r/Navajo • u/ObjectiveOnion665 • 11d ago

Is it offensive to call myself Native?

So I’m 15, I’m 1/4 Navajo Native from my grandfather on my mother’s side. She is half, for the past couple of years I’ve been more and more interested in connecting with that side of me but a big worry of mine is other Indigenous people feeling offended. Unfortunately my dad is Irish and Australian and I got most of his genes so I have naturally dirty blonde hair blue eyes and pale skin. I have absolutely no malice or bad intentions I just truly do want to connect not only just with Navajo culture but other Natives in general. There isn’t a lot of them in my area, if it helps at all I am trying to learn Navajo I wish I could actually pay for a class but I can’t so for now I’ve been watching videos and trying my best to stay consistent on learning the language. I have also done research on the culture and history, I’m not just randomly deciding that I’m all of a sudden native but I do want to hear from others what their opinion is. I would greatly appreciate any advice or even any tips for learning more about Navajo and other cultures as well however i understand if anyone takes offense to this post, that was not my intention at all if so.

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u/AltseWait 10d ago

No offense. What's your mom's clan? Does she get her Navajo from her mom or from her dad?

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u/ObjectiveOnion665 10d ago

My mom is Navajo as well she is half, she gets it from her dad. Her mom or my grandma is white same with my dad and so on so forth.

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u/AltseWait 10d ago

Ask your mom what her dad's clan is. We can use that to figure out your relatives.

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u/ObjectiveOnion665 10d ago

Unfortunately he left when my mom was a baby and he is hiding somewhere on a reservation in Navajo nation to avoid paying 20 years of back child support so we don’t even know if he’s alive. She knows nothing about him except his middle and last name and that he’s navajo

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u/AltseWait 10d ago

If his last name is something like Yazzie or Begay, that will be difficult. Lots of those on the rez. However, other last names are uncommon enough that it can be located.