I'm sure that there will be a big fight about this but...... if your not a tribal member how would your marking Native American Indian help anyone. Your not going to help me by lying. Let your conscience be your guide. Doug CrazyCL52@aol.com wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I have a ? about marking the census as Indian. I was always told that I had > Indian in us but as of yet I have not been able to prove it. So should I > still mark it as Indian since I may in fact not be Indian? Or should you > only mark it as Indian if you are registered? I want to be truthful but I > also want the Indians to be counted too so that they may get all that they > deserve. Can someone answer this ? for me. Thanks. > > Carol > > ==== CHOCTAW Mailing List ==== > Looking for your Native American Ancestors in > Pushmataha County, Oklahoma? > Have a look -- http://www.rootsweb.com/~okpushma/ Andre replies: If you consider yourself to be Native then I would encourage you to indicate that on the Census please refer to the following article: http://www.minorities-jb.com/native/special/census1199.html Filling in the Census by Mary Blount, PhD, Census Tribal Liaison, Muskogee Creek Non federal Indians are not getting the full story on how to enumerate and be counted as Indian. These are the rules given to Federal Tribes by the Census Bureau. To make sure you are counted, follow the steps below. Check Indian as the only race listing no other admixture (white, black, etc.). Enter the name of your tribe using only 19 letters. Check with tribal officials to ensure everyone in the tribe is using the same tribal name with same spelling. Be sure that person #1 on the Census lists as Indian, because everyone in the household will be counted as the same race as # 1. Pass it on and your people will be counted appropriately. There are two forms, short and long. The long form has the added question about ancestry which asks nationality, i.e. what your parents-grandparents were. Again, what is filled in is important. What I am telling my tribe is to enter " North American " since the race is already listed as American Indian. . The coding information is true for all minorities, since how the Census statisticians deal with the data is the key. Only full bloods of any race are listed in the primary census reports that are promulgated for national use. The secondary census report data seldom get wide spread discrimination; thus, anyone not counted as full blood does not get counted into program funding which is based upon the primary race count. I know it sounds complex and it is, since it is essentially a governmental, money saving device. Copies of the census forms are available on from the Census Bureau. You can download either short or long copies and get familiar with it. If you have questions, please email me. -- André Cramblit, Operations Director The Northern California Indian Development Council ( http://www.ncidc.org ) NCIDC is a non-profit organization that helps meet the social, educational, and economic development needs of American Indian communities. NCIDC operates a fine art gallery and gift boutique featuring the best of American Indian Artist's and their work, with emphasis placed on the work of the Tribes of N.W. California. (http://www.ncidc.org/gift/gifthome.htm#anchorgift)