From: beaver.cs.washington.edu!gnosys!anchor.esd.sgi.com!lyn (Lyn Dearborn)
Subject: Mixed blood and culture
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 09:22:27 GMT

Original-Sender: anchor.esd.sgi.com!lyn (Lyn Dearborn)

On the subject of mixed blood now being the largest Native group in the U.S.
Part of me yells "Far out!" (...sorry I never recovered from Berkeley).  the
other part of me is concerned.  The Genetic meaning of "mixed blood" is
insignificant compared to the cultural ramifications .... the paler the
blood, the more POTENTIAL there is for cultural absorbtion into other
non-native cultures.

Yesterday was the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, the beginning of the
year 5753.... and so what you may wonder.  Well, Sunday night, our Rabbi
hit us with the sad/alarming statistics, which my brothers and sisters on
the net can probably relate to since both ethnic groups are facing the same
crisis:  the potential for being a "dead culture" and "fading into the
woodwork"...  They have another identical problem:  Both ethnic groups are
more likely to get represented by those genetic members of their groups who
are in no way cultural representative (officially or otherwise).  I'll try
to explain the problem in less words than usual (good luck Lyn!)

Jews, for Religious census purposes, fall into several categories (just
substitute the word "Indian" and you'll get the idea:

1.  Jews by Religion: 4.4 million
	a.  BJR = those born Jewish who identify as jewish; 4.2 million
	b.  JBC = Jews by choice, formally converted (70%) or not: 185 thousand

2.  Core Jewish Population: 5.5 Million (up from 5.4 million in 1970)
	JBR & JNR Those born "Jewish, but with no religion (secular): 1.1 mill.

3.  Jewish DESCENT Population (JDP): 6.6 Million
	a.  BJR, NJR, & JCO (converted out): Those BORN Jewish who converted
		to another religion:  210,000 (25,000 more than the Jews
		by Choice)
	b.  JOR: Adults of Jewish parentage but raised in another religion:
		415 thousand
	c.  JCOR: Children under 18 yrs old of Jewish parentage raised in
		another religion: 700 thousand

Therefore the number of people who are no longer Jews, or only of Jewish
parentage, but not of Jewish IDENTITY - 1.3 million, SLIGHTLY MORE THAN
the number of secular Jews [JNR]).

Secular Jew:  Those who are genetically Jewish, but who don't practice
  the Jewish religion.  Do you see a parallel here:
Secular INDIAN:  Those who are genetically Indian, but who don't participate
   in Indian Life or practice its traditions .... you're still an Indian,
   right?

to Recap, the number of "Active Jews" is 4.4Million.  Genetic Jews: 5.5Mill.
"Forget it" Jews:  outnumber the "Real Jews" .... boy, I'm going to hear
about this one!  Jewish Descent population is the largest of all:  6.6
Million.

The Jewish Descent population will be just another part of the "anglo"
culture by the next generation ... except when it is useful to them and
being of "jewish heritage" offers something ... for example, lets say
there is a new Fundamentalist Minister in town ... so what?  ah yes, but
if you say, there is a new Fundamentalist Minister in town who
came from an Orthodox [full-blood] family and whose father was a Rabbi!
Oy vey, instant attention, publicity, etc.  The number of Jewish Descent
population also outnumbers the Secular Jews (who aren't of much
"cultural value" to the numbers, but at least they were Jews, genetically,
and we could count them when applying for Grant funding...

What does this mean for the future Jewish [Indian] Generations

JBR* w/ 859,000 kids = 46% of the Jewish population
JNR     307,000 kids = 16% (over 1/3 children raised to be Jews are being
		          actively raised w/out religion)
______________________________
CORE JEWS 1,166,000  62%
JCOR <Jews  701,000   38%  (over 1/3 of all Jewish children actively being
			    raised in another religion)
______________________________

Total: ONLY 1,867,000 Jews, TOTAL ..... Oy! what is a mother/tribe/clan to do?
To go from a base of 5.5 Million max to only 1.8 million is depressing.
The marriage patterns aren't any stronger either:

