ALL PERSONS OF

PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAN

ANCESTRY

All persons who are descended from the original inhabitants of North, Central and South America are now required to mark the "American Indian" question on the United States Census for 2000 or on any other government forms designed to communicate with the Federal government, if they maintain affiliation or "community attachment" to their indigenous nationality or identity.

The 2000 census will have a section on "Race"which will allow persons to check off "American Indian or Alaska Native" if they are "a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment." This is the new definition of "American Indian and Alaska Native" recently adopted by the Office of Management and Budget.

This means that all persons whose ancestry goes back to the Americans who were living in the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans now has a chance to respond. Still further, they will be asked to give the name of their principal native community or tribe, such as Maya, Garifuna, Mixtec, Yaqui, Aztec, Cree, or Apache. Or they can name a more specific community such as Kanjobal, Yucatec, Chiricahua Apache, Tohono O'odham, Quiche, and so on. Or they can even name a specific pueblo or reservation, such as Acoma, Hotevila, Pine Ridge or Tepoztlan.

This is new. Previously, indigenous heritage from south of the US-Mexican boundary was ignored. That led to our schools failing to teach about the heritages of the Toltecs, Olmecs, Purepechas, Mapuche-Araucanians, Tainos, other Arawaks, Caribs, and many other great American peoples. And many schools also overlooked the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas and all of the Andean peoples who lived before the Incas. And, of course, many social service agencies ignored the existence of indigenous peoples from south of the border and Canada, failing to hire translators or offering other needed services.

Now, under the new rules, persons who come from Spanish-speaking countries or have a Spanish-language heritage can mark two places on the census. They can mark the Hispanic/Spanish Origin/Latino question (in the "Ethnicity" section) if they wish. And then they also must answer the "American Indian" question in the "Race" section if they have an attachment to their Original American (Indigenous) background.

If a person does not wish to recognize their Indigenous ancestry or if it is not important to them, then they can ignore "American Indian" by selecting "White" (which will identify them as "a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa"). That way they can repudiate America in favor of Europe.

In the same manner, a person who does not want to be counted as "Hispanic," "Latino" or "Spanish Origin" does not have to mark that question. Some persons may be of pure American Indigenous ancestry and they may not want to be counted as "Hispanic." Others may not speak Spanish even if they are from a Latin American country. Still others, may not like the terms used (Hispanic, Spanish, Latino).

On the new census a person who has more than one racial background can mark more than one place within the "Race" question. A Puerto Rican, Dominican or Cuban, for example, who is of mixed African and American (Indigenous) races may want to mark both the African and American Indian boxes, writing in Taino, Boricua, or Ciboney for one's tribe. Some may wish to mark White also, if they have European ancestry. Some persons of Mexican origin might wish to check both the White and American Indian boxes. Other Mexican-Americans may want to check only the American Indian box, since the Mexican people have so much more Indigenous ancestry than they have of the European. It depends on which "attachment" is most important, to the heritage of the Spaniards or of Cuautémoc (or both).

The 2000 census gives us all a chance to identify ourselves in the manner in which we wish to be known. Under the "Race" question, for example, we do not have to mark all of our ancestry but only American Indian if that is the most important part of our identity.

It is very important that we identify ourselves with our Indigenous communities, such as Mixtec, Zapotec, or Apache, so that public agencies will know that we exist and that we have a right to proper services in our languages, to proper schooling for our children, and to representation in the opportunities which the society has to offer. We cannot persuade educators to include us in the textbooks unless they know that we exist. So it is for our children, also, that we must reverse the conquest and recover our heritage as the FIRST AND ORIGINAL AMERICANS!

[Professor Jack D. Forbes, Powhatan-Delaware, is the author of COLUMBUS AND OTHER CANNIBALS, RED BLOOD, AFRICANS AND NATIVE AMERICANS, AZTECAS DEL NORTE and other books.] All Rights Reserved by Jack D. Forbes. Phone:(916) 752-3626/3237; Fax: (916) 752-7097