I would have said that too, several months ago. But my research is opening up new doors. I'm seeing things totally different now. There are Black people who are descendants of slaves of the Native people, true (The Freedmen). But, there are also so-called Black people who are a part of Native tribes through bloodlines. Now most of these Black Natives (the term "Black" being a misnomer) are not accepted by the current Native Tribes (who are really European/White).
But, I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, believe what you want. I'm just sharing what I'm sharing, and I'm hoping that together we can all get on the same page and hash this out.
As far as your statment, believe your eyes... That's precisely why we're in this mess. When you go to a magic show, they usually say, "You Won't Believe Your Eyes!" Because they already know that our visual senses are what we rely on the most. So they play on that... and they get over.
Those people are of mixed heritage, or race, for lack of a better term. They are not natives. Just as the multitude of white folks claiming to be natives are people of mixed ancestry. All of us are, really.
One of my grandparents was Choctaw. She was not black. At all. There is zero history of enslavement in her family.
She and most of here kids looked/look like the front of a buffalo nickel.
She was contacted more than once by the local Choctaw Band, but never bothered to respond to their invitation to become part of the nation. I don't understand why, but I don't understand why they just didn't set fire to the South decades ago...
The people we call black in the U.S. include people whose ancestry is often actually predominantly something else.
So yes, there are people of both Native and African heritage that we recognize as black.
If you compare what they look like to people from Ghana, for instance, you can see that the African genes are not
always dominant, despite popular belief.
I am not trying to negate what you are saying. I mention this because most black people claim a cousin with straight hair
is 1/4 Cherokee ( I don't know why it's always Cherokee). Most are simply black, and white, due to intermarriage or rape during
the time of slavery.
So, the question is, are these people as entitled to land as true Choctaw?
Since the Choctaw owned slaves, I would say it should be up for grabs to them as well, as a form of reparations if nothing else.
Once I started to investigate that side of my family, I was dismayed to discover I was, in part, descended from slave owners.
But then again, so is someone whose great-great grandmother was raped by an overseer.
When you go to shaking that family tree, be prepared. You might not like what falls out of it.
