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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2007)
OCTOBER 15, 2007 5 Smoke Signals Native sounds event to rock Tribal gym on Oct. 20 Back tto ft Due tfiatttaire Photo by Toby McClary Grand Rond General Manager and Tribal member Chris Leno speaks at the 2007 Future Search Conference on Tuesday, Oct. 9. The forum was held on Oct. 9-1 0 in the Tribal gym and was the first held since 1994. A story on the Future Search Conference will appear in the Nov. 1 issue of Smoke Signals. By Ron Karten Smoke Signals staff writer The Red Dog Hand, Vernon Ken nedy's (Paiute) rock 'n' roll, blues and flute music band, will headline an afternoon of bands they're calling it "Native Sounds" begin ning at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, at the Tribal gym. The Red Dog Dand also includes Jack Witcraft (Klamath), Andy Jackson (Nez Perce) and his girl friend, Cindy Nixon. The free music, hosted by Ken nedy along with Tony Selwyn and his wife, Tribal Elder Marcella Nor west, is volunteer-driven. It's an afternoon that Kennedy describes as "just a community event." Also playing will be One Blood, the Eugene rock 'n' roll band led by Dave Brokenhorn (Yaqui); the Healing Heart Drum Singers led by Carol Redbird (CherokeeArkansas) of Sa lem; Tribal member Rex Haller and Russ Hosley singing rock 'n roll and Western; and "a couple of Klamath guys led by Allen Nelson (Klamath) playing Native music." "We talked about it, and thought we might do some Native and non Native music for the community," Kennedy said. The event continues throughout the day. It also will include a pot luck, so bring your best dishes. 0 Indian populations, test results can provide evidence to assist in the documentary and genealogical research necessary to establish his torical ties to particular American Indian Tribal nations." In other words, the company says that DNA tests can point someone seeking Native American designa tion to an area of the country in which to research their possible Indian ancestors. Santa Fe, N.M.-based DNA Con suiting's Web page asks the hy pothetical question: "I am Native American can you tell me my original Tribe?" The answer here, as on most DNA consulting Web sites, implies that there is gold at the end of the test, and uses a lot of technical jargon that most lay people will not understand. "Not always," says the DNA Consulting Web site. "We usually can't tell you what group of modern-day Indians you might belong to, but we can identify what ancient lineages your Y-chromosome or mtDNA matches are, plus we can provide you with an analysis of the gene frequency for your (sic) in modern day Tribes. For instance, many Athapascan groups are almost purely haplotype A. Haplotype C is common among the Cherokee; B among the Hopi and other Pueblo Indians; X among the Ojibwe. Re cent researchers, however, have suggested that only about 10 per cent of SNPs or mutations in Na tive DNA are tribally specific." Although DNA testing plays a small part in any Tribe's enrollment re quirements, technology continues to challenge Tribal policies. Archer said that one of the most difficult problems comes when a potential Tribal mem ber does not have a direct relationship to other Tribal members. Native Americans have been around long enough in terms of evolutionary time to develop ge netic markers that distinguish themselves as Native Americans, but the problem is they have not been around long enough to develop genetic recognition markers for Tribes, Archer said. 'They've taken a little bit of science and they try to overestimate what they can do with it," Archer said about DNA testing companies. "It's like I can tell you you're a U.S. citizen but I can't tell you what city you came from." Called on to perform 700 to 1,000 tests monthly, Genetic Identity-Paternity Experts envisions growing demand. "Like anything else," Archer said, "when you find it's not that expensive (about $325 for a legal test) and you can get an answer in a few days, you look at it more favorably. In the old days, it cost $1,000 to $1,500 and took a long time to get results." Not surprisingly, he added, "Tribes with the most money are adopting it more readily." People seeking Tribal member ship based solely on DNA testing results should be careful before spending their money, consumer advocates advise. "There's a kazillion of them tar geting Tribal members," said Jan Margosian, the Oregon Justice Department's longtime consumer advocate, though she reports no complaints to date about DNA test ing companies. Margosian also wonders, how ever, if victims would know to contact her with problems. She can be reached at Jan Margosian, Consumer Information coordina tor, Oregon Attorney General's Office, 1162 Court St. N.E., Salem, Ore. 97310; phone: 503-947-4333, e-mail: jan.margosiandoj.state. or.us; fax: 503-378-5017. IfiKBfcite fill Dfudl DDI) oasij!,SijfD,&(gDaDlbsD ein)irDDinfi)in)fi 5J )uDjfDG DNA continued from front page paternity dispute. DNA testing can positively deter mine a fatherchild relationship, and, in Oregon, most federally recognized Tribes require a version of the test. In Grand Ronde, the Tribe pays for the test if the results are posi tive. Other Tribes reduce the cost by not requiring a more expensive "legal test," where the DNA sample is closely monitored. At the Web-based DNA Diagnos tic Center, cost for a legal "chain of custody" test is $280 and for a personal test, without the chain of custody, it is $195. Turnaround time for either test is five days. If the mother is a Grand Ronde Tribal member, the Tribe does not re quire a DNA test. A birth certificate suffices to prove Tribal ancestry. While DNA tests are among the most accurate uses of recent ' scientific advances in genetics, companies high and low also offer other testing uses, and sometimes a Tribal wannabe is seeking evidence that the testing can't provide. "I can tell you that you're Na tive American," said Dr. Robert Archer, chief scientific officer for Eugene-based Genetic Identity Paternity Experts, "but I can't tell you what Tribe." Genetic Identity-Paternity Ex perts provides DNA testing services for the Grand Ronde Tribe. With current DNA technology, Archer said, scientists may find that a person has an 85-percent chance of being a Navajo, but with that comes a 15-percent chance that the person is not a member of any Tribe. "And even if you're 100-percent Native American, you still need to be enrolled in a federally recognized Tribe for it to do you any good (from a financial perspective)," Archer said. "Everybody wanted free money," Archer said, explaining why people seek Native American DNA mark ers. He suggested a popular line of thought: ' 'Now that I'm Native Amer ican, how much Native American blood do I need to get college aid (as a member of a minority group)?' " For many colleges, race may be only one of many factors weighed in awarding scholarships. With the Supreme Court indicating a de creased tolerance for public schools and universities using race as a consideration in admission policies, this avenue for affirmative action has been waning in recent years. In fact, affirmative action initia tives have been so watered down that, according to financial aid spe cialists at Oregon State University and the Univer sity of Oregon, any scholarships based on diversity allow students to "self-designate" themselves as a member of the minority without verification, de creasing the need for DNA test evidence. However, for people seeking Tribal membership to qualify for per capita payouts, there is no standardization to en rollment regulations, Archer said. "Each Tribal group is a little dif ferent. Each chooses its own meth odology," he said. DNA testing companies don't al ways promise to provide the genetic link necessary to prove a Tribal affiliation, but they make it seem as if their tests will help establish that genetic trail. DNATribes. corn's Q&A section says in part: "Q: Can test results be used to apply for American Indian Tribal enrollment or to obtain offi cial Indian status? A: No. However, DNA match results can provide genetic clues as to the regions and living Tribal populations where a person's DNA is most common. Because of the strong genetic differ ences observed between American "I can tell you that you're Native Ameri can, but I can't tell you what Tribe. " Dr. Robert Archer, chief scientific officer for Eugene based Genetic Identity Paternity Experts
