Indian Populations (Chris Schroeder)

The question of who can be considered Indian is defined in a number of different ways. To be qualified for the programs set-up for Indian peoples as part of the treaties and reorganization, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) requires a one-fourth Indian blood ancestry or to be a tribally enrolled member (Graves). The state differs slightly as to whether a person needs to be tribally enrolled (Graves). While this is set up so the federal government can qualify and categorize a people, where do the individuals in question stand on the issue? As Jimmy Jackson, a spiritual medicine man of the Ojibwe nation says, " If you have one drop of Indian blood...Spiritually you can remain an Indian even if the BIA says you're not" (Graves). This differing on qualifications of who is and who is not Indian has led to a sort of Catch-22 between living in urban areas and living on the reservation. While living in suburban areas tends to correlate with higher education, less unemployment, and more stable families among Indian peoples, urban living is quite the contrast as there is a disproportionate number of unemployed and homeless individuals. While there is a movement of Indian peoples back to the reservations and back to their ancestry and family, many of these people live in poverty and in poor health as they do not qualify for the programs set aside for Indians on reservations as they are not "Indian enough" according to the blood quantums of the BIA. While this remains a problem, there are programs in place and being implemented to help combate the issue. Programs and places such as the Minneapolis Area Indian Center (MAIC), the Division of Indian Work (DIW), and the Center for American Indian Resources (CAIR) are set in place to help Indian peoples adjust to urban living, provide health care services, and combat chemical dependency among others (Graves). With the continued success of these programs it will hopefully help erase the stereotype of the poor, homeless, uneducated urban Indian and can help provide the services promised to Indian peoples following a forced move, yet denied to many of their ancestors because the government fails to recognize them as Indians based on blood quantums established by White America.


Graves, Kathy Davis and Elizabeth Ebbott. Indians in Minnesota. Fifth edition. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis. 2006.