It seems like there isn't much happening in 2000, except, I guess, that it is the start of a new millenium. Of course, that depends on which calendar you're consulting. Nobody remembers when Indian history started. That's what "time immemorial" means.

Let's see, I guess it would be a good idea to describe myself first. My mom is Mohawk and my dad a first generation Italian immigrant. For those who like to measure blood quantum, that makes me 100% Mohawk and 100% Italian. I have lived in urban centres all my life... the closest thing I've come to a reserve is the Native Friendship Centre. I don't speak Mohawk although I know a bunch of words. I don't go to church, but I don't go to the Longhouse either. I work as a web designer.

As for Native affairs, things feel like they're moving at a snail's pace... A new millenium. What will happen to Native people? Will we finally die out or be totally assimilated, like a lot of people once wished we would? Or will we once again rule our lands?

I think that we are at a pivotal point in our history, where we could go either way. But my money is on us. Not only are we going to make it, but we are going to ROCK! What with our birth rate increasing, and more of our people going to university (and bringing that knowledge back to the community) we're shedding the weight of the wrongs of the last few hundred years. We are now positioned to take our places as leaders. But there are a few scary ideas out there in Indian country. Like blood quantum. I can't understand why Indians agree to measuring our community this way. We shouldn't be asking people to leave, we should be inviting them in. The more the merrier, strength in numbers and all that.

By getting rid of people you make yourself weaker, not stronger. That kind of practice leads to a bunch of small fish in a small pond -- and inbred children. On the other hand, welcoming home the people who were lost, scooped up by adoption or legislated out by sexist, paternalistic, non-Native laws is how we can have a strong, diverse, skilled, Indian population.

At least, that's how I see it.