I know a lot of people in my life that have told me i am eligible to get money for being native american. i am a coushatta. i was thinking about this because they have a casino and i figured since i am coushataa, i can cash out.
2007-01-21 08:45:14 · 7 answers · asked by satnlafsasurot@sbcglobal.net 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
i just found a website that says i need a CIB (certificate of indian blood), and affiliation with my tribe. it says a lot of college students go through this process all the time. basically, i get my CIB, then i must get letter of recognition of tribal descendance.
2007-01-21 10:29:49 · update #1
I'm not Native American but I have friends that are. I do know that if you are in a federally recognized tribe and have maintained your tribal affiliation you are entitled to some govenment perks. You can get free housing on federally established reservations, (I've seen some of this housing, and if you can afford it you're better off on the open market), you can get free health care (again, if you've got regular insurance through your job, you're better off, but if you don't have anything else, Indian health is there), and you can get money for assistance with buying a house. My best friend (who is Native American) got $20,000 to use as a down payment to purchase her house. Now that perk is worth looking into. There are rules about what the money can be used for and what you do with the house. It has to be your primary residence and you have to live there for a certain number of years before you sell it. If you sell before the alloted time is up you have to pay back the money. Otherwise it's a grant that you don't have to pay back. I don't know if the rules are the same across the board or if they differ from tribe to tribe. If your tribe has a casino you can get payments from that also. Some tribes also get payments from the government just for being Indian. There's an amount ( I'm not sure of what it is) that is awarded to the tribe as a whole and then it's equally distributed to each tribal member. The smaller the tribe, the larger the individual payments. One of my friends gets about $600 per family member per year, and I've got another friend who gets several thousand per family member because she belongs to a very small tribe (I'm trying to get her to adopt me...just kidding). And of course there is the college thing. You can go to federal land grant colleges for free, or there are also scholarships for American Indian students to attend whatever colleges they apply for and get into.
All of this is contingent on maintaining lifelong tribal affiliations. Anybody just can't jump up and announce that they're Indian and expect the cash to come rolling in. They register their children with the tribe when they're born and those children have to be active tribal members throughout their lives. There are also rules about marrying outside the tribe and at what point you're no longer considered Indian. My best friend's family went through this. Their tribal elders examined their family tree to determine whether or not they were still Indian enough to continue to receive benefits.
So there are things out there. They're just not widely available.
2007-01-21 09:35:56 · answer #1 · answered by mztreasure999 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Your going to have to prove it on a census roll. Or it's just hear say. Did you know some tribes once you leave you loose your tribal identity. Every tribe is different. In fact most people come from native american blood lines but didn't live on the reservation and are not listed on census rolls on tribal lands so they can't be part of the native heritage, even though they were indians before the reservations were developed. Some indians were in america in the 1200s. Then again only 2,000 to 10,000 were listed every two years in some rolls in the 1880s if they lived on an indian reservation, and a lot of indian tribes the government doesn't recognize. Indians support Democrats 10 to 1 so in a way your better off not to mention it. Democrats have killed so many Indians, I don't know why native americans support the democratic party. Chris Stevens was a native american and look what happened to him... Oh, Los Mojados is right. The guy below me. Native Americans are the most poor demographic in the United States. Your people are all poor bustards, even Chinese immigrants do better than your people in this country. Your screwed. You have some type of bad luck.
2016-05-24 07:58:56 · answer #2 · answered by Elena 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your additional information answered your question. If you don't have the paperwork, you get nothing. I have some cousins who rake in big money from their Chippewa tribe in Michigan. On the other hand, my Native American heritage isn't traceable on paper, thanks to a baby born out of wedlock, so while I have enough in me to live on a reservation (were there one), I'm not eligible for any benefits due to that lack of a paper trail. One last thought...wow...that wording is callous. Then again, perhaps it's just a sore spot for me and I'm jealous because I'm not eligible for anything...lol. If it's traceable and you can get the certification, go for it!
2007-01-21 13:15:39 · answer #3 · answered by rumezzo 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm koasati also and Ive been through the cib and to do this you have to go to the tribe and you get insurance if you join for like life or mobile I think
2015-02-06 16:06:57 · answer #4 · answered by kateri 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm Eastern Band Cherokee and didn't get anything for free. It's a rumor and a lie that we do.
2007-01-21 09:03:12 · answer #5 · answered by Danagasta 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
go see if the casino will hire you
then see if they have some programs and then get the money
2007-01-21 08:47:50 · answer #6 · answered by kurticus1024 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
you could get into a college for free....
2007-01-21 08:53:13 · answer #7 · answered by lilninja214 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