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  #31  
Unread 12-17-2017, 05:39 AM
Jennifer Reeser's Avatar
Jennifer Reeser Jennifer Reeser is offline
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That is kind of you, John. "That which does not kill me makes me stronger." I am luckier by far, than, say, my dad -- who only fifty years ago was being refused service at businesses, with "We don't serve your kind here, boy." I am grateful.

And I surely do not wish to turn this thread into a "Pity Party for the American Indian," but I would like to inject -- the "proud Indian" model just does not "jive" with my own, personal experience in life, though I am appreciative that it does, in others. And that is great.

My experience: sitting on my maternal grandmother's sofa as a child, hearing the OTHER side of the family bitterly say, "They call Claude a 'Damn Injun,' Jenny. They call your pawpaw a 'damn injun.'" It was, incidentally, the one and only time that strong, strong, brave lady ever gave in to it. Otherwise, the prevailing atmosphere was, "Shh. Shh. This is something we do not discuss, EVER. We cover this up, that identity. Not only do they hate you, girl -- they want to exterminate you, as though you were an insect."

She came from a well-to-do Virginia family, with noble lineage going all the way back to the great Lee family, extending even to the first settlements at Jamestown.

When she married the fierce, gorgeous "half-breed," my grandfather, the family essentially shunned her in shame. My grandfather moved them from Virginia, and that is how I came to be here.

Jennifer
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  #32  
Unread 12-17-2017, 05:57 AM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
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It sounds like you go back to Jamestown on both sides. And beyond, of course.

John
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  #33  
Unread 12-17-2017, 08:54 AM
Jim Moonan Jim Moonan is offline
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Prejudice is the bane of civilizations. In all it's forms. No one deserves it yet no one escapes it. Our only hope is to rise above it. And evolution.
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  #34  
Unread 12-18-2017, 06:49 AM
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Jennifer Reeser Jennifer Reeser is offline
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John, I am impressed! Yes, my English ancestors on both sides were here in this nation as early as 1612, and include both those who were instrumental in the founding (such as my great uncles who signed the Declaration), and those who were the victims of its greatest tragedies (such as my grandmother who was hanged at the Salem Witch Trials).

Likewise, my Native American ancestors on both sides -- naturally -- who have been here for thousands of years. Be well.

Jennifer
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  #35  
Unread 12-18-2017, 07:48 AM
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Ann Drysdale Ann Drysdale is offline
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Jennifer, not long ago you said of yourself: "I am a WASP -- a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, about as British-American as they come (for all my "French" upbringing and sympathizing with the Catholic Church!)."

Did you feel then that you were unable to confront your Cherokee heritage? Were your maternal Grandmother's words still holding you to silence then, and at what point did you feel able to speak of it? Your experience is important.
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  #36  
Unread 12-18-2017, 08:22 AM
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Jennifer Reeser Jennifer Reeser is offline
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Hi Ann,

No problem. I realize this is a difficult thing to understand. My husband used to have the same problem, of course, when terms like "half-breed" get bandied about. He would say, "half-white" or "half-Indian."I kept telling him it does not work that way -- that one is ALL of both.

Finally, one day he asked me to bring him a glass of water. I saw an opportunity to demonstrate. So I filled a glass half full with water. Then, I filled it the rest of the way with prune juice, and took it into the next room to him. He made a face and asked, "What is that?" I told him. "He said, 'I can't drink that. It's not water.'" I said, "Oh, no -- it is only half prune juice. Just drink the half that's water."

"Point taken," he answered, and finally understood.

Jennifer
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  #37  
Unread 12-18-2017, 08:38 AM
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Ann Drysdale Ann Drysdale is offline
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Thanks, Jennifer. I understand the principle and it's well demonstrated. What I was wondering was why the piece I quoted failed to mention the Cherokee heritage at all. (It was in June 2014.) I wondered if you were still, at that point, finding it difficult to come to terms with.

If I am intruding please feel free to tell me so, and I hope you will forgive me.
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  #38  
Unread 12-18-2017, 09:12 AM
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Jennifer Reeser Jennifer Reeser is offline
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Not in the least do I feel you are intruding, Ann. Quite to the contrary -- your participation has made my day. Thank you for joining in.

Rest assured, I was well aware of my Native blood in 2014, and I was not intentionally trying to mislead anyone, nor ashamed of who I am.

If you were to talk to my children, they might confess to you that at times, in fact, they must be thinking, "Put a cork in the Indian thing, already, Mom. We're sick of hearing about it."

I am an "Empty Nester" now, with a grandchild of my own. All the children are grown and gone, and I have more time and energy to devote to things like this!

Jennifer
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  #39  
Unread 12-18-2017, 11:07 AM
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Jennifer Reeser Jennifer Reeser is offline
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By the way -- as I recall, my intention with that statement was in response to Siham Karami, when she referred to me as a "bridge" to Hindi, in the work of Kalpna Singh-Chitni. All I was trying to do was to dispel the notion that I had any knowledge of Hindi, or Eastern culture, underscoring my knowledge of *English*, as my primary language -- because Kalpna's book is in English. I didn't want anyone thinking I lay a claim to India.

A digression into my Native American heritage would have seemed to me irrelevant, since the focus was not me, but Kalpna, and specifically the English language in which she made her debut -- not Cherokee, or whatever.

Last edited by Jennifer Reeser; 12-18-2017 at 11:15 AM.
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  #40  
Unread 12-18-2017, 12:16 PM
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R. S. Gwynn R. S. Gwynn is offline
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One thing that unsettles many people (more on the Right than otherwise) is our relative freedom to choose our own identities, even if relatively late in life. Rebecca Nagle's point, it seems to me, is that those who haven't lived as a Native American should be wary that their belated adoption of an Indian identity may seem less than authentic to those who were born and reared in full knowledge of it. I would say that the same kind of backlash often is applied, perhaps unfairly, to men or women who wish to reassign their genders after having lived, say, as a man and fathering children. I don't need, I think, to point to specific examples in this regard. These days we are allowed to make such choices, and whole sections of the legal code are being revised so that people won't be discriminated against for having done so. People's opinions, however, will most likely alter only with time and familiarity, and it's hard to fault those whose acceptance is still forthcoming. In my own extended family I have seen a same-sex marriage (and a looming divorce involving four minor children) and an imminent inter-racial marriage involving two minor children. We all have to make our own adjustments as best we can.
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