To be born Indian is to be born into a proud culture that many Americans wish they had. America's long history of "playing Indian" bears this out, and tonight many children will don Indian costumes in America's officially sanctioned begging ritual we call "trick-or-treating" as a testament to the ongoing fascination with Indian culture. New agers still appropriate Native American ceremonies claiming they honor and respect Native American culture. But being born Indian is also to be born into the history of America's dark side, a history that it has yet to completely reckon with. It is to be born into the struggle for justice and having to tell your side of history, a side people often don't like to hear. It is to be born inherently controversial.
When you are born a mixed-race Native American, as most of us are, you learn to negotiate multiple cultural spaces. You become accustomed to having your identity questioned and your authenticity scrutinized at every turn as people unconsciously ask questions about your percentage of Indian blood. If you are born a mixed-race Indian with African ancestry you straddle a doubly-complex world of racial stigmas and struggle for recognition, like the Cherokee Freedman who are still grappling with the consequences of slavery in a very real way.
The point is that history is never over, especially for those who have been the most negatively impacted by it. Who any of us are today is a direct result of the past and when that past is loaded with injustice we have to keep working to right the wrongs. There's a big difference, though, between that and the perception that all you are doing is staying stuck in your own victimhood.