I Really Really Wish There Was A Conversation In Native Spaces About At Large And Disconnected Members

I really really wish there was a conversation in native spaces about at large and disconnected members and how many times (not always, but MANY times, particularly for Cherokee Nation) they have privileges that many members do not and how just being disconnected does not eliminate that and that there is probably a connection there even with that.

like. I don't think it's that difficult to connect the dots of gaining White privilege by repeatedly marrying into white families and abandoning your culture. you have the right as a descendant to connect to your tribe if that tribe allows for it, but you cannot pretend to be completely disenfranchised just by the fact of being a disconnected and at large member when a good chunk of the time this happens because these families are chasing white privilege. you have to acknowledge what your family has tried to do and how that is affected you today and how you should go about things moving forward.

that doesn't mean you The descendant are chasing white privilege but we have people within our own culture groups that get huffy and pissy because they do not live within territory. we get questions from White disconnected people asking if they can have an elder / first language speaker flown out to their home to live with them and talk Cherokee with their children full time. we get white disconnected members getting pissy because only certain information is allowed in in person circles and we're not going to transmit over the Internet so it can be stolen like everything else.

I understand being light and disconnected and at large as a native American tribal member can be difficult, but it seems like these difficulties are treated as if they completely eclipse all the privileges y'all have