Washington State Sen. John McCoy (D). Photo from Washington State Senate Democrats
Washington State Sen. John McCoy (D), a member of the Tulalip Tribes, explains why he opposes tribal disenrolment efforts and blood quantum policies:
Blood quantum originated as one of the many federal Indian policies designed to control us, to assimilate us, and, ultimately, to extinguish us. Those federal policies were designed to not allow us a future as Indian people. Blood quantum is the dominant society’s method for measuring who is Indian and how Indian we are. It is not our way. It does not in any way reflect our culture. It does not respect our heritage or lineage. It will not give us a future. I refuse to allow blood quantum to identify me. I am Tulalip. I get asked all the time, “How much Indian are you? What’s your blood quantum?” I tell people: “I am Tulalip.” That’s it. I refuse to self-identify by my degree of blood. Disenrollment is also a federal policy designed to terminate us. It, too, is not our way. It too, does not reflect our culture. It, too, does not respect our heritage or lineage. It, too, will not give us a future. Disenrollment unfortunately is becoming the way that too many tribal councils determine who belongs—meaning by determining who does not belong. I fully respect each tribe’s right to determine its own citizenship criteria. But I cannot accept disenrollment, especially when it involves blood quantum, residential requirements, United States Indian rolls or censuses, or other federal ways towards Indian assimilation and tribal termination.Get the Story:
Sen. John McCoy: I Oppose Disenrollment (Indian Country Today 5/25)
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