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waaseyaaban t1_j780a68 wrote

Reply to comment by Mediocre-Carpet286 in TIL the number of people who identify as Native American on the US Census increased by 86% from 2010 to 2020. by substantial-freud

A wonderful question! You wouldn't be recognized in the United States as being Native American. US law surrounding indigenous people is based upon "federally-recognized" tribes. As you can imagine, there ARE people within the US whose tribe is not federally recognized- and as a result are barred from any programs, as well as culturally significant legalities, such as being able to handle/possess eagle parts.

I have a friend with tribal heritage from Canada, who was born as a US citizen. As a result, no tribe in the US recognizes her blood quantum, and Canada won't let her enroll because she's not a Canadian citizen.

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waaseyaaban t1_j781ibu wrote

To clarify, the Ojibwe people surround the Great Lakes- some are in Canada and some are in the US. In the case of my friend, her Canadian Ojibwe heritage is not recognized by any Ojibwe tribe in the US.

Indigenous ancestry that has no basis within the US (in your example, Maya from Guatemala) not only has no tribes inside the US to recognize/not recognize you, you won't be recognized by the US federally.

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dongasaurus t1_j79h23v wrote

Right, but they may self identify on the census, which would explain a large increase of native ancestry on the census.

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