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Jodi Rave: Black Indians struggle for acceptance
Monday, December 5, 2005
"Radmilla Cody grew up in a Navajo world, butchering sheep, raising goats and speaking Dine.
Yet many in her tribe - and her family - never accepted her.
Her maternal uncle called her a black pig.
Neighborhood kids taunted her with names like “Zhinii Zhinii coco puff,” a Navajo slur for blacks.
Even when Cody was crowned Miss Navajo Nation, some complained she could not represent the country's largest tribe.
Cody was born to a Navajo mother and a black father.
She grew up knowing her mother considered giving her up. But her grandmother filled those empty spaces with kindness, reminding the girl she was special and beautiful - like ancient canyon walls against a turquoise sky.
She wanted a place among the Navajo, and she learned to embrace her two cultures.
“I identify more with the Navajo side,” said Cody, now 29. “But I love the black side as well. That is who I am.”
Who she is - part Native, part black - is at the heart of a growing debate about Native identity."
Get the Story:
Natives who are black struggling to gain acceptance from their own tribes
(The Missoulian 12/4)
Relevant Links:
Jodi Rave Lee -
http://www.missoulian.com/jodirave
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