I have been told I betray and dishonor my people and my ancestors for being Christian. I'm told I have sold out my NDN soul for the white man's religion. ..I feel trapped spiritually and there is no escape for me. I have spent the last 24 and a half years living in emotional and spiritual turmoil.
I think what matters and yet often gets forgotten is that what matters at the end of the day (as important as our ethnic identity is) is whether we say we wish to follow Jesus or not - if saying we want to actually honor what He is about. It doesn't matter if NDS say one doesn't reflect their heritage enough since even Jesus was not accepted fully by His own people in His day when the Jews rejected him and only certain people follow Him - and it doesn't matter if those outside of NDS perspective (claiming Christ) say that one isn't "godly" enough because they have much to celebrate in regards to NDS. For at the end of the day, even people outside of Christ's ethnic heritage (Jewish) ended up neglecting much of the beauty in Jewish culture when Gentiles started to become more dominant in Christianity as it spread - one of the reasons why it is difficult for many in Jewish culture to separate Christianity from a Gentile perspective in the same way others claim Christianity is a "White Man's Religion" like many Native Americans or Blacks do.
As it stands, Christ was nowhere near being fully like many in European Christianity anyhow - as he was part of a Semitic people who had many similarities to the Native American people when it came to the nomadic, tribal and community-oriented roots. This is why others have noted that many within Native American culture need to cease with the line "Christ can't relate to us" and actually deal honestly with how the culture in the Bible was when it comes to seeing the other groups in that era who reflect Native Americans - and as a practical example:
As an aside, there's a reason that Quaker William Penn believed that the Native Americans were Hebrews, descendants of the ten lost tribes of Israel - and others have noted the same exact thing, although on differing levels, when it comes
to seeing Native Americans being reflective of Israel - AND of course, with mixed cultures, many who are Jewish and Native American already have this battle. I know one of my good friends Brother Shimshon has often spoken on the subject many times whenever people question him about his being Taino, Puerto Rican and Jewish..( #
2#
4 #
35 #
164 ) - as said before here:
I also have Cherokee/Choctaw ancestry. My grandfather is aware of Hebrew found among the artifacts of the tribe. His family was from GA and my grandfather was raised in Shady Point/Poteau, OK area.
A few links to Rabbi Lazer Brody's website:
Lazer Beams: The River's Song
Lazer Beams: The Trail of Tears - part 5: Ingathering of the exiles
Lazer Beams: The Trail of Tears - part one: The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and The Jewish Removal Act (Disengagement) of 2005
Lazer Beams: "The Trail of Tears", part 2: American Indians liberated Dachau
Lazer Beams: The Trail of Tears, part 3: The Cherokees, a lost tribe of Israel?
Lazer Beams: The Trail of Tears, part 4: Birds of a feather
(This is the most interesting article, as relating to your OP)
Lazer Beams: "The Trail of Tears" revisited
If you study our Jewish history you'll learn about The Spanish Expulsion of 1492. When Columbus came to the Americas he brought with him many sephardic Jews who were fleeing Spain. They influenced and intermarried within the native cultures here. I have a sephardic heritage on my mothers side because of this. I'm part Taino/sephardi (mother), part Polish/Hugary/ashkenai (father).
The Spanish Expulsion, 1492
Gxg (G²);63110107 said:
Thank you for bringing that aspect up - as I was recalling some of the things you had noted before and that had been shared before in regards to Jewish culture in the West Indies - and the ways it intermeshed in the Native populations when Jews sought safety in the New World (with Columbus himself being known amongst many as a Crypto-Jew as well as others who journeyed with him) - more shared in
Kosher Pirates: Hebrews on the high seas & seeing if MJs should do the same.. ( #
35 ) and here in #
167 when sharing on the Taino Indians a part of your Jewish heritage. Even with the Spanish Explusion of 1492, it's amazing to consider the ways it also impacted the West Indies in regards to places like Jamaica and other islands - leading to later developments when it came to people trusting in Messiah and wanting to go back across the Atlantic (more
share here in #
48 ).
Jewish culture/Messianic Judaism has always had ties to Africa...and by extension, the same goes for what occurs in the West Indies/Islands when studying the history of those transported from Africa to that location. Columbus,
who was secretly a Crypto-Jew alongside others fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, ended up making a homeland for the Jewish people in the Caribbean---and thankful for what he was able to accomplish....even though (sadly) the
man was essentially a terrorist/conqueror to the New World and he also opened up the door for the mistreatment of numerous blacks/Indigenious peoples in the process(more shared here in #
67 ) -- with many Jews playing a big part in that when it came to trade (something that many refuse to address even though there are others seeking to address the subject, more
here and
here ,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here and #
30 ). Rabbi Marc Lee Raphael, who authored the book "
The Synagogue in America: A Short History"
has done some excellent work documenting the issue. ).
Many of the Jewish people mixed in with the Natives/Black slaves and have had a shared identity ever since....with
many of the Jewish people choosing piracy to protect themselves from European Imperialism and survive in what was considered a "No Man's Land" by the Old World, the West Indies providing a safe haven - and the sea-faring background they came from being a benefit to the Jewish people in the times they were in (As
seen here ).
For references on the ways Jews were and are very similar to Native Americans, one may wish to go to the following:
But as said before, there's really no reason having what often appears to be a false battle saying "I have to either be Native or Christian" - that often can indicate one feels there is a choice to be made where there really is none and at the end of the day Jesus is not enough.
And for me, the issue does hit close to home seeing where Native American culture ties in with where I'm at. \\
My ancestors intermarried with other groups - yet they never forgot their heritage nor the need to tell others to keep fighting so that there'd be continual forcing of others into hard places ...and destruction overall. As shared before, For myself, although my roots from my mother connect me with Afro-Hispanic and West Indian culture, my grandmother from my biological father's side was strong
BlackFoot Indian. If you saw pictures of her (from the red skin to the high cheek bones), you'd see instantly. It's something I've often had a lot of battles with in explaining to others since they'd look at me and never think I had that in my blood and loved that culture...or that it's possible to have mixture from mutliple cultures into one person/group - just like it was for the
Black Seminoles. Truthfully, it is amazing to see how many blacks have often had a lot of sharp battles with Indigenious groups when it comes to identity, as many have said blacks weren't "Indian" enough while other Indigenious groups who accepted blacks that were mixed were deemed as harming the tribe/limiting authenticity. First Nations Groups/Native Americans have the concept of others being adopted into tribes/being considered to be fully amongst the people...although even this is something that does not always play out without flaw since many in differing tribes often had issue with others due to their ancestry from others outside the tribe...whereas others had no issue acknowledging where one could be BlackFoot and yet have other blood in them.
One of the best reads I was able to check out on the issue years ago is entitled "Black Indians" by William Lorenz Katz ----and for more info, one can go online/investigate an article under the name of
"William Loren Katz | Black Indians. Black West." () and
"Black Indians by William Loren Katz" () The book itself goes into great depth discussing the issues of what went down for those who were products of mixed marriages/alliances between American Indians and Blacks.....and it also talked on why it seemed that blacks and Native Americans often were quick to form alliances more in ways that amazed the Europeans coming to conquer them...even though there were many battles between the groups even after intermixing (more shared here at
"Indivisible: African Native American Lives in the Americas" ( ) ).
