Indiain’t: Pretendians and Jacqueline Keeler
Who is an Indian? Who determines if you are Indian or not? To most Native people in the United States, these questions are simple: our tribes do, our lineage. To those who are non-Native or Indigenous from other countries, however, the answers may vary. Physical appearance, blood quantum, the claim itself. If someone says they are Indian, then they are Indian, right? They probably carry their tribal ID and CDIB in their wallet, go to powwows or protests, and have an opinion on who makes the best meat pies.
Unfortunately, we see with people like Elizabeth Warren and Kelsey Asbille (formerly Kelsey Chow), playing Indian can come with benefits. From scholarships to job opportunities and community trust to public support, these benefits are probably why there are so many people with a ‘great grandmother who was a Cherokee princess’. While many stop at that all-too-common blood myth, others fully immerse themselves in the deception. Seeing someone gain notoriety from their Native-ness when you know they are not Native at all is upsetting, and perhaps that is why there is such a boom for identifying these frauds. So who is an Indian? If you’re Jacqueline Keeler, you decide.
Frances Danger recounts her experience with activism and how it tied into ethnic frauds in her post Let’s Talk About Jacqueline Keeler, and how the aptly-named Pretendian List began in 2020. As a student a few years prior, I had actually called Keeler for an interview-style chat as a source for one of my English essays– which I killed, by the way, but not the point here. Similar to Frances, I ran in these same digital circles hoping to see the day when the Washington Redskins would change their name but my involvement actually started back when I was in high school. The activists behind Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry were everything I aspired to be. Because of this early exposure, I really looked up to those involved and to the Navajo activist especially.
The call in 2018 is when she told me about the research she was working on to expose the so-called Pretendians, and the potential for a book to come of it. I believed this so-called research and Pretendian List would help our people due to the abundance of people who steal opportunities from our communities by playing Native. That her book would educate non-Natives on how detrimental this form of deceit was to our communities. “Then she published it.” (Danger, 2022)
From posts speculating who was next up on The List, as it were, to all-out arguments complete with harassment from followers of Keeler, the Pretendian List had caused a lot of strife in the digital Native American community and beyond. While Keeler initially presented the idea as something that would be accompanied by extensive research, the list itself was vague claims or completely blank where research was expected. When I received access to The List I took my time looking at every bit of it, noticing that occasionally people I knew were included along with random celebrities here and there. There was seemingly no method to it and people said that if you made her angry, she would put you on The List. Natives she once respected but had a falling out with ended up on The List. There were even Black Natives on this list as well, despite the very nuanced enrollment issues for say…Freedmen.
And just who is Keeler that she can speak to enrollment for tribes that she is not a part of? She has edited and authored two books — and — readers of Yes Magazine may have seen her ten articles between 2017 and 2019, three Salon articles, or the fifty plus she authored for Indian Country Today between 2018 and 2019 prior to her removal. (Shaggy, 2022) But this hardly makes her the authority on all things Indigenous — or not.
Despite the vast number of people who have spoken to Keeler about her approach, or against her following various public tirades, she marches on as if doing some great service to our community and ancestors. In a 2016 Facebook post, Keeler says, “I remember Uncle Vine Deloria Jr. telling us young Natives to ‘Stop worrying if you’re Indian or not. You’re Indian, get over it. Go file some amicus briefs and stop a dam from being built. That’s why we fought to get you educated.’” It seems she did not heed his advice, choosing instead to create a lengthy spreadsheet of names, claimed nations, associated organizations and fields of study, positions and titles, years active, and much more. “”, as the document was officially titled, claimed:
“*These allegations of ethnic fraud are being investigated. We will release the names and findings of all those who are found not to be Native. However, we will release the names of those found to be Native or of descent on a selective basis. For example: Gov. Stitt, who is clearly enrolled, but whose backstory requires explanation vis a vis the role of tribal sovereignty in deciding who is a tribal citizen. Especially since outlets like the NYT covered his story. We will seek comment from those who have been found to have no tribal ancestry before releasing the list. We will also seek comment from their employers, universities, board of directors, publishers, film companies, and their agents (i.e. literary agents, etc.).”
