Montana State University- Billings’ April powwow drew Native Americans from every reservation in the state, and many Natives transplanted in Montana as well. The dress was a mix of traditional costume and Detroit Pistons t-shirts, the crowd a mixture of young and old.

Over near the booths selling powwow paraphernalia, three-month-old Leonard Hare IV cooed through the jingle dance. As dozens of Native American dancers circled the MetraPark Arena to a thumping drumbeat, Leonard Hare III cooed back. Sarah Hare was a few feet away, helping their daughter Sunshyne, 3, put on her moccasins.

At that moment the Hares were the picture of a modern Native American nuclear family, powwowing in their adopted home, Billings. But because of tribal laws the family was, in a sense, divided. Leonard III is an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux tribe; so is his son. But Sarah is Cheyenne River Sioux, and her daughter is enrolled in that tribe.

Leonard said, laughing, the decision on where to enroll his children came down to “whoever got the application in first.” It was important to both parents that their children be enrolled in a tribe.

“There ain’t too many of us left anymore,” Leonard III said. “In my tribe there’s like what, 10,000?”
The Hares had a positive choice because their children could have enrolled in two different tribes.

But their situation is similar to the more negative predicaments that people like Jasa Santos find themselves in. Both families have asked these questions. Who am I? Who will my children be?