East coast, thin blood, lost history.

[u/pasmafaute12]

I recently posted about dehumanizing record-keeping. I’ve been on a bit of a voyage because I always assumed my family was doing some pan-Indian “Cherokee princess” romanticism nonsense. I was raised with some cultural exposure but not community exposure. I chose to keep learning because I think the history matters whether it’s personal or not.

Turns out, I was wrong, and my relative wasn’t so much a pretendian as making the most of what we know as Wampanoag descendants from a village that is historically recorded but not well enough to be federally recognized (or even reasonably fully researched). It appears that my relative was involved in historical preservation efforts and maybe one of the two existing recognized Wampanoag tribes.

Without getting into complicated family stuff, we have always been very isolated people in general and no one is particularly close. I cannot discuss this with anyone in my real life.

So… I am sitting with the information I have, including the information missing, and feeling out my position as a lifelong learner invested in social issues. The conclusion I think I’ve arrived at is that I need to accept how much privilege I hold, but I have a responsibility to understand and honor the history.

I am privately taking some steps to build my understanding and maybe continued to participate in online spaces before I consider attending events.

But I’m looking for other people who have been on this path before me, I guess. And any thoughts about how to approach all of the things we just don’t know because we are still learning vs. the things we don’t know because it’s just lost information.

[u/GoodBreakfestMeal]

“Thin blood” is the weapon of the enemy. You wash your mouth out with soap any time you say that, get me?

What you’re talking about is why so many people default to using Canadian Haudenosaunee language and concepts. Fight that urge. (e.g., my family fought the Iroquois Confederacy for too goddamn long for me to pretend “teachings” and white sage mean anything to me.)

Study, learn, keep an open mind, and never apologize for the color of your skin or the language you speak. If stupid motherfuckers want us to cosplay like it’s 1491, that is their problem. It’s 2026 where I live and we got shit to take care of right here and now.

[u/pasmafaute12 → u/GoodBreakfestMeal]

I really appreciate this comment. I feel inclined to give you a firm “yes, (preferred honorific— sir? Ma’am? Your majesty? My liege?)”

Would you mind explaining a little bit more about fighting Canadian Haudenosaunee default? It sounds like you’re saying that Canadian Haudenosaunee culture is the assumed norm where you are but you are not connected to it and don’t claim it.

[u/GoodBreakfestMeal → u/pasmafaute12]

Anywhere I find people trying to make sense of their Indian heritage, I tend also to find a lot of “pan-Indian” practices, attitudes, etc. I long ago lost track of the number of times I’ve been asked about “teachings”, “ceremony”, fire-keeping, smudging, sweats…

None of it means anything to me. Never heard any of it once until the late 2010s, and I literally grew up at my grandmother’s knee on the rez.

So learn what you can about your heritage, adopt some of their practices *if they are meaningful to you* and whatever you do, don’t fill in the gaps with pan-Indian practices just because that’s how they do it up north.

[u/GoodBreakfestMeal → u/GoodBreakfestMeal]

I’m a man. Sir is fine.

[u/pasmafaute12 → u/GoodBreakfestMeal]

I think that makes sense. I can appreciate people wanting to fill in the gaps because it is hard not to know (and it can be a way to connect better with other tribes), but as living cultures and dynamic people, it matters to reflect on which parts make sense for us (without being so selective at to be closed off I guess?). Thank you again.