Ed. Note: Rod Van Mechelen is a member of the Cowlitz Tribe of Washington.

"If every American who is "part-Indian" checked "American Indian or Alaska Native" on question 9 of the 2010 Census, and wrote in the tribe from which they are descended, as their "Principal Tribe," this would change the complexion of the conversation about racism in America.

For generations, many nations, and even many Americans, have claimed that America is racist because it is numerically dominated by White people. But by some estimates, more than half of all Americans today are "part-Indian." And by the criteria that apply to Asians, Blacks and Hispanics, all of those "part-Indian" Americans are Native Americans.

These criteria have nothing to do with tribal enrollment, but with ancestry and self-identity. So in reality, America might be "dominated" by Native American Indians. If that is the case, then all those people who claim America is a racist nation will have to rethink their position.

Officially, American Indians comprise only about 1.5% of the American population. Our "crunchy" conservatism is largely ignored because as a demographic we are perceived to be small.

But if it were known that 150 million or more Americans consider themselves to be Native American Indians, then our values, virtues and principles would be taken far more seriously.

And because there is a big difference between being counted as a Native American and being an enrolled member of a tribe, there is no reason why Indian tribes should not support this."

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Rod Van Mechelen : Native American America (Backlash 3/22)