68% of all Born Jews are married to someone born Jewish
 4% married to someone who is a Jew by Choice
28% married to non jews

About 28% of the kids born to Jewish household (both parents) are being raised
as Jews.  31% are being raised without any religion, and 41% are being
raised in other religions...  Because Jewish are marrying later (like after
prolonged Education or professional careers), the fertility patterns don't
look promising either:  Jewish women ages 35 to 44 only have 1.57 kids each.
Jewish women 45 to 54 = only 2.01 kids/family.  It doesn't take a high degree
of educational skill to realize that at their current rate of reproduction,
the Jews are not longer even replacing themselves.  Not a promising picture,
and the WHOLE COUNTRY stands to lose if they "die out"  Why?  Because while
the Jews only represent 2% of the U.S. population, they represent over 50% of
the Charity contributions.

Similar Native analogy?  Sure there is.  it would be easy to believe that
68% of all "Real Indians" are married to other "real Indians" while
4% might be married to someone who is Indian by choice but not blood
and 28% may have married non-indians who don't even identity with the
Indian community.  It doesn't take a lot of immagination to pretend/
imagine that only about 28% of the children born to "practicing Indian house
holds" are being raised culturally intact.  31% might be raised "Indian"
in the sense of PowWow, etc., but not necessarily spiritually, 41% of the
"once Indian" society being diluted out into nono-identity land ... truly
assimilated as the BIA wants us (or as the Skin Heads/Church of Rome would
prefer the Jews dwindle to).  So what about the pitiful survivers of this
slow yet real Genocide in both cultures?  Get out your vote (upcoming
national elections included).  Choose to be/remain Indian and/or Jewish.
Treasure your culture; keep it intact; you may not understand all of the
idiocyncrasies (spelling?) of it today, but someday, you'll go, duh... is
THAT what grandfather was talking about!  Yeah, o.k., I get your point.
Time to be accountable with the choice we make in keeping it together...
Full bloods in either group aren't much use if they don't know who they are,
and as in both groups, the mixed bloods often "try harder" to uphold the
traditions because their fragility makes their survival seem even more
appealing.  This is a good place to recap Cynthia Schira's enlightened
statement, recounted earlier:

		Listen to yourself and push yourself as far as
		possible, but REMEMBER, you CAN'T GO FORWARD
		WITHOUT GOING BACKWARDS HISTORICALLY.


For those of you who are totally baffled as to why I used this seemingly
odd anology, its quite simple really... We've parallel cultures (ancient) as
they come, in a minority across this land, but with a LOT of personal power
at our fingertips.  We can, and do, often help each other.  The winner of
the 1992 election can, and will, have a tremendous impact on our culture
whether we like it or not.  We have more similarities than most of you
will ever know (those the North Carolina Cherokees are certain they are one
of the "lost" tribes of Israel).  Neither of these groups likes being
stepped on, and both are more interest in correcting the wrong rather than
empty revenge (for the most part).  Most important of all of course, is
that marriages between the two seemingly diverse groups usually go fairly
well and are mutually beneficial making complimentary combinations -- Jewish
kids making their Bar Mitzpah's at thirteen with more colorful prayer shawls
than the "full blood" Jews, and Indian kids approaching manhood with Jarmulkes
or Kipots undernearth their roach head gear.  Neither group likes pushy
christian missionaries, and both groups are better off left alone rather than
harrassment by do-gooder fundamentalist groups typical of small towns with
high Indian Populations.  Each year I meet more & more mixed-culture
marriages between Indians and Jews.. Why not?  we both treasure tradition
and refuse to dump our culture just because the non-Indian majority may whine
about the noise we make.  To summarize after only 2 thousand lines of text:
Being full blood means nothing if you don't act on it, protect it, and
increase your numbers and the quality of those numbers... more kids with
superior education = success at whatever you are trying to accomplish.

I have to accomplish not answering the postings as often and going to bed
more often..  Good night.  L'Shana tova, Shalom, Ho!, etc.

Lyn

	   The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.

				Blaise Pascal





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