I had a Comanche Mother and an Irish father. But I am Comanche. I'm not Irish, and I'm not Indian first. I'm Comanche first, Indian second. He was all Comanche or he wasn't Comanche at all.
Blood runs the heart.
The heart knows what it is. It is the heart of this person that speaks to me. That's where my Indianess is - in my heart. John Fire-Lame Deer associated Indianess with the heart also. His beliefs in the concepts symbolized in the Pipe identified him as an Indian.