Last week, the Crow Tribe’s Legislative Branch rejected a bill that would have dramatically redefined tribal citizenship. The debate resurfaced a politically and culturally fraught question that tribes nationwide are grappling with: Who gets to be a tribal citizen?
As sovereign nations with their own constitutions, legal codes and courts, tribes need a formal mechanism for defining tribal citizenship, which determines eligibility for certain health services, the ability to vote in tribal elections and access to educational scholarships, among other rights and privileges. Tribal enrollment also influences federal funding for tribal programs.
The proposed legislation, brought by Crow Chairman Frank White Clay, would have revised the tribe’s “blood quantum” standard for citizenship, effectively making more people eligible for tribal citizenship. Blood quantum, a concept created by White policymakers and rooted in federal assimilation tactics, refers to the fractional amount of tribal affiliation in an individual’s ancestry.

















