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09/19/2008: "Tod Palin and his much touted Eskimo ancestry"

Some myths, and questions, persist about Todd Palin's Yup'ik ancestry. A few:
For starters, the PC terms (I know, I know, but we Alaskans have a set of our own terms, too) would be Yup'ik or (groan) Yup'ik Eskimo if the person is okay with it. Eskimo is not the most popular term to be used by non-"Eskimo" people in reference to them. Yup'ik is best.

What hasn't been mentioned is whether he is an enrolled member of a tribe. There are more stringent blood quantum requirements for some tribes. That they haven't said, "And a member of X tribe... or X village tribal organization..." is pretty telling.

What keeps being mentioned is that he is a descendant of a Yup'ik woman (his mother.)

To be very clear - I absolutely do not believe that blood quantum defines how "Native" you are. The frequent mention of it as a disqualifying factor is wrong. For that matter, there are countless ways to be a proud member of the Native community, and none of it has to do with that extra 1/16 more Native blood you have than the next guy over. What defines you as a Native leader, and a Native example is much easier to nail down, and in this case, Todd would not be the definition of either.

[ If someone who would pass easily for an indigenous European racially nevertheless identifies with some non-white ancestry - be it real or imagined - then they have made a choice regarding where their loyalties lie and others should take note of that. ]

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=20010