Who can Identify as a Native American?

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What’s the deal with “Pretendians”? Tai Leclare and experts dissect what it really means to be Native—whether it’s blood, initiation, or just a claim. This episode digs deep into the complexities of identity and last names in Indian Country.

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[amparocruz]

Great video, genuine question tho, what about Latin American immigrants? So Many are straight up indigenous and know exactly what their indigenous culture is, could they also be considered Native American or does “Native American” in this specific topic only apply to natives of the US? I’m an indigenous Ñuu Savi (Mixtec) from Oaxaca Mexico myself, but my indigeneity is often not acknowledged by Americans who just see me as “Latino” (a colonial term), and in the US census im often confused on what I should put, if I should put Native American or not because Latinos are often told to pick white, but I am not white nor am I mixed, but I’m also not a member of any native US Tribe, this goes to show how colonial racial categories are so harmful and confusing! Thank you for this video.

[KY_CPA]

I have native ancestry (Mayan) but given poor records & deaths of grandparents/great grandparents at young ages, and immigration to US changing names to Americanize them, our family has lost that connection along the way. So over just a couple generations all of that cultural connection was sadly lost. I deeply appreciate the insights in this program, frank discussions, & knowledge the show provides!

[WelfareChrist]

I'm Hawaiian, and nearly all of these issues are here in some form as well. When it comes down to it bloodline has always been very important to the Hawaiian people, but really I think it's a question of who is perpetuating the language and culture. There are so many non-Hawaiian academics at the University of Hawaii who have done a lot to help preserve parts of our culture we would have otherwise lost.

[lulumoon]

*Some ancestors dipped out altogether and their descendants survived but lost cultural identity! But we ENDURE!*

[matt-]

My only beef with some Native American in the USA is that they act like native tribes do not exist in Latin America. My family is Zapotec, my parents know the language, sadly I do not. I was raised to just know Spanish and second language English but I know our culture and we have our traditions, yet I say that and get backlash.
I look native, have native blood and culture outside the USA. Just a different part of America that my ancestors are from.

[tauntingeveryone]

I am about 1/32 Cherokee but I would not call myself native American because I lack the culture and heritage for me to consider myself Native American. My grandmother was probably the last one in the direct family that would be considered a Native American. When she was young, she did live on the reservation but her mom eventually took her family out east. My only first hand account of my past was hearing stories from my grandmother about the reservation when she was growing up. However, due to leaving there as a young child, she really did not have that much connection to her heritage too. When she and her mom left her mom also decided not to pass down any traditions. The only left of my ancestry is just some knickknacks that my mom has. It is sad that a lot of people are playing Indian but I also see it as some people trying to claim their heritage back from force assimilation a lot of natives went through. Still, they should not be taking benefits for Native Americans.

[chrisaguilera]

It still astonishes me to this day that the guy from those old 70's anti-litter ads wasn't a Native American either.

[lightbeingform]

As a person with very deeply mixed ancestry and no specific cultural heritage, an ethnically ambiguous appearance, and a justice-oriented value system, I assure you: You can choose to be an ally, express your commonality with people, and learn from different cultures WITHOUT exaggerating your personal identity. As an ambiguous person with a rich experience of my own, I am here to live my story, and to learn/ teach tolerance for ambiguity and specificity. Many can use that energy right now. Great job, PBS, it's really brave to approach this subject and this is a very sensitive primer for the curious. Love the program.

[mopes]

I'm half Nicaraguan and Costa Rican heritage from Central America. I took a DNA test and came out 51% Spanish, Portuguese, Jewish, Italian. But the remaining 49% was completely Indigenous from Nicaragua, as well as Indigenous to Panama and Costa Rica.

[martinmaldonado]

I’m 34% indigenous American and just now found out the exact tribe in Mexico I descend from. It’s so dope

[francinebacone]

I like what the professor did by bringing up the concept of "humility". Pretendians don't seem to have to struggle with humility the way I seem to do. I was kidnapped from Canada and raised by my white American mother. I cannot put into words the wounds I have from having these connections torn from my identity, family, land & communities. It hurts me so much I can't speak sometimes, just tear up. Luckily, I found my way back to Canada, my father and some of his family. I've met a few too many people who take up space in Indian Country, yet have no direct connection and no concrete explanation about what that loss is and how traumatic it is to bear over a lifetime. When I encounter people who take up and claim this connection and it becomes clear that they really do not... it hurts. It's real trauma. I have so much anger, hurt, enragement that comes up. I really don't know what to do with it. I don't feel entitled to walk into just any Native space and be accepted, I am shocked by the gaul of the 'pretendians' who feel that they do. It is really hard to be there and share any calmness and patience I can muster in regards to such people. It makes it difficult to connect sometimes in the few instances I find a place where I can get involved. I feel so unsafe and its very hard for me to process it and stay calm and like a rational reasonable human being. Its a mess!
Hey, Indian Country? What do you do about the enragement of identity being taken away? Where is a safe place to process this trauma.... because I'm watching the pretendians coming out to Native places to process their own 'stuff', but it makes it feel so threatening to show up and be vulnerable as a sorta whiteish looking Indian who was enculturated by an entitled white lady. The rage endangers my own humility and I can feel deeply shamed by that. Thanks.

