Is White Indian Todd Palin Really "Indian"??

[jpertello]

"Some myths, and questions, persist about Todd Palin's Yup'ik ancestry. A few: For starters, the PC terms (I know, I know, but we Alaskans have a set of our own terms, too) would be Yup'ik or (groan) Yup'ik Eskimo if the person is okay with it. Eskimo is not the most popular term to be used by non-"Eskimo" people in reference to them. Yup'ik is best.

NOT Inuit. NOT Native American. NOT American Indian. Alaska Native is acceptable. (I have a big ol' post about this, and the confusion of it, but just trust me on this. You'll make more Native friends this way.) Some of these terms are not even because of PC, but government distinctions.

As for the "ancestry," the numbers of his blood quantum I've heard range anywhere from 1/4 to 1/16. I've seen a few comments of "why does this matter?" Ah... the long raging politics of blood quantum!
http://angryindian.blogspot.com/2008/09/is-white-indian-todd-palin-really.html

Todd is a member of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation. At incorporation, Bristol Bay Native Corporation enrolled 5,401 Alaska Native shareholders, each of whom received 100 shares of BBNC stock.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Bay_Native_Corporation

[BlueStateMind]

1. There's lots of "white people" in native tribes

It's quite interesting really.. especially when a tribe is moving towards a profit or business windfall, white people who have even the flimsiest of ties to a tribe will scramble to get included in the tribal group.

This has happened countless times, most often to tribes that run successful reservation casinos.

he's essentially one of THESE types of people

[Raschel]

2. I don't know but McCain said he's a "pretty tough guy" whatever that means. n/t