Guest writer article from Nanette Croce, at Suite 101's Aboriginal History section.
You've probably heard the story. In 1998 a writer calling himself Nasdijj and claiming Navajo ancestry submitted a memoir to Esquire, daring the "racist" magazine to publish a piece by an American Indian. Only, the soon-to-be award-winning author, whose second memoir would be termed "achingly honest" by the Miami Herald, was not a Navajo but a member of that ubiquitous American tribe--the Wannabees
Then there's Ward Churchill. He gained infamy for an article about attacks on the World Trade Center , but he had long been infamous among many Native Americans who claimed that his faked Indian ancestry opened the door to a Chairmanship of the Ethnic Studies Department at Colorado University and selling "authentic" artwork at Indian fairs.
Nasdijj and Churchill Just the Tip of the Wannabee Iceberg
Nasdijj and Ward Churchill represent just the tip of the iceberg. American history is littered with white folks who played Indian, some for fame and fortune, others just cause it felt cool. The 2004 movie, Hidalgo, was based on the true story of a gent who claimed questionable Indian ancestry, and the Washington Redskins claim a tenuous right to their name through a fake Lakota head coach, William "Loan Star" Dietz .
Why So Many Wannabees
Outside of a handful of nations that found success with gaming, there aren't many benefits dropped on Indians growing up in the US. That is, unless you skip the poverty, lousy healthcare, and crumbling schools and move right into the lucrative book contract, movie deal, or professorship, based on heartrending tales of a hardscrabble childhood. But for each of these there are hundreds more who really gain nothing from it except a cheap thrill.
So why this Wannabee phenomenon?
Americans Love Their Indians
Americans love their Indians. They give planes and cars cool Indian names like Apache and Pontiac. They name suburban developments after the Indians who once lived there. And sports teams--that's an article in itself. But what they really love is not so much Indians, but their image of Indians, stuck in the past.
These Indians don't wear suits and lobby congressmen on gaming issues. They don't argue sovereignty in the courts. They don't quibble over taxation or leases and trust money. "Real" Indians stand around looking noble and lamenting the loss of their hunting and gathering days.
Americans of the liberal persuasion take it one step further. Not only should real Indians eschew all the above: they need to be angry--very angry. Thus, Wannabees fitting the mold become whining gurus to sycophantic white folks on mea culpa trips.
When Wannabees are outed, it is usually secondarily to some other aspect that grates on white American sensibilities--like the 9/11 thing. As to passing themselves off as Indian, well, who defines Indian? Certainly not American Indians themselves. As with everything else, that right was appropriated by the dominant culture.
