Reed did not respond to request for comment from The Post. So how was she hiding from the Eugenics Survey in the 1920s and 30s, when all they had to do was walk up to her doorstep and knock, after reading the Burlington Free Press whenever her children were announced to have been born to the couple in that newspaper?! ", "Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she has Cherokee roots, but the records don't back that up", "Warren suggests 'American Indian' might appear on other documents", "Cherokee Nation responds to Senator Warren's DNA test", "Report: Elizabeth Warren Identified as American Indian in Texas Bar Registration", "Elizabeth Warren apologizes for calling herself Native American", "Elizabeth Warren apologizes for identifying as Native American on Texas bar registration card", "Birth certificate contradicts Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond's account of her father's parentage and ancestry", "Should museums verify claims of Indigenous ancestry? Maybe the Littlefeather name and the braids seemed like overdoing it, but guess what she was first and foremost achecks notes professional actress so shes the theatrical type doesnt mean she was actually lying though. [41] Academic Dina Gilio-Whitaker wrote that the truth about community leaders is "crucial", even if it means losing a "hero", and that the work Littlefeather did is still valuable, but there is a need to be honest about the harm done by pretendians, especially by those who manage to fool so many people that they become iconic:[35], The stereotype Littlefeather embodied depended on non-Native people not knowing what they were looking at, or knowing what constitutes legitimate American Indian identity. Theres not a clear process on how this research is being conducted or how individuals are singled out for suspicion. Her sisters say she was an ethnic fraud", "Sacheen Littlefeather's Sisters Say Claim of American Indian Heritage Was A Fraud", "Criminalizing 'Pretendians' is not the answer; we need to give First Nations control over grants", "There is nothing innocent about the false presumption of Indigenous identity", Teillet Report on Indigenous Identity Fraud. To be clear: We were. Since the 1990s and 2000s, a number of controversies regarding ethnic fraud have come to light and received coverage in mainstream media, leading to a broader awareness of pretendians in the world at large. As Verity said, the family is very well documented. Cruz also tweeted she learned her true heritage from Keelers research. This is your angle @RobCapriccioso? Then questions arose about her identity. Keeler insists Agards heritage traces itself back to Barbados and showed genealogical records which she said backed up the assertion. Blood quantum is designed to wipe us out. There are many angles to the story, and this one, while not the most crucial, piqued our interest due to the New York Post/Fox News connection and Fox News previous manipulation of photos.). Taking a key step to advance a project that will transform the campus residential experience and the campus itself UC Santa Barbara has released a notice of preparation for a new student housing development. EXAMPLE: Vermont and New Hampshires alleged and reinvented Abenakis. Certain persons from Odanak believed these pretenders such as the Bruchacs and St. Francis family, along with the Lampmans of Swanton, VT. In response to an Indigenous Wire item yesterday about the way the New York Post treated a picture of writer and activist Jacqueline Keeler in its coverage of the Pretendian/Karendian/Defendian Native identity and ethnic fraud controversy, Keeler shot the messenger in this case, yours truly. She called Keelers allegations a witch-hunt and provided proof of her ancestry, the New York Post reported in January. Then questions arose about her identity", "Sacheen Littlefeather and ethnic fraud why the truth is crucial, even if it means losing an American Indian hero", "Playing Indian Constitutes a Structural Form of Colonial Theft, and It Must be Tackled", "Mysterious letter linking 1,000 people to $1B Algonquin treaty likely fake, CBC investigation finds Author of conspiracy theory books says letter was dropped in his mailbox in 2011", "Health scientist Carrie Bourassa on immediate leave after scrutiny of her claim she's Indigenous", "Sacheen Littlefeather was a Native American icon. His family came from Mexico. Why aren't either public to allow for observation and/or scrutiny without the need for data collection? "Jeff Bezos is awful! A controversial piece in the San Francisco Chronicle features interviews with the actress sisters, who say she wasnt part of a Native American tribe. [7][16][17], The academic Joel W. Martin noted that "an astonishing number of southerners assert they have a grandmother or great-grandmother who was some kind of Cherokee, often a princess", and that such myths serve settler purposes in aligning American frontier romance with southern regionalism and pride.