fury-and-beardies:

“Sometimes when I tell strangers I’m Cherokee they ask,”How much are you?” They’re not asking if I know myself as a Cherokee and if I am considered by other Cherokees as Cherokee. That would be a valid, though invasive, question. Instead, they’re asking, “What percentage of ‘Indian blood’ do you have?” This question implies that the degree to which one is Cherokee is defined by racial purity. By this logic, the higher percentage of “ Indian blood” you have, the more cherokee you would be. It’s a racist question because it implies that Cherokees are defined by race, not by culture. People tend to forget that “race” is a concept created by cultures. The concept of race continues to have power only because we continue to believe in it. Funny thing is, in all my life I’ve never been asked by another Cherokee, “How much are you?” Instead, the questions are: “Where do you come from?” “Who are your people ?” “Who’s your mother?” They are questions of beginnings and continuities, kin and relationships.”

— Christopher B. Teuton, from “Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars’ Club”