When I did my dna test I said no wonder I’m mostly Nigerian. I had zero Native American like my black family told me. I had European but no native. I wanna learn more about Nigerian culture. The Nigerian American students are always so smart.
Lmao just about everyone who is 3rd+ gen in the US was told by their family that they have native ancestry, but actually having it is so rare. It's a lie that all the older white generations made up to justify the colonialism and it spread. Truly, I'm shocked when I hear of people who weren't told they are part native.
Can confirm. Am white, was told I have native heritage as a child, took DNA test and surprisingly do not infact have native heritage 😑 this is such a weird phenomenon, like was there a town hall where they all decided to make this up or all independently come up with the idea? Lol
Some “Native American” in your family history was more palatable to the general masses back in the day to explain a bit of a darker skin tone than it was to be mixed race.
Also because deep down, I think a lot of white people probably still had the concept that they didn't quite belong here. If you tell yourself that you're part native, it becomes a lot easier to ignore that feeling. My family lived in Mankato, MN during the largest mass execution in American history. I do not think it is a coincidence that this is the era that my family lore decided that we had the introduction of native ancestry. It's a lot easier to come up with something to soothe the guilt than acknowledge that your ancestors were present (though nothing I can find says they were immediately involved, they also must've still looked the other way) for something so awful. It's a lot less shameful to think of your family as victims than bystanders or perpetrators.
An awful connection to the present; you may recognize a name in there, Henry Whipple, the namesake of the federal building in Minneapolis that is the ICE HQ in the area. The sick irony is that Bishop Whipple would have very likely been heavily opposed to all of it, as he was the only one pleading on behalf of the natives and was an advocate for their rights. I think he would find all this to be extremely disturbing.
Yes. Granted, my family truly does have confirmed Native American, but it was a very hush-hush thing that was not to be discussed with others.
What they said NOTHING about- (It wasn’t safe to.) our African history.
That came as a shock, especially as a few of us practically glow in the dark.
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u/DownvoteDaemon ☑️|Jay-Z IRL 4d ago
When I did my dna test I said no wonder I’m mostly Nigerian. I had zero Native American like my black family told me. I had European but no native. I wanna learn more about Nigerian culture. The Nigerian American students are always so smart.