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, if they maintain affiliation or "community attachment" to the indigenous world.

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has officially defined "American Indian and Alaska Native" as being"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 means that all persons whose ancestry goes back to the Americans who were living in the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans now have to tell about their Original American origins. Still further, they will be asked to give the name of their principal native community or tribe, such as Kanjobal Maya, Garifuna, Mixtec, Yaqui, Aztec, Cree, or Mescalero Apache. Or they can name a specific pueblo (community or municipio), such as Acoma, Hotevila, Acteal or Tepoztlan.

This is a new requirement of the US Government. But the Bureau of the Census, in its 2000 census questionnaire, may confuse some persons by not telling the reader that "American Indian" now includes all Mexican Indians, Canadian Indians, Greenland Natives, South American Indians, and their descendants. Also the census uses only "tribe" to stand for all types of communities including pueblos, villages, nations, language groups, bands, rancherias, and colonies.

Here is the way the census form may appear:

Under the new rules, persons who come from Spanish-speaking countries or have a Latin American heritage can mark two places on the census. They can fill out the Hispanic/Spanish Origin/Latino question if they wish. And then they also must answer the "American Indian" question in the "Race" section if they have an attachment or connection to Original American (indigenous) people.

If a person does not have indigenous American ancestry or if it is not important to them, or if they are ashamed of it, 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"). The census form does not reprint the OMB rule that "white" only refers to Europe or the African-Middle Eastern region, and not to Ancient American peoples (peoples having origin in the original peoples of the Americas).

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). Mexican-Americans or Chicanos may mark both the Spanish and American Indian boxes if they so choose, since they can write in Mexica, Xicano or whatever as their "tribe" under American Indian. (It should be remembered that "Mexican" is an indigenous name just as much as is Huasteca or Tarahumara, historically and genetically speaking).

On the new census a person 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 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 is no longer necessary to write in mestizo, ladino, or "cholo" under "Some other race" because one can check both the White and American Indian boxes to show ones mixed racial status, if that is what one wants to emphasize. If a persons writes in "mestizo" etc. under "Some other race" no one will know what mixture is meant.

When a person knows the name of their pueblo in Mexico, they can look it up in Manuel Orozco y Berra (Geografia de las Lenguas de Mexico, a book which lists every pueblo in Mexico in the 1860's and the languages spoken there). This book will be found only in major libraries. Persons can also telephone their oldest relatives to locate their specific indigenous community. They can also consult the maps in Handbook of Middle American Indians or Handbook of South American Indians (at college libraries) to discover the tribal names for the regions which they are from.

It is very important that we identify ourselves with our indigenous communities, such as Xicano, Mixtec, Taino, or Apache. 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.] Phone: (916) 752-3626/3237; Fax: (916) 752-7097