Robert C. Juneau Glacier Reporter Letter to the Editor 6-7-12

Glacier Reporter Letter to the Editor  
6-7-12

My name is Robert C. Juneau. I am a Unenrolled Blackfeet who grew up on 
the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana and I have a Bachelor Degree
in History from the University of Montana. I am writing today to speak on the 
subject of using Blood Quantum as a criteria for Enrollment and why it should 
not be used. My first point is it doesn't exist. Franz Boas ,also known as the 
Father of American Anthropology, proved that there is no genetic difference 
between Asians, Europeans, Africans, or Indigenous Americans because we are 
of the same species. The only differences we have are in Language and culture. 
Therefore a White blood cell cannot be isolated from a Blackfeet blood cell 
because there is no such thing as a White or Blackfeet blood cell. There are 
only Human blood cells and hence no such thing as blood quantum. My second 
point is using blood quantum as a Enrollment criteria will eventually define the 
Blackfeet Tribe out of existence. Professor Patricia Nelson Limerick in her 
book The Legacy of Conquest said,"set the blood quantum at one-quarter, hold 
to it as a rigid definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed as it has for 
centuries, and eventually Indians will be defined out of existence. When that 
happens, the federal government will be free of its persistent "Indian problem." 
Ward Churchill says in his book Indians Are Us? "Cherokee demographer 
Russell Thornton estimates that, given continued imposition of purely racial 
definitions, Native America as a whole will have disappeared by the year 
2080." Former Department Chair of the University of Montana Anthropology 
Department Professor Gregory R. Campbell states in his book Many Americas, 
"One of the most insidious expressions of late nineteenth century scientific racism 
carried out as reservation assimilation policy was the establishment of blood quantum.
The premises that bio-physical characteristics, mental attributes, and cultural 
capabilities were imparted through a "race's blood" or biological descent culminated 
into a governmental policy to manage Indian affairs." The Blackfeet Tribe as a 
whole can choose to continue to use blood quantum as a Enrollment criteria but 
they should know the truth about what it is, where it came from, and where it is 
taking us.