I wouldn’t be sharing these selections if they weren’t decent sources of easily digestible Mvskoke history or important reference materials. Keep in mind however, that information from non-Native sources may have non-Native perspectives or bias, even if slight or subtle.
For example, generally when colonizer history says hundreds of years, Mvskoke history says thousands of years. This is something to remember, even the best non-Native historical documentation has built-in bias and inaccuracy doing its best to erase or minimize Natives.
Smithsonian Institution
This is a great slideshow (including videos) of Mvskoke history.
This page is subject to content updates/additions. If you think any content should be updated or added, please leave a private comment on Mastodon – @Yehuda@Mvskoke.social.
Ocmulgee Port of Entrance, 2015, by Richard Thornton. This is a digital reproduction of a historical site in Georgia known as Okmulgee. Mvskoke ancestors built large earthen mounds at Okmulgee and lived there long before Europeans arrived in North America. Fifth slide at Smithsonian Institution.
MVSKOKE.SOCIAL?
Mvskoke.social is a semi-private Mastodon instance established in December of 2022. Muscogee Nation citizens own, administer, and moderate this instance.
WHY?
Mvskoke.social promotes and provides an ad-free, corporate-free, domestic dependency-free environment for Mvskoke, Freedmen, and other Native/Indigenous people to connect with each other.
Ultimately, we are helping build a decolonized grassroots social network for Native/Indigenous people, and genuine allies.
WHO?
Mvskoke.social is currently accepting registrations for Mvskoke, Freedmen, and other Native/Indigenous people only.
When you create an account, be sure to list your Native/Indigenous Nation and citizenship status when asked ‘Why do you want to join?’.
New accounts are generally activated between 6am and Midnight CST.
HOW MUCH?
Mvskoke.social is 100% free. We will never charge fees or pressure anyone for donations. All monetary and moderation expenses are borne by the administrators. We may eventually have a page for pressure-free donations, but for now if you really need to donate, you can DM @Yehuda.
WHAT?
Mvskoke.social is a small semi-private instance.
It will not grow to be a large general purpose instance.
Mvskoke.social will be indigenized as much as possible.
We are federated with 99% of the Fediverse but use no relays in order to maximize Native content.
Our content is all driven by Native/Indigenous people, as well as genuine allies.
Mvskoke.social believes 100% in true Native/Indigenous Nation sovereignty, physical LandBack, and digital LandBack. We reject calls to assimilate into the generally white Fediverse. The whole ghettoization theory is white supremacy garbage.
We use the Oliphant Tier 0 blocklist, which blocks the majority of the bad actors without getting crazy aggressive. We are adamantly opposed to blocking #BIPOC, marginalized, or leftist instances. If you see anything blocked or not blocked that you believe is in error, let us know.
RULES
Currently we are accepting registrations for Mvskoke, Freedmen, and other Native/Indigenous people only.
This is a Native/Indigenous instance.
Any anti-Native/Indigenous activity from a Mvskoke.social account at the sole determination of the Mvskoke.social administrators or moderators will be grounds for account termination.
Any anti-Native/Indigenous activity from an external instance at the sole determination of the Mvskoke.social administrators or moderators will be grounds for user blocking, report filing, and/or domain blocking/de-federation.
We can’t stress this enough – Absolutely no racism, anti-semitism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. 95% of our issues fall in this category.
Any infraction of this category from a Mvskoke.social account at the sole determination of the Mvskoke.social administrators or moderators will be grounds for account termination.
Any infraction of this category from an external instance at the sole determination of the Mvskoke.social administrators or moderators will be grounds for user blocking, report filing, and/or domain blocking/de-federation.
Advertising authentic Native/Indigenous products and genuine Native/Indigenous businesses is allowed and encouraged.
Advertising fake inspired appropriated products and non-Native/Indigenous businesses is not allowed.
All non-Native/Indigenous advertising is not allowed.
Promotion of Right-Wing, Conservative, Republican, Fascist, Nazi or other equally stupid political views is not allowed.
If extreme idiocy is your inclination, go somewhere else.
Any other issues not covered by these rules will be settled by the sole determination of the Mvskoke.social administrators or moderators.
When you create an account, be sure to list your Native/Indigenous Nation and citizenship status when asked ‘Why do you want to join?’.
New accounts are generally activated between 6am and Midnight CST.
This page is subject to content updates/additions. If you think any content should be updated or added, please leave a private comment on Mastodon – @Yehuda@Mvskoke.social.
Decolonization is not a metaphor By Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang
“Our goal in this article is to remind readers what is unsettling about decolonization. Decolonization brings about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life; it is not a metaphor for other things we want to do to improve our societies and schools.”
This page is subject to content updates/additions. If you think any content should be updated or added, please leave a private comment on Mastodon – @Yehuda@Mvskoke.social.
First of all, it is extremely important to state that DNA does NOT make you Native or Jewish. Or any other culture for that matter. DNA is cool, but as they say – strictly for entertainment.
To be Native
To be Native, you must at minimum, have lineal descent from a Native Nation citizen. This means you must know your Native Nation. If you do not know your Native Nation citizen relative, you cannot claim you are Native, Native-American, Indigenous, First Nations, etc. on the basis of DNA results or family lore. You must know exactly who your relatives are. I feel ya, sometimes this means some difficult, time and money consuming research, but it is not optional.
Individual Native Nations may also have other citizenship requirements that I won’t discuss in this post. Whether you are a Native Nation citizen or are a lineal descendant, DNA or family lore is not enough. There must be a clear and unbroken record of birth certificates to the last Native Nation citizen in your lineage.
Clans and family membership are usually matrilineal or passed from mother to child. There are exceptions to this but that is usually how it rolls. Citizenship though is usually derived from either parent, but Native Nations have a wide variety of requirements, so do your research.
In my opinion the terminology would be as the following example. I am a Mvskoke citizen, so I would generally say I am a Mvskoke citizen or Mvskoke. A relative of mine with lineal descent that is not a citizen, would generally say they are a Mvskoke descendant or of Mvskoke descent. In my opinion, either of us could say we are Native or Indigenous. This of course applies to North America.
To be Jewish
To be Jewish, is traditionally matrilineal or from conversion. My Father and I are patrilineal descendants, and therefore I and others in my family have had conversions. These days there are some denominations that accept matrilineal, patrilineal, or conversion.
None of these possibilities include DNA. In my opinion, like Native ancestry, if you do not know your lineal relatives, you need to do some research before you say you are a Jew or of Jewish descent. No one recognizes DNA or family lore, it is that simple.
DNA is great for finding relatives, or factually determining who your biological parents are though. It does not make someone Native or Jewish.
My Native and Jewish heritage is mixed obviously
Before we get into DNA percentages, remember there is no such thing as a part-Native or part-Jew. The only valid percentages for either are 0% or 100%. People are not fractional, they are whole. Racial/ethnic percentages also known as blood quantum are not real. Blood quantum is a white invention meant to bolster white supremacy. I’m sure to discuss blood quantum in greater detail in a future post.
Like blood quantum, DNA should also not be used to bolster white supremacy.
Generally Ancestry.com revises their estimates once every year or so. In 2022 they revised mine twice. 2022 included for the first time not just ethnicity estimates, but also whether maternal or paternal.
