confused and disheartened

I was told by a man named Bill Tiger, that, " It doesn't matter how many times the blood has been washed...." Once a Cherokee always a Cherokee. My great,great grandmother was Nelliemae Blankenship. This is what's been handed down...she was on the trail of tears, she met and fell in love w/ a white man, they were married and settled somewhere or another...anyway...she was not enrolled in the "rolls". I saw on a message board that if " you didn't live on a res or were not born into a tribe....you are an ndn wannabe ...just popped up. I know what has been handed down through my family and what is in my heart. Doesn't that matter? My mother tried to get my sister to do all the tracking down etc. to get registered and become legal. My sister said she didn't need no stinkin' papers and didn't want the f-n government to be able to "track" her etc, etc. I agree with her. We don't approve of some of our acquaintances who only wanted to be "official" "legal" ndns just so they could collect something, because we believe it should be there for those who are most deserving and who really need it. Anyway...so who decides whether or not I can claim MY heritage, beliefs or not? Will I be outcast, looked down on or disowned because I have no " papers"? I mean don't we all know that paper is just paper? Please enlighten my aching heart.