Massachusetts

who don't cut individual checks to their members. The Federal government cuts checks to the tribes, and the tribes decide what to do with the money. My first husband was Miami. He received a check every year. I am Cherokee and being a tribal member entitles me to health care, college scholarships, low cost housing loans (the tribe covers the cost of mortgage insurance), food banks, language lessons, and I am leaving a lot out. Because our tribe is not 'contained' on a reservation and is integrated into the population of Oklahoma we are just not that different from our fellow citizens. These benefits are available to tribal members, not to people who think they might be part....the catch is that you must also live within the borders of the Cherokee Nation (13 county area in NE Oklahoma) to take advantage of most of the benefits. I think you can get scholarships without living there or having to go to school there, but I'm not sure.

The rules for tribal membership are simple (prove your relationship to a blood relative listed on the Dawes Rolls), but are usually too much trouble (in the case of non-Cherokees, impossible) for most people to research. Cherokee Princess is a derogatory term on a par with white trash, wannabes, and other epithets and are used by other tribes to denigrate those of us whose blood is more dilute. There is no such thing as a 'wannabe'--you either are, or you ain't.