[18]. What is being done requires deep research, not gut feel. [] Harm is caused when resources and even jobs go to fakes instead of the people they were intended for. It is hard to see this as anything other than an individual's capitalist claim, just another version of a colonial offense. But geez, this photo. Who are hiding behind a serious BLM issue to deflect from their fraud. The Pee Dee tribes in South Carolina are thoroughly documented and are supposed to become federally-recognized soon, along with the Waccamaw tribe. @jfkeeler. Despite wide circulation on social media, Keeler has yet to address the screenshot. Because what appears to be real, may not be the reality after all, especially when in comes to dealing with the Abenakis of the Northeast. You might be a pretendian if your star quilt was bought at Target or has Chewbacca on it. Jacqueline Keeler is compiling a long list of Pretendians that attempt to speak on behalf of Native people, take up space intended for Native people, or worse, prizes, scholarships, and awards. We were written off, no more dialogue to be had, and, were apparently just plain stupid, not worthy of a response (no matter that we repeat, again, that Fox News. What the heck? Keeler replied on Twitter, referencing the Indigenous Wire piece. To drop that even as a social worker social justice worker is to drop out of an innocent game of badmitten in favor of fear and unnamed opposites: fear and/ control. [32] Academic Dina Gilio-Whitaker, who reviewed Keelers documentation on Sacheen Littlefeather before it was published (see below), wrote that in her opinion Keeler did solid research. Keeler has also added a Pee Dee tribal member to her list. Pretendianism is particularly prevalent in entertainment, publishing and academia. Rather than trying to heal the wound.. jacqueline keeler is a known racist and xenophobe (just google "Opinion: The Real Problem With Jacqueline Keeler's 'Alleged Pretendian' List" there's an article that links an entire google doc of the racist shit she's done over the years and . Despite wide circulation on social media, Keeler has yet to address the screenshot. Black Natives should never see this type of behavior from someone with such a large platform, whom theyd entrusted to advocate on their behalf. Their silence has not meant complicity. Are there pretendians out there, sure. [3][8][9][10] It is sometimes also referred to as a form of fraud,[1] ethnic fraud or race shifting.[11][12]. Nadema Agard, a New York City visual artist who claims Lakota, Cherokee, and Powhatan ancestry, is named. The Google doc can be viewed by requesting access with an email address. Nadema Agard, a New York City visual artist who claims Lakota, Cherokee, and Powhatan ancestry, is . Keeler says she and other researchers capped the list at 200 to help make the investigative caseload manageable, but that the true number of alleged fraudsters is closer to 500. People do it to get something they want to stop Indigenous people from closing a land claim, to access hunting and fishing rights, or to gain access to jobs. they have been determined. Pierce added the piece preys on peoples insecurities rather than proposing a type of repair., Its like putting your finger in a wound, you know? As a practice, being a pretendian is considered an extreme form of cultural . Early false claims to Indigenous identity, often called "playing Indian", go back at least as far as the Boston Tea Party. Its simply another expression of white privilege., (Keeler is referring here, we think, in a roundabout way to people with a combination of Black and Native ancestry/heritage who have felt attacked by her list of alleged ethnic fraudsters. Lawrence was unable to provide evidence of Native ancestry; she is not an enrolled member of any federally or state-recognized tribe, an editors note above the Times piece now reads. If colonialism has not eradicated Indigenous people by starvation, residential schools, the reserve system, taking their lands and languages, scooping their children, and doing everything to assimilate Indigenous peoples, then the final act is to become them. [19], By 1990, as noted in The New York Times Magazine, many years of "significant pushback by Native Americans against so-called Pretendians or Pretend Indians" resulted in the successful passage of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (IACA) - a truth-in-advertising law which prohibits misrepresentation in marketing of American Indian or Alaska Native arts and crafts products within the United States. "[9], Patrick Wolfe argues that the problem is more structural, stating that settler colonial ideology actively needs to erase and then reproduce Indigenous identity in order to create and justify claims to land and territory. It's not a . Keelers methodology and ethics around investigating peoples Indigenous identity is extremely flawed and her credibility is out the window. Communing with the Dead: The 'New Mtis,' Mtis Identity Appropriation, and the Displacement of Living Mtis Culture. Theres so many things hurting our communities, and theres so many beautiful things to celebrate, and her witch hunt sucks up all the oxygen, she added. [4] The CBC investigation used handwriting analysis, and other methods of archival and historical evaluation to conclude the letter is a fake. This is something that has been bothering me with Keeler's list. Then she deletes related tweets and other social media that would undermine her integrity, and she usually presents herself in the end as the aggrieved, yet righteous, victor on whatever issue she is championing. Individual tribes and nations determine who their citizens are. