Blood quantum influences Native American identity
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14089253
Condensed by Native Village

For Native Americans, "blood quantum" is all about identity.

The term was first used in the 1700s by Colonial Virginia. Those who were more than 50% Native American had their rights restricted.

Today, the federal government uses to determines the benefits a tribe receives based on its population.

Different tribes have adopted their own levels of blood quantum. Some, including most of the Cherokee Nation, have abandoned blood quantum. They favor a simple ancestry based on rolls drawn up by a congressional commission in 1893.

But many tribes are angered by this, saying that practically anyone can claim membership in the Cherokee tribe. For many, particularly the elders, blood quantum is a matter of pride - a simple, incontrovertible measure of Indian identity. 

But as Native Americans intermarry among other tribes and with non-Natives, blood quantum may mean "extinction." One such example is Scott Davis, the Executive director of North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission. Davis has a list of his family and blood quantum fractions:
 

Faced with this process of diminishing fractions, some tribes are looking identity changes. These include reducing blood quantum requirements, pooling of blood lines among tribes, and doing away with percentages and fractions altogether.

Another solution is for tribes to adopt citizenship acts that requires one to know their language and culture and to visit home.

Jesse Taken Alive, a Standing Rock councilman, wants to stop thinking in terms of numbers. "What's important is to focus on a way of life," he says.

Scott Davis agrees."I don't believe in the system," he says. "In my heart and my mind, I'm full blood. I always will be full blood."

BLOOD QUANTUM REQUIREMENTS
Tribes requiring / degree blood quantum for membership (Equivalent to one parent)		Tribes requiring / degree blood quantum for membership (Equivalent to one grandparent)
Kialegee Tribal Town Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin White Mountain Apache Tribe, Arizona Yomba Shoshone Tribe, Utah		Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington Oneida Tribe of Indians, Wisconsin Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Arizona Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Kansas Navajo Nation, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico	Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Arizona Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, North and South Dakota Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe, California Havapai-Prescott Tribe, Arizona United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, Oklahoma Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, Montana
Tribes requiring / degree blood quantum for membership (Equivalent to one great-grandparent)		Tribes requiring / degree blood quantum for membership (Equivalent to one great-great-grandparent)
Apache Tribe of Oklahoma Comanche Nation Oklahoma Delaware Nation, Oklahoma Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma Karuk Tribe of California Muckleshoot Indian Tribe of the Muckleshoot Reservation, Washington Northwestern Band of Shoshoni Nation of Utah (Washakie) Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma	Ponca Nation, Oklahoma Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska Squaxin Island Tribe of the Squaxin Island Reservation, Washington Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation, Washington Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation Upper Skagit Indian Tribe of Washington Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie)	Caddo Nation Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon Fort Sill Apache Tribe Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina
Tribes determining membership by lineal descent These tribes do not have a minimum blood quantum requirement; however, this does not mean anyone with any amount of Indian blood can enroll. Members must be direct descendants of original enrollees.
Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town Cherokee Nation Chickasaw Nation Choctaw Nation Citizen Potawatomi Nation Delaware Tribe of Indians Eastern Shawnee Tribe   Kaw Nation Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut Miami Tribe of Oklahoma Modoc Tribe Muscogee Creek Nation Osage Nation Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma  Peoria Tribe of Indians Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Michigan Seminole Nation Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma Shawnee Tribe Thlopthlocco Tribal Town Tonkawa Tribe Wyandotte Nation Chart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_quantum_laws#Implementation

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