Oh, I definitely get it, certainly--and even if you're trying to "pass", I do think you should tell the kid about their possible heritage and all, so they can make the decision later in life. (One of the things I wish my family had kept were some of the language, but they did try to keep at least *some* of the traditions (as much as you could back then, anyways) and at least talked about the heritage. That's also why I never could quite grok why my mother (who was and is a rabid "God Warrior" type) would be so against even looking into things to see if there was truth, and if so, trying to incorporate some of that into the family culture, so to speak.)
At least my family *did* have the stories there that we'd had relatives who escaped the Trail of Tears, even if we didn't have a hell of a lot else besides yearly trips to North Carolina and the Smokies and all. I know a lot of people have less than that (I've a good online friend who's Miccosukee and he's gone through that whole "recapturing your heritage when your folks actively denied it" thing).
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Date: 20 Jan 2009 12:54 am (UTC)At least my family *did* have the stories there that we'd had relatives who escaped the Trail of Tears, even if we didn't have a hell of a lot else besides yearly trips to North Carolina and the Smokies and all. I know a lot of people have less than that (I've a good online friend who's Miccosukee and he's gone through that whole "recapturing your heritage when your folks actively denied it" thing).