Member-only story
Being a Reconnecting Native is Hard
But so valuable.
Introduction
In this era, I believe that our generation has been putting in a good effort in reviewing history and learning the truth about what really happened. When I learned that it was possible to reconnect with your indigenous tribe, clan, pueblo (town), I got to work.
Asking Questions
My parents were the first people I had to turn to for answers. Neither of them knew which tribe they individually belonged to, but what they did know was that they practiced some traditions that resembled indigenous practices. The next step was to create a family tree and try to locate records on online databases, such as Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org. While I was able to trace back to my 5th great grandparents, racial identity was very hard to find. If anything, all I found was “Mexicano”, “Mesclado”, or “Mestizo”. I then realized that this process was going to take time. And before you start to wonder why I didn’t ask my grandparents, I only one have one living grandparent and she was an orphan with no clue to what tribe/clan she belonged to. My aunts and uncles in Mexico are also unaware — they just simply “do” without tracing it to anything.
