Happy Outraged Selfie Cat Day

@MEZ: I’d forgotten/barely remember the Warren thing. I’m 100 per cent serious that ‘1/16 cherokee’ is, for whatever reason, the most common quantum/nation combination given by white people who claim native relation. I’m pretty sure Johnny Depp did it recently while defending his turn at redface in the Lone Ranger movie no one saw.

Trust me on this, I am a very white person. I know of what I speak.

Oh, it’s even better — he might have some Cherokee or Creek ancestry.

His great-grandmother, but only maybe. Do people really know that little about their great-grandparents? Like, admittedly, all I can find on my father’s maternal grandparents is after they immigrated, and don’t get me started on sorting his paternal grandfather’s 3 wives // 4 marriages, but I know what nationality everyone is >.< (well, nearly, wive #3 didn't stick around long and no one seems to know much, but she' sn either my grandfather's biological mother nor the woman who raised him)

Better than Pell claiming to be decended from Mayflower immigrants?

My sister had me convinced for awhile that my (pure Swedish) grandmother was half Lakota. It was all from a very vivid dream my sister had. Brains are weird.

Yes, but only a *bit*. A little bit of exotic foreignness is sexy, but make sure it’s not enough to make you an actual *member* of a marginalized, discriminated-against group.

Dvärghundspossen: Yup, just exactly like that.

From a review of these documents, it appears that Mr. Meads is purporting to split himself into two aspects. One gets his property and benefits, the other his debts and liabilities. The ‘Mr. Meads with liabilities’ has entirely indemnified the ‘Mr. Meads with property’. He also appears to instruct me and the Bank of Canada to use a secret bank account, with the same number as his social insurance number or birth certificate, to pay all his child and spousal support obligations, and provide him $100 billion in precious metals. Mr. Meads has also purported to create various contractual obligations for those who might interact with him, or who write or speak his name.

BWAhahahaha!

I’m 100 per cent serious that ’1/16 cherokee’ is, for whatever reason, the most common quantum/nation combination given by white people who claim native relation.

Well, most nations require a documented minimum of 1/8 ancestry to be counted on tribal rolls, so 1/16 is usually the go-to for folks who want to claim the cache of affiliated status without needing an explanation for how they don’t get a share of all the cool free stuff* that you get for being a representative of one of the first nations.

(*like permission to live on marginal and often poisoned land with third world infrastructure where the primary economic activity revolves around catering to the vices and toxic nostalgia of privileged (primarily white) people. Woot!)

@Unimaginitive In the US, maybe in Canada too, these types are attaching liens to properties of their “oppressors”. The liens are extremely simple to attach, even erroneously. However, removing a lien is an expensive legal fight. I have heard of plans to make this harder to do.

Huh. Apparently, claiming aboriginal status means you’re exempt from national law.

An interesting variation on the aboriginal immunity concept is advanced by Henry as “:Chief : Nanya-Shaabu: El: of the At-sik-hata Nation of Yamassee Moors.” Henry not only claims to be the head of an independent nation‑state and aboriginal community, but that his tribe owns Canada. He now demands rent…Similarly, “Moorish” affiliation, in this case membership in the “Moorish Divine and National Movement of North America”, did not provide inherent jurisdiction or a capacity to trump Canadian legislation, administrative tribunals, or the courts…

Also, wearing costumes.

Henry also has worn a literal ‘magic hat’! In the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Henry v. Starwood Hotels (1 September 2010) Edmonton 1003‑01152 (Alberta Q.B.) before Justice Shelley, Henry appeared wearing what is best described as ceremonial garb, with a robe and red fez, that he indicated had special significance. Subsequently, Henry has appeared in Chambers wearing what appeared to be a lawyer’s robes. It seems that Moorish Law advocates place special weight on court dress, particularly since Henry appealed Justice Shelley’s findings in part on the basis that he had garbed himself in a manner appropriate for the occasion, but she had not

My family had a legend about how somebody had Indian blood. It didn’t turn out to be true, just family legend. My dad’s family was poor, and everyone had a lot of children, and they all moved around a lot. His mother was raised by relatives and not her parents. So I think what happened was that somebody had a kid with black hair, and then people joked about how the kid looks half-Indian, and then all of a sudden you’ve got a family legend. 1/16th is popular because those are great-grandparents, and very few people actually know many (or any) of their great-grandparents, so they can’t personally contradict the stories.

Well I knew two of my great grandmothers .And I am part Indian . It also helps both my grandmothers lived to close to 100 and one of my aunts did extensive research for years and we have documents. On my maternal grandmothers side her grandmother was Indian.My great great grandmother. Our roots (one side) is Alabama for a couple hundred years.So ‘Im like 1/167 th Indian .It comes out in my affection for horses and fire and face paint LOL!! But then you throw in a LOT of English ,some Scottish and a wee tad of Irish and we are all mutts.

Anyway so what are these guys doing? Attaching liens to revenge a wife that had the nerve to divorce them ?

@Kobun, I hope the cat’s nads aren’t being squished, if only because pets should be spayed/neutered. That goes double if the cat is male, because tomcat pee is one of the worst smells on Earth.

@Argenti,

Do people really know that little about their great-grandparents? Like, admittedly, all I can find on my father’s maternal grandparents is after they immigrated, and don’t get me started on sorting his paternal grandfather’s 3 wives // 4 marriages, but I know what nationality everyone is >.<

If you have to research it, you can safely assume the average person hasn’t bothered. I don’t know any of my great-grandparents’ names or stories (barring the Irish line on my mother’s side. I don’t even know my paternal grandfather’s name, because he was an abusive drunk who died before I was born and no one was terribly upset about it. Not everyone is terribly interested in their family history.

@gillyrosebee,

Well, most nations require a documented minimum of 1/8 ancestry to be counted on tribal rolls, so 1/16 is usually the go-to for folks who want to claim the cache of affiliated status without needing an explanation for how they don’t get a share of all the cool free stuff* that you get for being a representative of one of the first nations.

1/16 would also place one’s Native ancestor far enough back that it’s more acceptable for you to be fuzzy on the details of who this ancestor was and know next to nothing about the nation in question.

Also, ironically, the Cherokee don’t even use blood quantum to determine membership, so if someone is telling you their exact percentage of Cherokee-ness, they’re already showing off how little they know about “their people”.

Related: I read recently that back in the days of the “one drop rule,” people used to claim to be part Native American to explain away features that actually came from a black ancestor. It’d be interesting to see the “Cherokee princess” people’s reactions to that little factoid – being part black in America isn’t nearly as exotic and exciting.

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