Howdy --

I took an autosomal DNA test and I am tri-racial -- American Indian, sub-Sahara African, but lions share Caucasuan -- from Oklahoma, USA where I can trace ancestors back to 1832 -- not eligible for federal enrollment.

Once I found a group online called "Southern Metis" and I eagerly joined it. But they started talking in terms of "Spiritual topics" which I didn't think had any right bein' discussed online in the first place, and "his" tradition I am sure had nothing to do with mine. Personally I think he made it up on the spot. I just wasn't comfortable with THAT topic bein' discussed. I was raised Caucasian mostly (I am sure they were too, by the way) and I attend Church often. Anyhow, I thought they were some "quack-quack" group and I timidly left them behind in the dust, and I ran off as fast as I could run -- and I'm not too shabby a runner, not for a 54 year old, anyhow . . .

They talked as though they were somehow affiliated with Canadian Metis and sought membership from mixed race people from South of the Canadian border. Is there any such group called the "Southrn Metis" or were they as I suspected, friends of Michael Jackson who made their homes in Never Never Land?

Please understand my caution -- there are a lot of WHITE people going around down here in the lower 48 calling themselves "Indian", making up "tribes" that they belong to that don't exist and never have (usually but not always, choosing to call themselves Cherokee) -- so I am cautious. I want to call myself WHAT I AM -- mixed-race!

I can PROVE I am mixed race and have done so, yet I am not sure what a "Metis" is, exactly. It is more than simply being "mixed race", isn't it? Can anyone shed some light on what exactly a "Metis" is? Is that "Southern Metis" group legit. If so I suppose I just stook my foot in my mouth -- wasn't the first time and God knows it won't be the last . . . But I suspect you have to be a Canadian Citizen.

thank you,

Vance Hawkins