Native Lens: Blood Quantum | Rocky Mountain PBS [Video]

There are many complexities that exist within Indigenous identity. My own story is just one example of how Tribal Sovereignty affects me on different levels; my village enrollment, my Alaska Native Corporation status, as well as federal recognition. The topic of Blood Quantum use is heavily debated, and it is our right and our duty to expand our knowledge on this issue.

[Related: So what exactly is ‘blood quantum’? — NPR’s Code Switch]

I personally believe that the continuance of Blood Quantum policy is an act of modern-day genocide. To fractionalize a person can lead to enormous damage in self-identity. No one is born colonized, and yet through my own upbringing as a child being raised in Scottsdale, Arizona I had so desperately tried to distance myself from my own Yup’ik Alaska Native heritage — I had only wanted to acknowledge the part of me that was white. It wasn’t until …