Hey OP! Are you Native? I can’t find anything on your blog stating you are, and your bio seems to implicate you live in Australia. Which I do know there are a small number of Natives who live outside of the Americas and live in Australia, but I’m going to assume you aren’t one of them. I do also understand that Australia has it’s own Indigenous population, but if you are not Indigenous American, you still shouldn’t be speaking for us!
Anyway, if you were, you would likely know this is bullshit! I made a post earlier here but let me go into more detail of the bullshit nature of this article (and the others):
First, who is Jacqueline Keeler (the author of this article)?
Jacqueline is a known racist and xenophobe. It is well known in Native communities that Jacqueline only believes US Natives are Natives. If you’re Native to Mexico, you’re not Native! Even if you’re Native to Canada, you’re not Native! Sacheen is Indigenous to Mexico, Jacqueline’s “research” tracks Sacheen’s paternal heritage back to present-day Mexico, but not to Spain or another European country. And where are many Yaqui and Apache from? Mexico! As of 2019, there are 16,240 recognized Yaqui in Mexico, and this isn’t counting Mexican Americans (or other Mexicans in the diaspora) who are actually Yaqui. And usually they are just registered as “Mexican”/”Latino/Hispanic” in the US instead of Yaqui, because colonial borders and such! The only federally recognized Yaqui tribe in the US, the Pasqua Yaqui Tribe, was only recognized in 1978. And they have around 19,000 members in their tribe. But there are at least 22,412 Yaqui in the US as of 2003, most of the remaining numbers are those who can’t enroll in the Pasqua Yaqui Tribe because they are actually Yaquis from Mexico, or descended from Mexico.
For a long read on Jacqueline’s xenophobic and racist history, you can refer to this article. The Google Doc has unfortunately been deleted, but it was up earlier this year and was over 50 pages long.
Jacqueline has a vendetta against many Natives, particularly these tend to be Black Natives, Asian Natives, and, once again, Natives who are from tribes outside of the US. Other than Sacheen, there is also Rebecca Roanhorse who she has literally doxxed multiple times. Jacqueline claims she’s contacted the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and found out Rebecca has no ties. (Interesting how in the Sacheen article she claims to have done the same with the White Mountain Apache.) But Rebecca has proved multiple times she does have the ties, the membership, and many have backed up her claims.
Jacqueline is also a fucking blood quantum weirdo. Jacqueline, as a result, also believes no people can claim Indigenous ancestry unless they are enrolled with a federally recognized tribe. Which means, if you don’t fit your tribe’s blood quantum, you’re out, even if you are highly active in your community. Also means people of state recognized tribes are out (ex. Lumbee).
Finally, Jacqueline is Navajo and Yankton Dakota. She is not Yaqui. She is not Apache. And she is not of a tribe that crosses over colonial borders.
Some screenshots of people talking about Jacqueline here.
Bottom line is: Jacqueline Keeler is a fucking racist and xenophobe, and a highly biased source. There is so much I haven’t shared, but Jacqueline is an absolutely terrible person. Her shit is not to be trusted.
Second: But her sisters said...?
Sacheen’s sisters have admitted, on Twitter (both in public Tweets and DMs) that they were actually always told they were Native. From their father, who said that yes he was from Mexico, but they were from Yaqui territory in Mexico and were Yaqui. And from Sacheen, who did research into their ancestry. They either lied in the interview with Jacqueline, or Jacqueline made up quotes. The latter is something Jacqueline has done, multiple times, so ... wouldn’t put it past her.
Now, yes, Sacheen’s sisters are now saying they’re not Native. But want to know the great journalistic integrity that Jacqueline had? The sisters didn’t come to it of their own conclusions, they came to it after being told by Jacqueline.
Her sisters also have other issues with Sacheen, that may have prompted this. They are hard-line Republicans, literal Trump supporters (which I wish I could say there’s no Natives who are Trump supporters, but there are) who believe “no illegals should enter this country”. Sacheen did not agree with these political views (because Sacheen was a good person). They had a falling out over these views, and the sisters were apparently not invited to Sacheen’s funeral. So. Yeah.
I won’t discuss whether or not Sacheen made up childhood trauma regarding her father’s supposed alcoholism. That’s not my place and I can’t say for sure one way or the other.
Third: But the White Mountain Apache Tribe said she’s not an enrolled member...?
One, as we went over before, Jacqueline has literally straight up lied about contacting tribes before. (Jacqueline has also contacted the wrong tribe about people before, though that’s slightly besides the point, but a tweet about it here.) But let’s say she did. The White Mountain Apache have a blood quantum law (and didn’t we go over that earlier?). They require you have at least 1/2 Indigenous blood, and that at least 1/4 of that Indigenous blood comes from the White Mountain Apache Tribe.
Many people are not able to be enrolled as a result, and fun fact! Sacheen never claimed to be enrolled. We don’t know the details of Sacheen’s ancestry, nor her father’s. We don’t know if she met the requirements to be enrolled with the White Mountain Apache Tribe. Her father may have been 3/4 Yaqui, 1/4 Apache. Which would make her not able to be enrolled. But still would make her Apache nonetheless, because blood quantum is bullshit.
Fourth: But she wasn’t at Alcatraz...?
Does this matter? Like I get it. We can discuss maybe making up trauma. But does that matter to her not being Native? But if it does, there are photos of her there. And she literally has said that she was unable to be there most of the time, due to her being a student. So no, she wasn’t one of the protesters occupying Alcatraz 24/7. And she never claimed to be.
I understand she talked about Alcatraz in her Academy Awards speech, but that doesn’t mean shit? I was unable to go to Standing Rock during the DAPL protests there, due to me being a student, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t advocate from where I was and doing everything in my power to support those who were on the frontlines.
Moving onto our final point.
Fifth (and final): But these are reliable news sources...?
I know! That part fucking sucks! But because of how much Natives on Twitter have already been speaking out against this article, journalists are making contact (tweet from someone who has been contacted here). Journalists are deleting their tweets about it.
And this is an opinion piece. Note that this is an opinion piece. This isn’t some investigative journalism, it’s been published as an opinion piece. It’s Jacqueline’s opinion. These newspapers don’t have to do as much fact-checking as they would in an investigative journalism piece. It’s just an opinion, from a (as previously stated) notoriously untrustworthy person.
The people, and the voices, who matter here are Natives, and more specifically Yaqui and Apache people. In doing so, I will link a thread from a Yaqui person about this piece here.
Anyway, Jacqueline Keeler can fuck off. Sacheen is Native. And these posts/articles defaming her, after her death so she can no longer defend herself, are disgusting.
Take this down if you have any human decency.
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