Much like a background check, the spreadsheet also included known associates. This was not all. Links to social media like LinkedIn, schools and other professional organizations, popular media outlets, and even a blog called Fake Cherokees were included along with the accused’s CV and lectures/presentations. Keeler, naturally, left space for “Pollen Nation Videos/Jacqueline Keeler articles” along with genealogical research and the promised comments.
Keeler started Pollen Nation Magazine as an online magazine focusing on Native issues, politics, culture, stereotypes, current events etc. and she would speak with KBOO radio for their Wednesday Talk Radio back in 2016. () Pointing to herself and content from a magazine she runs seems like a conflict of interest.(1) This is not the only error in her research either, as there are no sources or references linked or listed to back up the claims made within her comments section. One would think evidence of these claims would be readily proffered with as much enthusiasm as her own referenced articles. The links to a blog called FakeIndians as genealogical research are similar, listing no sources to back up claims made, as can be seen in the . (Sam, 2016) The comments section gives claims about the family tree: “The most English American family tree we have ever seen.” I would hardly call unsubstantiated claims or personal opinions research.
Others in the community also critiqued her, pointing out that there was not much in the way of research to back her claims — among other things, like identifying the anti-Blackness of listing those with Freedman ancestry. Keeler and supporters shot back with justifications and onward she went. One of the biggest Pretendian claims made since the list itself came out was a San Francisco Chronicle article against Sacheen Littlefeather, the Apache woman who stepped in to accept Marlon Brando’s award at the 45th Academy Awards in 1973.
Littlefeather’s sisters say she was not Native and that they are actually Spanish through their father. () There was instant outrage to this, as it came just weeks after Littlefeather’s death. The outrage was not the only thing that was instant, however, as other news outlets picked up the story as well. When it comes to stories like Keeler’s and those that followed it up, one thing was glaringly absent: commentary from members of the White Mountain Apache and Yaqui tribes. While Littlefeather’s family can offer insight to the family’s tribal ties, they cannot offer insight to Littlefeather’s personal journey of reconnection. A White Mountain Apache woman of the Upper East Fork District shared a statement, claiming Littlefeather, that gives a needed perspective:
“This from an Apache woman… ‘You should’ve conducted better research before printing this article. You could’ve asked me. I’m a White Mountain Apache from the Upper East Fork District. And here in the quiet and [oftentimes], [overlooked] East Fork Community, we all know of [Littlefeather’s] ties, through our [bloodlines]. She has family here that have visited her on a regular basis in California. She is by blood, part East Fork Apache, Yaqui, and Mexican. In fact, a lot of Upper East Fork Community members are of Mexican Breed, in the Quintero Springs area. The Tribe even categorized us as a sub-clan called Nakaiye which means, the Mexican Breed People. That’s where she falls under. [Sacheen] isn’t an enrolled member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe, but it doesn’t make her any less, part East Fork Apache. There are many people who are born Apache, who aren’t enrolled, or have difficulty enrolling, because they aren’t able to prove their [ties] through bloodline, within a written system, developed by [Non-Natives]. Sounds like her sisters were just jealous of her and waited to talk [shit] about her until after her death. They couldn’t say anything while she was alive? So disrespectful.’” ()(2)
And I agree this should have been addressed prior to her death, both by her family and by Keeler who cannot speak on behalf of every tribe out there as she does not belong to every tribe out there. If Keeler has been working on this research for years, why was Sacheen’s row on The List not complete with statements from her sisters or professional associates? (Keeler, 2022) The fine print of The List claimed that Keeler and Co. would seek out the accused for comment, after all. Why did Keeler not confront her while she was alive to explain?
As we can see from the Apache woman’s statement, there is nuance to being Native that does not stop at enrollment. There are adoptees (both adopted out and adopted in), stolen children, and those that are disconnected from their tribes as a result of their parents and grandparents assimilation into American “culture” and society. There are Freedmen Natives who cannot enroll. There are Natives that are only ¼ blood quantum of tribes with a ½ blood quantum requirement for enrollment. (Blood quantum being a product of colonization aiming to get rid of Indians by way of breeding out the Native.) There are tribes with complex disenrollment issues where individuals that have been Native their whole lives wake up one day and find that they are no longer enrolled. Are they no longer Native because of issues within their tribe dictating such, despite their bloodline and traditional knowledge?
