blood quantum was first introduced in 1705 by the Colony of Virginia, which adopted the “Indian Blood law.” This law was used to reduce the civil rights of Aboriginal people with or greater blood quantum. At this time, blood quantum, in part, was based on what White settlers saw before them, such as the darkness of a person’s skin. It was not based on the rules Tribal Nations had established for themselves to determine membership.
Over time, the use of blood quantum evolved as a way to determine whether aboriginal people were “Indian enough” to be eligible for certain land, goods, or services from the US government. This use of blood quantum developed because Tribal Nations signed treaties with the US government (and colonial leaders), where they agreed to share the land with the White settlers in exchange for healthcare, education, housing, and other rights.
Tribes did not start to use blood quantum to determine membership until 1934 when the US government introduced the Indian Reorganization Act.
problems with using blood quantum to decide who is considered a tribal member. For example, blood quantum doesn’t define one’s Indigeneity (how aboriginal you are). Rather, blood quantum, back to its origins, is based on racist ideas about what makes someone aboriginal. However, many people use it to exclude others, enact lateral violence, and make them feel like they aren’t “Indian enough.”
Over time, the use of blood quantum evolved as a way to determine whether aboriginal people were “Indian enough” to be eligible for certain land, goods, or services from the US government. This use of blood quantum developed because Tribal Nations signed treaties with the US government (and colonial leaders), where they agreed to share the land with the White settlers in exchange for healthcare, education, housing, and other rights.
Tribes did not start to use blood quantum to determine membership until 1934 when the US government introduced the Indian Reorganization Act.
problems with using blood quantum to decide who is considered a tribal member. For example, blood quantum doesn’t define one’s Indigeneity (how aboriginal you are). Rather, blood quantum, back to its origins, is based on racist ideas about what makes someone aboriginal. However, many people use it to exclude others, enact lateral violence, and make them feel like they aren’t “Indian enough.”
blood quantum way of determining tribal members is not traditional. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, tribal membership, for the most part, was based on kinship, and matrilineal and/or patrilineal descent. However, tribes also considered different factors. For example, it was common for communities to decide someone’s membership based on the individual’s relationship to and involvement in the community. It was also common for tribes to adopt non-native allies and friends into a tribe, or banished individuals from a tribe for committing crimes that negatively impacted the community.
Tribal Nations have the right as self-governing nations, to choose how they define tribal membership. However, many tribes, possibly without realizing the full impact, adopted blood quantum as the defining factor for membership. This is why we see different membership rules for different Tribal Nations today. That being said, there are efforts to return to traditional ways of determining membership, including rejecting the concept of blood quantum and relying upon lineal descent and other factors.
The idea of using blood quantum to determine tribal membership was developed by government officials as a way of releasing the US government from their treaty obligations to Aboriginal peoples. The idea was that over time, as aboriginal people intermixed with non-aborigine people, they would become extinct.
Tribal Nations have the right as self-governing nations, to choose how they define tribal membership. However, many tribes, possibly without realizing the full impact, adopted blood quantum as the defining factor for membership. This is why we see different membership rules for different Tribal Nations today. That being said, there are efforts to return to traditional ways of determining membership, including rejecting the concept of blood quantum and relying upon lineal descent and other factors.
The idea of using blood quantum to determine tribal membership was developed by government officials as a way of releasing the US government from their treaty obligations to Aboriginal peoples. The idea was that over time, as aboriginal people intermixed with non-aborigine people, they would become extinct.
by Desert flower September 27, 2023
Smooth melasma is when the skin on your face or body is extremely discolored and damaged due to sun damage or autoimmune imbalances, including PCOS, endometriosis, and hypothyroidism, which are contributing factors as to why the discolored skin keeps getting darker in color and becoming smoother over time but is still discolored and darker than your original skin tone in appearance.
Smooth Melasma is a skin condition that keeps coming and going only to leave people with discoloration, uneven skin tone, and smooth, textured melasma. It's extremely frustrating and causes people to slip into deep depression; it's their lives and their mental well-being.
by Desert flower May 19, 2024
Don't let this appearance fool you although I'm lightly Melanated I'm hella brown, don't try me today, I don't have the patience for your childish ways.
Lightly melanated Hella Brown - refers to an individual having eumelanin but affirming one's self that they're hella brown in complexion meaning they're still melanated.
by Desert flower July 09, 2023
Melanin male worship is a learned behavior that was taught to melanated girls and women at young ages by their peers, who came from older generations, to uplift, protect, support, and defend melanated men in their communities at any cost, going so far as to be the sacrificial lambs for these men who have a history of mental abuse, sexual violence, domestic violence, and femicide. While melanated women do backflips and defend them publicly, these same men pay them dust in return as women in their communities make safe spaces for melanin men, constantly placing these men on pedestals for their imagery when they haven't displayed that same energy in return for defending these men who never cared to defend home first. melanated women repeatedly going out of their way to make these men see the value they don't see in themselves, not holding melanin men accountable for their actions, blaming Caucasian men for their shortcomings, and fighting with women from other cultures that melanin men bring into their own communities, with ill intentions being used against melanated women. Melanin men are placed in unpredictable positions of leadership; they don't build up their communities from the inside out; they aren't career-driven; these men are scared that melanated women are requiring better partners of means from different cultures than our own; when we choose better, we do better.
