EDIT: I deleted all my comments here. I did some digging and there is a ton of controversy in the native community about these claims, and an even larger controversy regarding the people involved - Jacqueline Keeler and Kim Tallbear - and of “pretendian hunters” in general. My comments were not bad, but after doing some digging I don’t think this is really my place to speak as I’m not native and don’t have any real familiarity with the issues here. I will say I urge people to look deeper into this issue because it’s more complicated than this expose is making out. Also I’m gonna feel fine continuing to listen to Buffy.
Sure as hell didn't self identify on her daughters birth certificate back in 1941 when there would have been actual consequences to legally identifying as first nations
If her mother was the one who gave her the idea then wouldn’t the siblings also self identify that way? From the article it’s clear they don’t
I am having trouble about how to process this besides feeling that this sucks. I’ve found her music inspiring, but what CBC has revealed is definitely concerning. The evidence is pretty high that she intentionally adopted an indigenous identity
Setting Buffy Sainte-Marie aside because I don’t feel qualified/informed enough to have an opinion besides this sucks, I also hate how it’s being used to promote weird eugenics/colonialism to the concepts of identity that First Nations people have
There is a long history among indigenous people of adopting individuals from outside a tribe, after which these individuals were fully accepted as members of the tribe/family they were adopted into. The western definitions of what determines a persons status as indigenous is very much in conflict with this idea, and it makes me feel icky to hear the coverage of this story. It very much feels like it is reinforcing genetics above all else
I feel bad for the Cree family of that chief that adopted her as an adult into their culture. I wonder if they knew there was 0% chance she was native genetically, they probably bought her adoption story and accepted her from there.
She is also darker than her immediate family, maybe her parents did joke about her being native, or she had some BS family story that explains why her siblings are blond and she's not. Her siblings are dead and everyone old enough who knows the story won't comment really.
She's like original Dolezal
This puts Liz Warren to shame... like hollyshit, the more I read the worse it got.