When it comes to the question of who is Native and who is not, that is a question that falls on the given tribe. The Choctaw decide who is Choctaw just as the Wyandotte decide who is Wyandotte. The Kumeyaay decides who is Kumeyaay, the Hopi decide who is Hopi, the Iowa decide who is Iowa, the Ponca decide who is Ponca, and so on it goes for every other tribe. Did any of this stop Keeler from the hunt she is on? No. Author Erika T. Wurth has recently hit the headlines and trending topics as Keeler accuses her of having zero Native ancestry despite claiming Chickasaw, Apache, and Cherokee heritage. () Whether authoring her own articles or being interviewed, Keeler continues to make these claims without the support of community.
Identity is more complicated than just being “card-carrying”. Something Keeler and the like do not seem to have received the memo on. At this point it seems that such a poor taste has been left behind that, in my opinion, people might start to turn a blind eye if it is Keeler and Co. behind the accusation. This could be for the best, though. If we want to maintain our power as sovereign nations then we need to keep people out of our business. I, for one, do not appreciate Keeler’s interjection into who is and is not Choctaw — that is for me, my tribe, and our chiefs to decide. People like Jacqueline Keeler may be smart and they may have the right idea but ultimately who is Indian and Indiain’t is not up to them. ()(3) Those who want to play Indian for the various benefits they pick out need to be talked about but this is something that needs to be done with involvement from the given communities.
Footnotes
1. The blog , which appears multiple times, seems fairly anonymous. There is an about me tab if you click around a bit, naming the owner as “Sam” with an interesting bio considering the content of the blog itself: “If you know the child, or are the child currently named ‘Veronica Capobianco’ this letter is for you! Please know, you were stolen from your dad, he loves you, he fought for you, and the people who took you, are currently suing him for 1.2 million dollars. This blog is for you to find some day.” A blog that has nothing to do with the child? After further searching, the child in question is the famous Baby Veronica from the court case that made national headlines in 2013, Adoptive Couple v Baby Girl.
2. Heavily edited for spelling as indicated by brackets. Words have not been changed from their intended original words. Please refer to the Figure 1 screenshot.
3. Indiain’t, a term coined by ever-popular Twitter user @DeadDogLake, is a great alternative to Pretendian for those who don’t want to be associated with the Keeler drama. This tweet is the earliest mention of it I could find.
Figures
Sources
Danger, F. (2022, November 20). Let’s Talk About Jacqueline Keeler. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from Medium website: http://jeetwincasinos.com/@francesdanger/lets-talk-about-jacqueline-keeler-c7b8808294b7
Keeler, J. (2016, December 24). I remember Uncle Vine Deloria Jr. Retrieved December 24, 2016, from Facebook website:
Keeler, J. (2022, October 22). Sacheen Littlefeather was a Native icon. Her sisters say she was an ethnic fraud. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from San Francisco Chronicle website:
Leone, C. (2022, September 2). Warning: This is my true experience. Retrieved December 3, 2022, from Facebook website:
Roland, P. (2016, October 11). “Pollen Nation Report” with co-host Jacqueline Keeler, on the road to Standing Rock. Retrieved February 16, 2023, from KBOO Community Radio for Portland and beyond website:
Sam. (2016, August 4). Heather Rae. Retrieved February 16, 2023, from FakeIndians website:
Shaggy, K. (2022, February 1). Comprehensive Timeline of Keeler’s Harassment of Indigenous People. Retrieved May 16, 2022, from Google Docs website:
Vincent, I. (2023, January 25). “Native American” author Erika Wurth accused as “fake Indian.” Retrieved January 25, 2023, from New York Post website:
WaiAlicia. (2022, November 8). An open letter to Keeler from a White Mountain Apache Upper East Fork District woman claiming Sacheen Littlefeather. Retrieved February 6, 2023, from Twitter website:
Wesley II, G. (2019, August 28). Good morning. Retrieved February 4, 2023, from Twitter website:
Tags: journalism, Jacqueline Keeler, pretendian, playing Indian, identity, identity politics, pretendian list, Sacheen Littlefeather, Erika Wurth
