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This is something that has always annoyed me a bit. People claiming to be 'part Native American/Indian'.
I HATE when people do that, and I'm always thinking to myself, 'Unless you can prove it without a doubt, shut up'. Yet, people CONTINUE to do it. It's not like it changes much of anything, so what's the point?
Oh, and I just LOVE when people claim they are, and when asked which tribe/group, they answer "Cherokee". WTF!! Half of them only know that word because of the jeeps! All over the country, from the northernmost part of Maine to lower California, from Washington and Oregon states to Florida, people just LOVE to claim they're part Cherokee. Just LYING!! They wouldn't even recognize a Cherokee person if he/she was standing right in fron of them! They know nothing about the language, culture, religion, belief system, or basic way of life, or even WHERE the Cherokee tribe lived before being forced out and moved, but will claim in an instant that an ancestor was a Cherokee (this is an inside joke among actual Cherokee people, btw). Now, if someone wants the lie to be a bit more believeable, they might name a DIFFERENT group, like Navajo or Apache. Either way, they're idiots. Here's a tip: Native people don't call themselves "Indians". They hate it, and I don't blame them, because it's incorrect (they're NOT from India!). They refer to themselves according to tribal group, as every group of people has done throughout history).
One thing that bugs me about the Native ancestor claim is that the claimed supposed ancestor ALWAYS just happens to have been a chief/leader or princess, someone with some status. ANOTHER lie on top of the first, stupid one. I've actually had people tell me their ancestor is Pocahontas! But they can't even name her tribe, or even know her REAL/other name(s). It's just as bad as people claiming to be decended from royalty in Europe or Africa. THEY'RE DESCENDED FROM REGULAR PEOPLE, SERVANTS AND PEASANTS AND SLAVES, AND NEED TO GET OVER IT. It's not a sin or crime to have ancestors who weren't special.
The only people who can claim to REALLY have Native ancestry are NATIVE people themselves, followed by those who are Hispanic/Latino. Why? Because it's TRUE! Native people, it's obvious. Hispanics/Latinos, they're a mixture of Native/European/African people (a little bit of Asian, too).
Which brings me to another issue I have. White and black people claiming Native ancestry. Irks me to no end, for different reasons. Wtf is with white people doing it? I'll never forget, I was in class, and a white classmate was discussing her family (the people she knows) and just HAD to include "I'm part Indian". Just out of nowhere! She figured that her straight dark hair and somewhat high cheekbones made it true. Riiiight, because only Native people have straight hair and high cheekbones. Moron. Nevermind that she's pale white with bright blue eyes, and (she told me this) her family traces back to Europe and ONLY Europe, oh, she's STILL part Native. I knew she was full of crap when she said her Native 'ancestor' was a Cherokee princess. I've had blonde AND red-headed white people say the same thing. I truly wonder why they do it, and when it's not Native people they're claiming, it's always European nobility and royalty (I've had people tell me their ancestry includes people from Henry the 8th to Marie Antoinette, to Anne Boleyn, to Peter the Great to Napoleon!).
Black people claiming Native ancestry is annoying for a different reason, even though it's unfortunately understandable. It comes from self-hatred, especially since black people are repeatedly told they have NO history whatsoever other than as slaves to other people, and never did ANYTHING nor accomplished anything in all of history. Plus, it sounds a lot better to say "My ancestors were Indian" instead of saying "My ancestors were raped by white people", as well as lying about hair instead of admitting it's destroyed and processed to within and inch if its life to make it straight to fit another culture's standards. But even so, it's STILL annoying. History may suck, but what's the point in lying and being in denial? It's not a sin or crime to be black or even have slave ancestors (as many non-black people do as well), the problem lies with other people. They do the same thing as white people, too. Ask a tribe, the answer is usually, "Cherokee". I've got a cousin who swears her great-grandma was half Native, and even has a picture; I'm not fully convinced (she COULD be mixed half black/half white). Ugh!! Quit it! When it's not Native ancestors claimed, it's African royalty. But unlike white people, who CAN name royalty, because of racism and colonialism and white supremacy and the purposeful re-writting of history, most black people can't even NAME any African royals! Heck, most black people can't even trace family back to specific countries/areas in Africa! Egypt does NOT count, and that's a rant for a later time.
The crazy thing is, regardless of the history and animosity between the groups, black people and white people, at least in North America, are more alike than different and have more in common than believed. They're more closely related to each other than to Native people. I'm not saying that NO ONE has Native ancestry, but most people don't, and I'm willing to bet that for every 10 or 20 claims there are of having Native ancestry, only one or two of those claims is probably true. Think about it: Native people were almost completely wiped out, and THEN shut away from others on reservations and such and had little extensive contact with various groups, so how in the world can they possibly be the ancestors of so many people? It doesn't add up.
One other thing. Even if a person DOES have SOME Native ancestry, what does it really matter? How important is it? It's not like it changes a person or life experiences, and it's not like the person will wake up one day and the whole world says, "Yep, that's a Native right there!". Truthfully, the only reason I can think of that people claim Natives is to get perceived Native benefits, whatever those may be. I don't know for sure, but for black people, maybe it's a way to be somehow more accepted by not being 'all black' and for white people maybe it's a way for the few idiots to legitimize their belief that the country is 'really' theirs (thereby ignoring the damage and destruction caused by forcefully stealing the homes and livelihood of a people). I don't know. It's not like being part Native will guarantee recognition as being Native.
I know one thing, though. People claiming to have Native ancestry annoy me. How many of these people try to really immerse themselves in the cultures of Native people? How many educate themselves about the people, beyond the crap written in history books? How many go to live on the reservations, or just talk to the actual people, or really look at how they've been negatively affected by imperialism and the deliberate destruction of most of their ways of life and multiple attempts at their annihilation? How many even KNOW any Native people? I'll admit right now, I don't do a lot of the things I just listed. But I still try to constantly educate myself and learn something new, and I certainly don't claim to be part Native.
It's different if people have absolute proof of their partially Native background, but for others (who are just making it up), why lie?