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Native American hotel guest claims white employee mocked her accent during dispute over disabled relative, Indigenous activists to protest Chiefs name, tomahawk chop, Dances with Wolves actor filmed sex assault of child, groomed girls to replace wives: prosecutor, Inside Nathan Chasing Horses alleged long history of sexual abuse. They take up a lot of space and income from First Nation, Inuit and Metis Peoples. And the payoff is well worth it. Anyway, no one has entrusted Keeler with anything. It is profitable to BECOME an Indian nowadays, and a laminated membership card by dubious groups such as the St. Francis-Sokoki group up in Swanton, or a Nulhegan membership card suffices today as proof of Abenaki descent. In an apparent response to these incidents, Navajo and Yankton Dakota writer Jacqueline Keeler recently created an "alleged pretendian" list a spreadsheet of people she thinks are pretending to be Indian. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Does this make it true? Keeler is apparently going to publish the Pretendian list. Other tribal citizens, who had been raised in American Indian boarding schools under genocidal policies designed to erase their cultural identity, also revived tribal religious and cultural practices. Indeed, some Odanak Abenaki Families descendants do in fact reside in Vermont. To people like Bourassa, we are indeed a costume, except one you get to wear all year long and benefit from professionally because it checks that box that was created to even-out the field that cannot ever be evened out just by a box. to cover the Posts possible manipulation, letting readers know what those terms mean, she has allegedly tweeted the N-word and has allegedly supported doing blackface, has been caught doing this very thing in the past. Indeed, some deceivers have argued that her list is in itself racist, or that it has racial undertones, because it includes people who identify as both Black and Native. The Eugenics didnt target Abenakis, but rather Poor White persons, and families, as well as French-Canadians, and Black families such as the Phelps up in St. Albans, Vermont. Reactions to the list among Natives online range from the passive agreement that Indian Country needs a vetting process to outright protest over the ethics of adding names to a public list without verification. Here's an article from May 2021 on Keeler's history of faulty reporting, including naming actual Natives to her Pretendian list. The divisiveness serves to disconnect more indigenous people's voices, because we're so focused on banishing the fakes that we overlook the issues of poverty, trauma and abuse that are as real as you and me. She was 75. A pretendian (portmanteau of pretend and Indian[1][2][3]) is a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous identity by claiming to be a citizen of a Native American or Indigenous Canadian tribal nation, or to be descended from Native ancestors. The list includes well-known imposters and claimants like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Johnny Depp, but also less well-known figures in media and the arts. https://t.co/pW3Uwb8xdc, Kayla-Wayla (@KaylaWayla20) May 2, 2021. Keeler said she was inspired to create the document this year in response to a New York Times op-ed by Claudia Lawrence a freelance journalist who has since been accused of being a Pretendian. All of this added up to a culture that was not inclined to disbelieve self-identification, and a wider societal impulse to claim Indigeneity.