S.E. RUCKMAN: Quantum vs. descendency, an egg best left unscrambled

A recent review of the decades old executive order of Affirmative Action reminded me of a scene out of Frankenstein, where the mad scientist (read what you will) tries to inject new life into an empty shell. I hate to make this comparison, but with President John F. Kennedy gone nearly half of a century it is one of the last breaths of his administration.

I was never a particular fan of horror movies, but it seems appropriate to make this comparison as we hover around Halloween and right before we swing into full Thanksgiving gratitude mode.

Like most things in the bigger scope of American existence, things tend to affect Indian Country by osmosis. That is to say, if it’s big enough of an issue, we may feel a breeze but mostly we just hear about the wind rather than feel it directly on most mainstream issues. This is sometimes is a good thing.

The Supreme Court’s recent review on Affirmative Action was derided in one venue not by questioning the Kennedy era ideal, but rather heckling the system underneath it. A Lone Star teenager was the anti-Affirmative Action poster child by questioning Texas’ standing tenets of this policy and the use of it when regarding entry into the University Of Texas (UT).

Race simply cannot be a reliable determinant in certain venues, like education. In Indian tribes, however, it is entirely about race. Let’s weave two seemingly unrelated issues together.

So I began to read about Affirmative Action (a presidential order; like Law-Lite) that was designed to “level the playing field” for minorities when seeking position/entry into some entities. It is still a fact that minorities face many sociological limitations when competing directly with the majority.

As a woman and a minority, I favor Affirmative Action. It was the invisible mound of dirt below home plate that allowed the minorities (and admittedly me) to step up and bat credibly. Nowhere did it smack of anything un-American, in fact, it felt seriously American—to make things appear equal.

I felt a bit wobbly reading through the related stories. Maybe I was ready to change my mind. Perhaps outdated concepts (albeit well-meaning) should be allowed all the dignity of a legal death.  It is in this light (not lite) that I consider the egg that I like to leave unscrambled: blood quantum versus descendancy.

Many smaller tribes today are facing the decision to lower their blood quantum requirement. Without a change, their children will not belong to the tribe that the parents belong. It is the cold conscription of blood quantum. Descendancy proponents argue that tribes alone should get to set the criteria to say who is Native.  So being lineally related to a higher blood person is a reasonable substitute, descendancy proponents say.

Some contend under blood quantum (a practice rightfully ascribed to the federal government) Natives are being slowly phased out as a people. Lowering the degree to a fractionized margin for enrollment could be the answer.  I tossed this around a bit. Then it hit me that descendency might be the tribal version of Affirmative Action.

Ironically, rather than leveling the playing field, it lowers the playing field (or blood requirement) for more to bat or in this case to enroll in a tribe. The more people there are in our in respective tribes then the danger of being extinct is momentarily circumvented. This is a provocative thought.

Another solution is to allow those with a half or more blood quantum to claim full-blood status in their tribe (decided by vote) and notch up their offspring’s  blood degree as well. Blood quantum stays sterling here and ethnic annihilation is held at bay.

Descendency does seem to be the trump card for tribes, that tactic by which it can hang onto a tribal designation and maintain its sovereignty.  For other tribes, it’s an ace they don’t mind keeping up their sleeve.



S.E. Ruckman is a citizen of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes in Anadarko, Okla. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma’s School of Journalism and is currently a special contributor to the Native American Times. She is a freelance writer who is based in Oklahoma.