This is hard to answer because this has been disputed for as long as I can remember by both sides. So not everyone is going to agree with me on this. So I’d like my followers to reply with feedback as well. And if your opinion is different from mine, that’s totally fine. I’d just love for you to share. (And try not to be an asshole about it. Debating things is fine, but I’ll respect you more if it’s done without profanity & rudeness.)

Aztecs and Toltec cultures, language, and beliefs are quite different from the (U.S.) Southwestern Tribes - (i.e. Pueblo tribes, Apache, Commanche, Shoshone and many others active and extinct). To say that modern day Mexican mestizos and Mexican Indians are one and the same as the Native tribes of the U.S. is somewhat ignorant. 

Mexican race began when the Spanish arrived in Mexco, they intermarried with the Natives of Mexico. But as time went by, they built a Nation and purposely distinguished themselves separately from Native Americans.

Saying that Mexicans are Native American Indians is a bit like someone saying that Brazilians are Colombian. 

Native Americans and Mexicans never really got along and they speak different languages.

The Southwest’s Apache warrior Chief Geronimo was proud to have killed so many Mexicans after they brutally killed his wife, his children, and his mother.

Also, The Southwest’s Apache language is not Spanish, Mexican (Aztec). The Apache language is part of the Athabaskan (Na-Dene) Language Family which is spoken from California to Alaska. Not anywhere in Mexico.

I don’t generally like to answer questions like this, because once again, this is a question asking for a personal opinion. And my opinion isn’t representative of every Indigenous individual.

But, in my opinion; “we are all indigenous” is something that New Wave crystal huggers and permaculturists are extremely fond of saying. But in my opinion it sounds ignorant. It may have been true once upon a time, before slaves, indentured servants, gentry, refugees, and voluntary immigrants, but not anymore. Taking land from someone else and claiming it for yourself, doesn’t make you “indigenous to it”. It just makes you a douche. There are significant differences between being Native by having been in a culture and community that is part of this land since time immemorial, and striving to become “Native” by learning how to live in a place as part of it and adopting or taking it over for yourself.

Yes, but there are many different Native hairstyles besides just “having long hair”. Hairstyles varied from tribe to tribe. And in most tribes individual Indigenous people wore their hair differently from one another. Just like today, not every “white person” has a “Justin Beiber bob.” So every Native has their own individuality. 

Different American Indian people chose different  hairstyles based on what was popular in their clan or village. Often times, hairstyles were used to identify which tribe someone was from. Native Americans in some Plains and Western tribes continue to place great spiritual value on their hair, cutting it only when they are in mourning.

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I understand how you can feel this way, because I myself went through something similar when I was younger growing up in a predominately white area and being the only Native American kid in my school. And from conversations I’ve had with my friends now, I actually think this can be a pretty normal feeling in the Native community, especially if you were someone who wasn’t raised on a reservation.

So I suggest you look for Native American events in your area. I also suggest taking a Native American studies class. I know for me personally, I felt more connected to my people when I did. Or look into volunteering with a Native American charity that will involve you with other people in the Native community. That can help you feel more connected to other Native people. And hopefully show you that you’re not alone, and nor are you the only person who feels that way. And that, of course we’re still here. 

Religion is such a touchy subject, so I’m going to keep this as nutral as possible.. & I try not to give too personal of an answer for questions like this because my opinions don’t reflect everyone elses in the Native community.

That being said, I don’t think anyone should ever be judged on their religion or their spititual beliefs; And I feel that every person is entitled to believe in whatever they want to, so long as they are not causing harm to anyone else. However, I feel that when people who aren’t Native are looking into Native American spirituality, it tends to be more of the “New Agey” type of stuff, which isn’t really Native teachings at all. It’s mostly loosely based on Native teachings and then reitterated for “white people” to believe in power crystals, meditation huts, and other gimmicks. And they tend to go about it all wrong in the first place.

It’s also a bit odd to me, when you think of certain Native beliefs like The Dreamer Faith, which taught that “white people would disapper” and that nature would return to the way it used to be before they came to America. So I don’t understand why people of a caucasian & europiod decsent would be supportive of Native religions that teach such things.

 But of course, my followers are always free to comment & share their thoughts. Especially my Native followers, because I’m curious about their personal opinions on this.

Honestly yes, I think there is still some tension between tribes. The Navajo’s and the Hopi’s is a perfect example because they continued to have land disputes into the 90s. So personally, I feel that there is still old tension between tribes out there, but it is dying out. I don’t notice anything like that in my tribe. But things like that mainly lie within my parents or grandparents generations.

I think my generation is just so effected by our history, and the shrinking numbers in our community, that we just look for other Natives, no matter what band or tribe, to feel that we’re not alone. To know that there’s more people like us out there, though some times they be few and far between. So we tend to let things like that go more, than the ones who came before us, because we just look for other Natives to identify with and befriend.

There reason there is some speculation about the Lumbee people is because research demonstrated that there were numerous mixed-race African American surnames in Lumbee ancestry. The Lumbee were mostly descendants of white women and African men, who worked and lived together in colonial Virginia. These connections have been traced for numerous individuals and families through court records, land deeds and other existing historical documents. It is believed that when they began to settle in Robeson County, they may have intermarried with Native American survivors and acculturated as Indian.

This one’s kind of a tough call as to whether or not the Lumbee people are actually Indigenous Americans or not. I think it’s more of a matter of personal opinion on this one because some people believe they are, and some people don’t because there’s more African American and mixed genealogy there than there is Native American.

In the 1950’s the U.S. Congress passed the Lumbee Act, which recognized the Lumbee as Native American people; but specifically withheld recognition for them as a “tribe.”

But in 2009, US Representative Mike McIntyre intended to grant the Lumbee Indians federal recognition. On June 3, 2009, the US House of Representatives voted 240 to 179 for federal recognition for the Lumbee tribe, acknowledging that they are the descendants of the Cheraw tribe. But the bill still needs approval by the full Senate before becoming law. 

It means that you have a fascination and respect for Native culture, which is a really wonderful thing for anyone to have in my opinion.

If you’re asking does this mean you possibly have Indigenous roots; not necessarily. But many people in the United States and Canada have or claim to have Native American heritage somewhere in their family.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions like this in my ask box lately. I honestly can’t really help you. I’m not a professional Genealogist or a Family Historian. All I can suggest to you is to sit down with family members and try to trace your family tree and figure out where your great grandfather was born, if he was in fact born on a reservation, and try to get ahold of his birth or death certificates.