What does it mean to be Indian?

I can’t honestly consider myself a true Native American, but my grandfather was. With his dominantly Cherokee heritage, he was keen to teach his grandchildren what that meant. And why it was important — not only to him, but to this country as a whole.

As a young child, what stood out were the little things, such as how he taught us to walk ever so quietly, especially in nature. To carefully examine, learn from, and leave intact and unsullied the Earth and the creatures we humans encounter. If we cannot leave what and whom we touch better off for it, at least we should do no harm.

In my teens, I better understood what lay behind those lessons. A deep respect for all things living and natural. An intuitive understanding that while we may dominate at times, we are not elevated above other living creatures and this planet.

We are gifted with their bounties, not entitled to them. And if we “listen” quietly, carefully, and without ego, we can feel our connection to it all. This, in Granddad’s understanding, was the Great Spirit.

November is American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.

Names: No, Indian is not necessarily the same as Native American. There is a bigger conversation about these terms (see for example, Bit.ly/2NlyA7K), with many saying they would instead first describe themselves as a member of their Tribal Nation. Remember, Columbus coined the term “Indian” when he misidentified the people he encountered here as being from the Indies in Asia — wholly inaccurate.

Government and related organizations use both terms, with “Native American” favored in some U.S. and Tribal organizations, while “Indian” is still used in others.

Numbers: First celebrated as American Indian Day in May 1916, President G.H.W. Bush signed into law National American Indian Heritage Month in 1990, to be celebrated each November.

A few facts from a 2018 report by the U.S. Census Bureau:

6.8 million: The nation’s American Indian and Alaska Native population, including those of more than one race.

10.0 million: The projected American Indian and Alaska Native population, including those of more than one race, on July 1, 2060. They would constitute 2.5 percent of the total U.S. population. Once they were nearly all of it.

141,494: The estimated number of single-race American Indian and Alaska Native civilian veterans of the U.S. armed forces in 2017.

326: The number of distinct federally recognized American Indian reservations in 2016, including federal reservations and off-reservation trust land. In Idaho, that currently includes the Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai, Nez Perce, and Shoshone-Bannock tribes.

573: The number of federally recognized Indian tribes in 2018. Note the number of tribes exceeds reservations, and those are greatly shrunk (and often relocated) from their original historical lands.

29,089: The estimated number of American Indian and Alaska Native-owned employer firms in 2016.

But you can’t begin to capture more than 300 rich cultures, their characteristics, contributions and challenges in a few stats, nor a personal story from one melting-pot American journalist. What it means to be Indian can only be understood or explained by a Native American. One whose ancestors predate the rest of us in this land — a fact whose influence upon American culture as a whole is so often underemphasized, and underappreciated.

The Exhibits and Collections tab at NativeAmericanHeritageMonth.gov (which includes links to “Ancestral Voices” recordings, Smithsonian collections, and other digital and audio resources) offers a glimpse into this rich heritage.

“You have to look deeper, way below the anger, the hurt, the hate, the jealousy, the self-pity, way down deeper where the dreams lie. Find your dream. It’s the pursuit of the dream that heals you.” — Billy Mills, Olympic gold medalist and Ogala Lakota

•••

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.