[StrayVagabond]

Took a DNA test online
Turns out I'm 100% white bread

[squirrelsinmykoolaid]

Thank you for starting to unpack such a complex conversation. History and racialization is such a tricky issue. I'm not Native, but this video brings to mind conversations by Afro-Natives who, despite growing up in a Native community and being able to trace their lineage, may or may not qualify regarding blood quantum because of historical intermixing between previously enslaved Africans and Indigenous Americans. That was the example that came to mind for Natives that don't "count" based on blood, but are still considered Native.

I also thought about the history of forced adoption and Natives who may have been taken out of their communities but came into their heritage and identity later on in life when they had the access to knowledge and resources to learn.

[Defender_messenger]

I’m Latino and most of are native ancestry has been strategically erased from us to the point that Latinos will judge you for not acting like their colonizers.

[cubinican]

As a Caribbean person, "we know the language or know why we don't, " really hit and helped me further empathize with y'all. 💜

[comradeeyebot]

As a very pale, Anglo looking, Native, this was amazing.
I know who I am, who my family is. I have two tribal recognitions and three roll numbers. My grandfather help set up Indian Ed in CA. My mother dances at powwow and my grandmother loves fry bread and makes dream catchers (Yes, we are Ojibwe).
That being said, I'm only "The Native" as long as I am in a room with other non Natives. I never lived on a rez. I never experienced rascism because of how I look. I have never had my drinking water being poisoned right in front of my eyes. So when there is someone who is Native in the room, I sit down and shut up.

[Burgerzaza]

This topic is very close to my heart because I'm Cherokee and Choctaw by blood quantum but phenotypically I'm white. I've benefited from native programs all my life, but my great grandparent's, the people I actually get my heritage from, gave up their culture to join the jehovahs witness, and so I was robbed of my tribal culture because of their decision to distance themselves.

I've always felt very insecure about my place in the nation, plastic cards aside. I wasn't raised on the rez, my family wasn't that different from white families barring a few superstitions I was surprised to find had tribal roots. For a while I tried too hard to feel like I deserved my identity by learning the language and cultural traditions, and trying work hard for the nation, then I kinda gave up, feeling like I was kist there to fill up a spot on the census and i didn't have a right to that heritage. But after doing some soul searching and research on native history, I think I've reached that middle ground where I can accept that I just am, and giving up that piece of myself is letting colonization win, and that there's no singular way to be or look Indian. I still do research on the history and culture of the nations, but now it's out of a desire to learn and connect with my heritage rather then prove something. Something I didn't know was how pretendians were making me feel less native by publicly leaning into stereotypes and denyingal actual natives opportunities to speak and share their experiences. Thank you so much for making this video, this is a very important topic and I'm grateful to hear some kind of confirmation I'm on the right track, and learn more about how other people experience being native

[Rhadgar]

The "Playing Indian" phenomenon is interesting from a transnational perspective, because it's definitely something that I've seen from settler rhetoric across the Americas. A classic example is Simón Bolívar rhetorically aligning himself and his cause with that of the indigenous people killed or enslaved by Spain, even though he was a wealthy white man with no connection to any of the communities he alludes to, and it's debatable how much his revolutionary project did to improve the lot of indigenous people in South America.

[djhogan]

We have the exact same issues here in Australia regarding who is “indigenous” or not. Many hard core political activists who claim to “identify as indigenous” are complete frauds. The numbers of people who claim to be indigenous EXPLODED over the last 10 years particularly, when it became Hip and Cool to be indigenous, and especially since substantial financial and social advantages (eg entry to university courses for some who otherwise would not qualify) were being handed out on the basis of race, and especially when it was discovered that political power could be achieved simply by claiming to “identify as indigenous”. We have reached the point where some of these fraudsters are now the gatekeepers on determining who can identify as indigenous! These fraudsters are stealing funds and benefits that were intended to help some of our indigenous people who truelly are disadvantaged. Race is a harmful and destructive way to determine who gets help and who doesn’t. The most disadvantaged and needy should get help first REGARDLESS of race. It is a racist and cultural slur to say “Oh, you are indigenous, so there is no way you can succeed in life unless we give you some money or social or political benefits”. it is also a racist and cultural slur to say”Oh, you are white, so you must be held responsible for what some white people did 200 years ago”. Identity politics is toxic, we ALL need to reject it for our own good.

[abugprobably]

This is why I identify as indigenous mexican-american, my ancestors range from El Salvador up into the Central Valley and into northern Mexico, and then when the border showed up, a couple family members made some really hard choices and they chose assimilation at all costs. Now I don’t even know Spanish, but I’m learning. My dad once told me to never forget our ancestors, and I am determined not to.