Full-blood Prejudice By Walter George Stonefish Willis

Hi, I’m back AGAIN!! It’s your favorite Delaware/ Chippewa/ Ottawa, Ex-con, opinionated lifetime parolee. Of course I have another unpopular bone to pick with my Native brothers and sisters. Yup, you guessed it - it’s about “full blood prejudice.” You know what I mean; I’m talking about that misguided and mistaken belief that a full blood quantum Native is any better, or more Native than a mixed blood.

Don’t get me wrong; when I was young and foolish, I subscribed to the belief that as a full blood Native, I was better than my mixed blood brothers and sisters. I even went so far as to denigrate and verbally abuse those whom I perceived as being my lesser, due to their mixed parentage. In the past, I was foolishly willing to believe that the birth and not the heart could determine a person’s Nativeness. At that time in my life, I was blinded by the BIA/DIA requirements of what constituted a Native. I have since opened my eyes, my ears and my heart as a consequence of many years of soul searching and deep thought. While I cannot claim that my newfound knowledge came to me subsequent to traditional doings, I did find my new understanding as a result of extreme hardship, self induced pain and introspection. In other words, it was while I was doing the 16 years to life for drug trafficking in a cold metal 6- by 8-foot cell that I put myself in, that I began to realize that those actions could not be constituted as being Native in any definition of the word. It didn’t matter that I was a full blood by birth - my actions and heart wasn’t Native. If anything I had a white racist self-centered heart that only cared about myself. This self realization led me to examine those around me and to re-evaluate where their hearts were - what I found was that many of my full blood brothers and sisters were oppressing mixed bloods in the same way that racist white men had oppressed them.

It was also in prison that I began to really understand some of the beliefs I had embraced as a teenager, but had abandoned in adulthood, namely, the import of the Two Row wampum of the Six Nations Confederacy. I know I’m probably going to get flack from some because I am not a member of the Confederacy. However, in the 1970’s prior to going nuts, I was involved with the Mohawk takeover of Gahieneke in Eagle Bay, New York and the Evictions on Onondaga. Consequently I learned a lot about the Great Law and the traditional beliefs of the Confederacy. Nevertheless, I didn’t really understand the full import of the Two Row Wampum. Let me explain, I initially understood the Two Row Wampum to mean that the two parallel paths on the purple background was to symbolize the relationship between the Native and non-Native people in their journey into the future. One of the parallel paths was to represent the Native people and the other was to represent the non-Native - they were to go side by side into the future with neither crossing over to the others ways. It was explained to me that if a Native did cross over to the non-Native’s side they were to stay there and not bring the other ways back to pollute Native beliefs. Constructively this meant that if one chooses to intermarry with a non-Native they made a choice to become non-Native and therefore, should stay with the non-Native community and its ways. It was also explained to me that should this union separate, the Native would always be welcomed back to the fold. When I asked about the children of this union, I was told that when they became of the age of reason they would be allowed to choose which path they would live the life by and would be welcomed back to the traditional way with open arms - if that was their choice. In other words, they would not be punished for the circumstances of their birth, since they had no control of it. But with the impetuousness of youth as my guide, I chose only to embrace the prohibition against intermarriage - I neglected to pay attention to the acceptance of the children of this union and the wisdom of allowing their heart and actions to determine their Nativeness.

I have since seen the rise of the “Plastic Medicine Men/Women” and there like, who profess to follow traditional ways for the right price. Many of these people are full bloods, but I cannot in good conscience say that they are Native, except when it is advantageous or economically enriching because in their heart and actions there are not. This is just one glaring example of one using their blood quantum to their advantage, there are others - you have seen them, so I need not list them here. On the other hand there are many mixed bloods who live their lives according to the underlying shared traditional beliefs of respect for all things, starting with themselves. In my mind, these mixed bloods are just as much a Native, as one who follows the “way,” who due to no actions of their own - are full blood.

I have one more bone to pick and it’s an issue that is especially relevant to the east coast. Yeah, I’m going there!! Many of you will say that you accept mixed bloods with no problem, provided they look white. However, many of us full bloods still have a problem with the “black mixed bloods.” Well I’m sorry to tell you that if you hold this view - you are acting white racist, because you have accepted those prejudices and that view of what is acceptable. If one is to view history accurately, then you must realize that when the ‘underground railroad’ dumped their travelers off in the Northeast, the progressive Northern anti-slavery white people wouldn’t accept them as the human beings they were, but our full blood forefathers did. Consequently, there are mixed bloods that are intermingled with black blood, that’s a historical fact. Therefore, if they chose to follow the “Way” with their heart and actions, they must be accorded the same level of acceptance and respect we accord the white mixed blood who made the same choice. Failure to do this makes us nothing more than a Native who embraces the racist white way, hence, we are nothing more than dark racist white people.