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JUNE 9, 2000

Tribal members in Oklahoma talked about blood quantum requirements of various tribes and worried about the future state of Indians in America, given the rate of inter-marriage and assimilation into the greater American culture.

Glen Cornelius, an automation clerk for the Seminole Nation in Wewoke, told The Daily Oklahoman, "We're losing our identity as Indians. Indian people are becoming extinct."

Blood quantums vary from tribe to tribe. The Cherokee Nation bases enrollment on lineal descendancy from the Dawes rolls. The Absentee-Shawnee have a 1/4 quantum requirement.

Tribal populations also vary. According to the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission, the Modoc Tribe are the smallest in the state, with 200. The Cherokee Nation is the largest. with 207,790. The Choctaw Nation is next, with 116,633. Most tribes have enrollment in the thousands, with some in the ten thousands. The Commission reports a total of 559,060.

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Tribal rolls changing (The Daily Oklahoman 6/9)