I grew up in Crow country in Montana. Our family home was not within the current boundaries of the Crow reservation, but in a place that once had been part of territory officially reserved for the Crow people. Like many tribes, the name is a loose translation of a word in their language. They call themselves Apsáalooke, also spelled Absaroka. We grew up knowing a few Crow people who lived off reservation and we traveled to the reservation for Crow Fair and when our high school basketball team played at Lodge Grass.

In Montana History class, I learned that there are seven reservations in Montana. East of the Crow Reservation is the Northern Cheyenne. The Flathead Reservation is north of Missoula near where my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins lived. The Blackfeet Reservation nestles next to Glacier National Park and the other three reservations, Rocky Boy, Fort Belknap and Fort Peck all are also along the high line in the northern part of the state. Somewhere along the line, I learned that there were more tribes than reservations in my home state. We were aware of Little Shell people who lived in the Great Falls area. At some point, I learned the names of the tribal nations: Assiniboine, Blackfeet, Chippewa, Cree, Crow, Gros Ventre, Kootenai, Little Shell, Northern Cheyenne, Pend d'Oreille, Salish and Sioux. I knew that there are 12 tribes, but I can never name all 12 unless I look them up.

What I knew from the tribal members we met in our town and later when I went to college is that each tribe is different. Apsáalooke don’t want to be considered to be the same as the Northern Cheyenne or the Lakota. Their heritage comes from Hidatsa roots and they were historic enemies of the Sioux. Stories about counting coup and stealing horses are part of the local lore.

My friends who are tribal members taught me not to think of such a thing as a generic Indian, but rather to learn about the tribes and tribal history. Later, when we lived in North Dakota, not far from Standing Rock and had frequent reasons to visit the Affiliated Tribes - Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara - up by Lake Sakakawea or the country of the Turtle Mountain people up on the border, I learned the differences between those particular tribes. In North Dakota I learned more about the Spirit Lake Nation who were neighbors of my father’s family when he was growing up in Minnewaukan.

I also learned a bit about one of the largest tribes in North America: the wannabes. My indigenous friends had little respect for non-natives who wanted to pretend that they had indigenous roots. My native friends never asked me to be anything except who I am. They respected me for my non-native roots.

We lived for 25 years in South Dakota where the Pine Ridge reservation was in the county next to ours and we had partners on the Cheyenne River reservation. It still bothers me when people speak of Indians as if it were a monoculture and as if all tribal members were the same. I know that there are some awesome intertribal gatherings, and I was present during part of the Water Protectors gathering at Standing Rock when tribes from all over the United States gathered, but I have always been careful to speak of individual tribes and individual cultures.

When we moved out here to the Pacific Northwest, I became particularly aware of the differences in the languages of the Coast Salish people. Lummi words don’t look or sound like Lakota.

Yesterday, however, I began to re-think my previous thoughts about generic Indians. I’m no expert, and I can’t speak for other people, but I am becoming more aware that there are connections between indigenous people that transcend individual tribal affiliations. I had previously known that off-reservation Indians live a different life than those on the reservations. I also know that tribal members tend to find other members of their own tribe when they are living off of the reservation. Lakota people might be from Pine Ridge, but there is a substantial population of Lakota people in Oakland, California and families travel back and forth between relatives in both places. And I know that there are all nations gatherings in the cities. But I don’t think I have been as aware as I might have been about the ways in which tribal members find each other when they are off of the reservation and how there are connections between tribes that are made outside of the reservations. The event that got me to thinking yesterday was a concert in celebration of Native Americans that was held in Bellingham. We know one of the performers and looked forward to attending. It was a fun event with plenty of good music and storytelling. I had hoped that it would be an occasion to learn more about the Coast Salish Tribes and perhaps a place to make some Nooksack and Lummi connections. There was a Lummi teacher and storyteller at the event, but the other two performers were not from local tribes. Our friend is Lakota and her family is from Pine Ridge. Another performer is Blackfeet from Northern Montana. They spoke of their tribal heritage and their indigenous culture as being distinct from that of the wider society, but somehow similar to one another. It was as if there was a “generic” Indian culture that was being presented at the concert.

Maybe the passage of time and the increased number of people with mixed heritages is resulting in the blurring of the lines between individual tribes, especially in urban settings. Out here, nearly all native people live off-reservation. The reservations are very small and the people are scattered. As they tell their stories and preserve the remnants of their culture as a minority, maybe tribal distinctions are not as important as they once were. Maybe the days of plains tribes, who ate a diet of buffalo and who couldn’t imagine why coastal tribes would eat fish are fading.

I don’t know, and it isn’t for me to decide. For now, I will try to learn as much as I can about individual tribes, customs, languages and cultures. I’ll listen carefully to the stories. But I’m keeping my eyes open to see if there are more generic Indians in my neighborhood. I bet I can still tell the difference between them and the wannabes.