staceywacey

Not OP and I dont live in my tribe's service area (Im part of the Sault Ste Marie band of Chippewa; we dont have a reservation), but in order to preserve our language (Ojibwa) my tribe has started live-streaming language lessons.

Not OP, but it depends on your tribe. Do some research, see what band your family is from, and go from there. Their rolls may or may not be open, and if they're open, take the time to do the legwork needed to get registered.

Theres a difference between lies and something that a person thought was true but isn't. She didnt act maliciously when she claimed NA heritage... so I wouldnt call it a lie. And it's been my experience that having NA heritage doesnt get you preferential treatment... especially when you don't "look the part". So I tend to view people who beat that drum and want to crucify her for a mistake she made as a kid with a harsher eye than I do others- because what other prejudicial thoughts and feelings might they have?

It's going well so far!

Whether or not a tribe has a reservation, as far as I know, depends on the treaties made with the US government back in the day and how those treaties were enforced. In general, a lot of the people on reservations were relocated from more desirable areas to land that was deemed by the government to be basically useless. Case in point- The Cherokee tribe was originally from the Georgia area and they were forcibly relocated, on foot, to ~Oklahoma. It's called the Trail Of Tears and it's horrific. A more modern analogy for reservations would be Jewish ghettos during WW2 or Japanese Internment Camps. They're places the government in power put "undesirable" people to get them out of the way. I cant speak to whether or not people would prefer to live on them though. I think that's a YMMV situation. You're still in the US on them- Its like saying you live in a city. The city is still in that country, that doesnt change. It's just also on land that's allocated for a specific use.

Re: Naming- Thanks to missionaries, most NA are Christians. We have been thoroughly anglicized. There are some who, culturally, still use traditional names, but you're just as likely to meet a John Smith as you are a John Littlefeather.

All knowledge is good so I'm happy to answer questions to the best of my ability. :) But in general- the US government was pretty shitty for a very long time to Native people, thanks to racism and a superiority complex. A couple of decades back, they said "Heeeeeey... sorry, we shouldnt have done that. Here, you're actual human beings now?" and progress has been slowly heading in (generally) the right direction since. It doesnt erase the past, but it makes the future slightly less bleak.