Affiliate Marketing Secrets

I’ve recently found out (according to my father) that I’m 1/16th Cherokee, which, according to what I’ve read, is supposed to be a qualifying amount to be registered with the EBC.
I’ve known pretty much all my life that I was some degree of Cherokee, and I knew that it had to be not too far off because I show a lot of the features (dark hair and eyes, facial structure, etc). I’ve had people ask me if I was Cherokee and how much without me mentioning it, so I finally decided to ask how close it was.
Now that I know that it’s close enough, I was wondering what steps you have to take to actually become part of a tribe. I’m not looking for the benefits or anything (to be honest, I’m not even sure if there even are “benefits” or what those benefits would be), I just really like the culture and the history and think that it would be an awesome privilege to be affiliated with them.
Do you think I’m taking too much of a leap, here? I wouldn’t want to try anything that would be disrespectful toward them. If not, I’d really like to know how I could actually do something about joining.