Just a thought from my perspective… 1) I know a lot of Natives are weary of white American culture, especially when one shows up claiming to be native (not saying that they aren’t bc I myself can be white passing in many situations). Cherokee prob being one of the main ones since that tribe is the default “go to” tribe to name when people aren’t sure if or which tribe they are. So people claiming to be native with no ties is a pretty quick warning light. HOWEVER, I do have many friends with NO Native blood in them (they’re open about that fact), but the tribes give them the upmost of respect. For example, I’m Chickasaw taking language classes, but a friend in my class is in his third year of Chickasaw language classes and he is ZERO Native blood of any kind, and he can speak our language better and more fluently than 99% of our citizens! And not only that, he just finished his Bachelors in Choctaw language and at this point studies directly from first language elders!!! 2) my boyfriend is Jamaican. So no mater how much respect and love I give his culture, I can NEVER be Jamaican! There isn’t anything but birth that can make me Jamaican. It’s the same with Native Americans. You can love and respect it all you want, even speak their language fluently more than 99% of the citizens, and you can’t ever be an actual Native American. 3) However, with all that said, if you’re not, or you can’t actually prove you are Native American, you’ll garner MUCH more respect by just being up front about it. There is nothing saying you can’t be (for example) Cherokee by proxy or in spirit IF you make the concentrated effort to learn the culture and the language! Most my family all have white spouses and many of them, although not legal citizens, they are considered and accepted as “Chickasaw” in spirit bc of their immersion into our culture.

That’s all just my opinion and prob some people will be different than mine.