VALDOSTA STATE MAGAZINE 85 That “color” was Native American, an identity that for generations has been stolen from Ealy’s people, either by society mislabeling them or by Ealy’s people choosing to suppress their identity in an attempt to escape the hostile racism and prejudice in their homeland of southern Mississippi. Ealy is part of the Pascagoula River Tribe, named after the body of water that winds through southeast Mississippi. Her people have lived in that area since at least 200 A.D. Now her contemporary tribe of around 900 people is in the thick of the monumental task of trying to get officially recognized by the federal government. Recognition means the establishment of a government-to-government relationship between the United States and the tribe, acknowledging the tribe as a sovereign entity. It means access to better healthcare, education, and jobs for a tribe that is mostly blue collar and impoverished as a result of being relegated to the lowest rungs of society for hundreds of years. But more importantly to the tribe, recognition means reclaiming who they are after decades of having Creole, black, white, or mulatto written on their birth certificates. It means taking pride in being Native American after seeing their parents and grandparents carry shame and embarrassment because the world around them told them “Native” meant less than. The odds are against them. Since the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs implemented the current process of recognition in 1978, more than 360 groups have started the procedure. Only 18 have succeeded. Most do not even finish, and most that do finish fail. It is a laborious process of data collection and bureaucratic hurdles that usually takes at least a decade to complete. For some tribes, it has taken more than 20 years. ButwhatthePascagoulaRiverTribehasthat theothergroupsdidnotisDr.DixieHaggard, professorofhistoryatValdostaStateUniversity whospecializesinNativeAmericanhistory. VALDOSTA STATE MAGAZINE 85 “You just tell everybody you’re white. You’ll have less trouble.” Growing up, that is what Amanda Ealy’s mom told her whenever she asked what they were. Her racial heritage was shrouded in secrecy. No one would talk about it. “You can look at my dad and tell he’s definitely not a white man, but he wouldn’t talk about it either,” said Ealy, now 51. “He would say, ‘We don’t discuss that.’ We weren’t allowed to talk about our color.”