Reading all these discussions about what we should call ourselves, I was reminded of what had happened to me recently. I was asked what nationality I am, to which I replied. "Choctaw". Their response was: "What's that?" I had to explain that I am a member of the Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma while living in SE Texas where most seem to assume that I am Hispanic by my coloring. I do prefer to be called Choctaw over any other nationality. Trish

I live in TX and get the same thing. I am mixed blood and people here assume I am Mexican. I have been asked if I speak English many times and I do not have a real dark complexion. It is because we have a large Mexican population here and of course we are related to the Mexican people, so share many of the same features. I read some where that the Chahta are/may be from the Aztec. Does anyone else know of this? I think I read this somewhere on the net. I'm terrible about finding something then forgetting to bookmark it. I too am very proud of my Chahta blood and always say I am Chahta. Dodie [email protected] wrote: > Reading all these discussions about what we should call ourselves, I was > reminded of what had happened to me recently. I was asked what nationality > I am, to which I replied. "Choctaw". Their response was: "What's that?" > I had to explain that I am a member of the Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma while > living in SE Texas where most seem to assume that I am Hispanic by my > coloring. I do prefer to be called Choctaw over any other nationality. > Trish > > ==== CHAHTA Mailing List ==== > Choctaw Home Page: > http://freepages.cultures.rootsweb.com/~choctaw/index.htm

Halito!! I'm enjoying reading all the responses to this. Personally, I answer with Choctaw, which then usually gets a response of "what's that".....I'm in NE Arkansas, and I think I"m the only Choctaw here. Sometimes I then say Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma...or just plain old Choctaw Indian. I often refer to myself as Indian, I don't think it's a "dirty word" although it's not "exactly" what/who we are. I prefer American Indian over Native American, although I don't take offense to Native American because most people just don't know the difference and mean no disrespect by it. Everyone keep responding, I enjoy this list more than any other I'm on. Geneology is interesting and helpful, but this list can really teach us alot and each post can be something for all of us. Shelley (Hishi Ohoyo)