Melanin male worship is the act of ignoring melanated men's behavior yet ostracizing different cultures from doing the same thing, turning a blind eye to the outright criticism of melanated men but ignoring the tumultuous behavior that they display, singing melanated men's praises for having melanated skin, acting like Super Women for melanin men, steadily coming to their rescue. Every time someone says something they aren't in agreement with while being one-sided race-loyal culture warriors for melanated men who will raise young daughters with no boundaries, standards, expectations, and low self-esteem for the next melanin man to misuse, abuse, and discard, they are actively doing a disservice to these girls who will mature into women that will seek out men with childish minds to start a life with while they settle for a melanin man who has no intentions on marrying them, nor will these cuddled men see the importance of marriage. Eventually, these young women with no guidance play house, giving these men all the wifely benefits without any real commitment on their behalf, resulting in a one-sided situation that's a disservice to the melanated woman involved, who gives all her time, the best years of her youth, effort, and energy to a man that's underserving of it and doesn't want to see the value in it.
by Desert flower September 16, 2023
American Hoodoo is a set of spiritual practices, traditions, and beliefs that were created by enslaved Melanated American Aboriginals in the Southern United States from various traditional hebraic spiritualities, regarding the Popol Vuh, Mormonism and elements of Mayan, Aztecah indigenous botanical knowledge. Practitioners of Hoodoo are called root workers, conjure doctors, conjure man or conjure woman, root doctors, shaman, Hoodoo doctors, and swampers. Regional synonyms for Hoodoo include conjure or rootwork. Many Hoodoo traditions draw from the beliefs of Cuauhtēmallān people of Central America in guatamala.
American Hoodoo is The most well-known American folk magic that originated from Melanated American Aboriginal slaves and is called Hoodoo. There are other names for it such as root-work and conjure. Hoodoo is a spiritual practice that stemmed from a mixture of Melanated American Aborigines and Siberian Native American mongoloid traditions; however, it’s NOT the same thing as Voodoo. Voodoo is a religion, not a spiritual practice. The American spiritual practice of Hoodoo has its roots in the Deep South of the U.S. – from Louisiana to Alabama, from Mississippi to Georgia.
by Desert flower September 20, 2023
A male-identified woman is an individual who will throw other women in front of a moving train to appease the problematic males she surrounds herself with, giving these men her undying support at the detriment of other women's expenses.
She will fight tooth and nail to defend their mental and physical abuse against women, ignoring the severity of the situation. She will continue to coddle them as if they're babies that need breastfeeding. She'll vouch for their incompetence by making excuses for them over-identifying with men, to the point where she refuses to admit that she views an attack on men as an attack on her.
Women who decide to associate with male-identified women are the types to say, What did you do for him to react the way he did? You shouldn't be raising your voice; you should've stayed quiet. It's your fault for talking back to him; no wonder he beat you. As if speaking your truth gives him the right to put his hands on you, it doesn't. These are the types of women to stay away from; any woman who aligns herself with male patriarchy, knowing how it affects all women, is a danger to every woman.
She will fight tooth and nail to defend their mental and physical abuse against women, ignoring the severity of the situation. She will continue to coddle them as if they're babies that need breastfeeding. She'll vouch for their incompetence by making excuses for them over-identifying with men, to the point where she refuses to admit that she views an attack on men as an attack on her.
Women who decide to associate with male-identified women are the types to say, What did you do for him to react the way he did? You shouldn't be raising your voice; you should've stayed quiet. It's your fault for talking back to him; no wonder he beat you. As if speaking your truth gives him the right to put his hands on you, it doesn't. These are the types of women to stay away from; any woman who aligns herself with male patriarchy, knowing how it affects all women, is a danger to every woman.
Male identified woman is a woman who will shift the blame to other women to avoid men being held accountable for their actions, and every chance she gets, she will convince women that they are the problem and they need to figure out what they did wrong for the betterment of the man in their lives. Her advice will be to cook him dinner every day and clean up after him, because that's what good women do: wash his clothes. Have sex with him when he says he wants it. Be his peace; be his home away from home. Put his needs first. While you're busy putting him first, you wait for him to acknowledge your efforts, but it falls on deaf ears. No one's your peace; he's not your home away from home. He doesn't put you first unless you mention it; he doesn't cook dinner for you; he doesn't clean up the little mess you make when you have one. He just doesn't do anything. Everything shouldn't be taken for granted without giving something in return and getting it back. Someone who reciprocates the same energy that you put out is living a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
by Desert flower September 13, 2023
Pro-Melanated is about uplifting and empowering the melanated brown Americans on a spiritual, financial and psychological scale, but some people might disagree with me on that statement and that’s part of the problem.
Melanated people want to do right thing for the melanated American community but they think that if you don’t view pro- melanated mindsets in the exact same monologue they do then all of a sudden you are not “awakened.” I swear it’s like some of them want to make being pro-melanated thinking a damn competition. I’ve had people try to test me with that stuff a few times. If I didn’t know the same Truth as them, all of a sudden I wasn’t “awakened” enough.
by Desert flower July 09, 2023