[19]. Keeler's list lacks documentation, is libelous, and includes dozens of people who are recognized by their tribes and communities as kin and contributing members of their communities. Creating an alleged pretendian list of possible offenders with incomplete research, possible bias and implication of actual Natives alongside alleged pretensions isnt safe for Indian Country nor should it be the standard. This topic is complex and deeply personal and quite frankly it is nobody's fucking business, least of all any Non-Native/White person's. It is invasive, inappropriate, unethical, and a violation of one's personal and private life especially if you are outside of the community. In particular, the great-grandmother she claimed was Tlingit, Johanna Salaba, is well-documented as having emigrated from Russia in 1911; she was a Czech-speaking Russian. Sometimes people exploit this by claiming, In an apparent response to these incidents, Navajo and Yankton Dakota writer, The Google doc can be viewed by requesting access with an email address. Everyone on this list has made public claims through interviews, in books authored, documentaries, and even in Congressional testimony. Why Are Land Acknowledgements Important? ", "Why Your DNA Results Didn't Show Your Native American Ancestry", "Native Americans fear potential exploitation of their DNA", "DNA tests stand on shaky ground to define Native American identity", "How 'pretendians' undermine the rights of Indigenous people - We must guard against harmful public discourse about Native identity as much as we guard against harmful policy", "Across North America, academics have allegedly manufactured indigenous identity for personal, professional and financial gain", "The Curious Case of Gina Adams: A "Pretendian" investigation - She was hired by Emily Carr University in an effort to recruit Indigenous faculty. Sometimes family stories with no truth behind them run amuck. And I'm sure it will. [38] Research into her claims indicated that her ancestry is wholly European. The op-ed was a letter of advice to Deb Haaland, a Native American who had just been nominated to serve as President Bidens Interior Secretary. Keeler said the list was a collaboration of many researchers, journalists and activists, but that she had been the one to compile those efforts into a single place. Imposters in the academy gain six-figure jobs, prestige, grants and tenure in exchange for a few lies. [32] Working with other Natives in tribal enrollment departments, genealogists and historians, they began following up on the names many had been hearing for years in tribal circles were not actually Native, asking about current community connections as well as researching family histories "as far back as the 1600s" to see if they had any ancestors who were Native or had ever lived in a tribal community. Keeler references we in many of her posts regarding this list without publicly disclosing exactly who else is involved. Laura Browder, " 'One Hundred Percent American': How a Slave, a Janitor, and a Former Klansmen Escaped Racial Categories by Becoming Indians", in Beyond the Binary: Reconstructing Cultural Identity in a Multicultural Context, ed. Creating an alleged pretendian list of possible offenders with incomplete research, possible bias and implication of actual Natives alongside alleged pretensions isnt safe for Indian Country nor should it be the standard of this OPINION piece of angsts about Jacqueline Keeler or her list of frauds. This can also negatively impact the actual Native folks listed as relatives and in-laws. Heres an article in the Washington Post (11/3/22) about Sasheen Littlefeather, who rejected Brandos Oscar for him in 1973 and passed away a month ago at 95, and Keelers list. By 1990, many years of pushback by Native Americans against pretendians resulted in the successful passage of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (IACA) - a truth-in-advertising law which prohibits misrepresentation in marketing of American Indian or Alaska Native arts and crafts products within the United States. [36], On September 13, 2021, the CBC News reported on their ongoing investigation into a "mysterious letter", dated 1845 (but never seen before 2011[37]) that is now believed to be a forgery. Joseph M. Pierce, an associate professor of Latin American and Indigenous Studies at Stony Brook University, said he wouldnt be surprised if Keelers claims were true. No public retraction or apology was made for this huge oversight. Our rationale was that Fox News, owned by the same people that run the Post, has manipulated pictures of people it has wanted to portray unflatteringly in the past, so this certainly could have been the case here. I could very easily say Keeler has no connection to the Navajo Nation, not sure how she got enrolled, and publish her name on a list. [36][35][44][45][46][47] In Settler Colonialism + Native Ghosts - "Community, Pretendians, & Heartbreak", Robinson posits that, Quite often this seems to be a cynical ploy towards some kind of anti-Indigenous political programme, as Darryl Leroux and others have demonstrated quite convincingly and handily regarding the explosion of groups in eastern Ontario, Qubec, the Maritimes and parts of New England (2019) where quite often the absolutely astronomical growth in new claimants of Indigeneity can be clearly traced back to white supremacist, anti-Native, political projects in opposition to Aboriginal and Treaty rights. The sisters also assert that Littlefeather's stories about their violent and impoverished upbringing were also patently false. But we didnt listen. 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