected to my mention of volunteering activities I do related to promoting local and in community culture.

Thanks to Everyone for the interview advice though!