The Problem with DNA Testing for Native American Heritage w/Shannon O'Loughlin | Joe Rogan

But cultures aren't static. Right. And we're not static. And I think one of the major issues that American Indians have is that we are often stereotyped into this picture. And if we don't fit that, then we're not legitimately Indian. When you first met me, what did you think? Do you think, well, where's her brown skin? Where's the feathers? I mean, this is. No, it did not think. I think you did. And I guess it's a rhetorical question. Oh, hell, yes. So. Well, are you 100% Native American? No, absolutely not. What percentage are you? And that's. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about that. What other? So blood quantum is an imposition from the federal government that has been used to weed out Native Americans. So the whole idea of US federal policy has been to assimilate Indians, to rid themselves of the Indian problem so that land and resources could be obtained. And so blood quantum was one way that the US government could do that. So if you didn't meet what they thought was some kind of purity test, then they could write you off. But that is not how many Indian nations view tribal citizenship or membership. It's through other types of cultural continuity, family relationships. And it's not about race. That's been an imposition on us. So I'm Polish and Choctaw. So half and half? Something like that. Cynthia Ann Parker is probably a good example of that, because she was 0% Native American, but was purely Comanche. Absolutely. Italian is very similar. I'm Italian, but I have a last name that's Irish, because I'm one quarter Irish. So growing up around Italians, it was always a way they made fun of me. It was always a funny thing. Are you sure you're Italian? It's a purity test. Italians like a nice last name with a lot of vowels. That's what they like. And it's really interesting. So as executive director of the Association on American Indian Affairs, we get tons of inquiries. Probably the top inquiry we get are people wanting to do DNA tests to determine what tribe they belong to. So everyone seems to want to be Indian. And even some people are emboldened enough to say, hey, I did my DNA test. It says I'm Native American. Where's my Indian check? So there's so many misconceptions about what it means to be Native American. That's a real issue? Yes. That doesn't exist, but there's some kind of fantasy or myth that many people in the US kind of believe about Indians, because we don't know. It's not like it's taught well in school. It's not like this is part of a normal dialogue. And can you correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that it can really clearly identify what nation you're from. No, DNA tests can. It cannot. It can identify whether you have certain genetic traits that might be from North America like Canada, or might be from South America as well, right? Right. Yeah, so if you really want to learn about your history and heritage, you have to do that genealogical research. And if you weren't aware, there's 574 federally recognized tribes and about 300 other tribal groups in the United States and Alaska. 300 other on top of the 500. Yeah, that aren't recognized by the United States for many reasons. And so each one of those tribes have their own laws. They have their own systems of governance, whether it's more a traditional form of government or a written constitutional government. And each one of them have their own eligibility requirements for citizenship. So you have to do your own genealogy. And then if you do find who you may be affiliated with, then you go to that nation and you talk to them about what their eligibility requirements are. Some of them are residency. Some of them are familial relations. And some of them are blood quantum. The term Indian, is that OK to use? That's actually a legal term of art. So Indian is a defined legal term in federal law. Of art? It's a legal term of art. What does that mean? Sorry, I'm a lawyer. That just means that it's a defined federal term that has a specific definition in US code. We tend to like to be called the nation that we belong to, who our people are. So for you it would be Choctaw. Choctaw, right. And for others, whatever, Cherokee, whatever. A lot of people use Native American. And that's a broad term because that really can define folks from south of the invisible border or north of the invisible border and in the Western Hemisphere. So it's a much broader term. Indigenous peoples is a great term. A lot of people in Canada, they use First Nation. First Nation. Yeah. And they have a very interesting relationship with First Nation people up there. It's similar but different. They have very different rules in terms of hunting and fishing. And they basically could do whatever they want. Whereas the people that have friends that live in Alberta and First Nation people, they don't have hunting seasons. They just do whatever they want. They basically say, look, let's just pretend like we never invaded. And you just live how you would normally but with modern equipment. So it's a little odd. But there's no way getting around it being odd.