Activist names 195 as ‘pretendians’ On the ‘Indian poser’ hit list
They’re coming for white lies.
A list of allegedly fake Native Americans has begun circulating in tribal and academic circles, accusing 195 people of falsely claiming an Indian identity for personal gain.
The Alleged Pretendians List is the creation of Jacqueline Keeler (inset), a Native American writer and activist who has spent years busting fakers in politics and academia.
“Everyone on this list has made public claims through interviews, in books authored, documentaries, and even in congressional testimony. They are also all monetizing their claims. These are not privately held beliefs,” reads her introduction to the document.
“We will release the names and findings of all those who are found to have no relation to the American Indian tribe they claim in the United States.”
The list is a hodgepodge, with some entries containing detailed genealogical records, while others offer little beyond Keeler’s accusations.
The list contains both those being probed and those who have already been disavowed by tribes with which they claim affiliation. The list includes highprofile claimants of native ancestry, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Johnny Depp, but also lesser known figures in media and the arts.
Many of the accused sit in prestigious academic posts.
Dartmouth’s assistant undergraduate dean, Susan Taffe Reed, is among them. In 2015, Reed was forced out as director of the Hanover, NH, college’s Native American Program after allegedly faking membership in the Eastern Delaware Nations.
Reed did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
The issue of “pretendians” — a nickname for those who pretend to be American Indian — made headlines last month when Canada’s top indigenous health expert, Carrie Bourassa, was ousted after her claims of membership in the Métis nation were debunked. Researchers found that her ancestors originated from Eastern Europe and Russia.
‘Ethnic fraud’
Keeler, 53, a member of the Navajo Nation, was born in Cleveland to parents who went there as part of a voluntary relocation program by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the mid-20th century.
“I am an enrolled Navajo Nation citizen. My mom’s full Navajo. My dad is fiveeighths Yankton Dakota, but they had to choose a tribe,” she said in March. “My grandparents didn’t even speak English! Only Navajo!”
Keeler said she was inspired to create the document this year in response to a New York Times op-ed by Claudia Lawrence, a journalist who has since been accused of being a pretendian.
The op-ed was a letter of advice to then-Rep. Deb Haaland, a Native American who had just been nominated to serve as President Biden’s interior secretary.
“Ms. Lawrence was unable to provide evidence of Native ancestry; she is not an enrolled member of any federally or state-recognized tribe,” reads an editor’s note that was added above the Times piece.
“If the editors had known that there were questions about her connection to the Native community, this essay would not have been published until those questions had been resolved.”
Lawrence is on the Alleged Pretendians List. The Native American Journalists Association has since rescinded Lawrence’s membership.
“Ethnic fraud, particularly against native people is huge,” Keeler said. “There is an element of narcissism. There is a lack of empathy because they will retaliate against native people who try to expose their fraud.”
Keeler said that the list was a collaboration of many researchers, journalists and activists, but that she had compiled those efforts into a single document.
Keeler said she and other researchers capped the list at 200 to make the investigative caseload manageable, but claimed the true number is closer to 500.
Keeler’s list is controversial within native communities, as well. A parody Web site lists her and likeminded natives as “Karendians.”
Rhiana Yazzie, a NativeAmerican playwright, said she had mixed feelings about the list.
“Pretendians are a major problem, yet I’m disturbed that there’s a list like this that feels arbitrary,” she said. “I’m not sure who is investigating and what the consequences are.”