By Circe Sturm
The Native American population in the U.S. grew by a staggering 86.5% between 2010 and 2020, according to the latest U.S. Census – a rate demographers say is impossible to achieve without immigration.
Birth rates among Native Americans don’t explain the massive rise in numbers. And there certainly is no evidence of an influx of Native American expatriates returning to the U.S.
Instead, individuals who previously identified as white are now claiming to be Native American.
This growing movement has been captured by terms like “pretendian” and “wannabe.”
Another way to describe this recent adoption of Native American identity is what I call “racial shifting.”
These people are fleeing not from political and social persecution, but from whiteness.
I spent 14 years researching the topic and interviewing dozens of race-shifters for my book “Becoming Indian.” I learned that while some of these people have strong evidence of Native American ancestry, others do not.
Yet nearly all of the 45 people who were interviewed or surveyed for the book believe they have Indigenous ancestry and that it means something powerful about who they are and how they should live their lives. Only a tiny – but troubling – number makes blatantly fraudulent claims to advance their own interests.
History repeats
The search for meaning that characterizes racial shifting is part of an old American story.
Since the days of the Boston Tea Party, when nearly 100 American colonists dressed in Native American garb before throwing 95 tons of British tea into the Boston Harbor, white Americans have distinguished themselves from Europeans by selectively adopting Native American imagery and practices.
Yet as historian Philip Deloria argued in his 1998 book, “Playing Indian,” something happened in American society in the 1950s and 1960s that allowed white Americans greater freedom to appropriate nonwhite identities. White Americans, often with the encouragement of the counterculture and later New Age movements, began to seek new meanings in Indigenous cultures.
Those shifts are apparently reflected in U.S. Census data. The Native American population started increasing at a dramatic rate in the 1960s, growing from 552,000 to 9.7 million in 60 years. Prior to then, the Native American population had been relatively stable.
Backlash against assimilation
What distinguishes contemporary racial shifting from these earlier forms of appropriation is that most race shifters see themselves not as white people who “play Indian,” but as long-unrecognized American Indians who have been forced by historical circumstances to “play white.”
Many argue, for example, that their families avoided anti-Indian policies like removal by blending into white society.
This gradual but fundamental shift over the last 60 years suggests a seismic upheaval in the American racial landscape.
Racial shifting is a rejection of the centuries-long process of assimilation, when different racial and ethnic groups were pressured to adopt white norms of behavior as a way of fitting into an American society that was defined by them. Racial hierarchies that consistently place whiteness at the top are now being challenged.
When speaking to me about their former white lives, racial shifters often described a period of sadness when they searched for meaning and connection. Only when they began to look to their family histories did they realize all that had been lost when their families assimilated into whiteness. As one woman from Missouri put it: “They forced us to be white, act white, live white, and that is a very, very degrading feeling.”
The genealogical and historical details might not always be verifiable, but the emotions are real enough. It makes perfect sense that once race shifters link their melancholy to assimilation, they try to ease their sadness by rejecting whiteness and reclaiming an Indigenous status.
Whiteness devalued
Part of what accounts for these new sentiments are significant changes in the public’s discussion about race.
In the wake of 1960s civil rights activism and debates about multiculturalism, whiteness has taken on increasingly negative connotations.
In my interviews with race shifters, for example, they frequently associated their former whiteness with racial and cultural emptiness.
As one woman put it: “We had an emptiness inside of us, that we did not know who we were or what we were.” They also associated whiteness with social isolation, unearned privilege and guilt over colonialism and slavery.
Today there is growing insecurity about what it means to be white in America. We see this being expressed in public debates about white fragility, affirmative action and colorblind policies. Of course, there’s still much security in being white: White privilege is an ongoing reality of American life, and something most white people and white racial shifters take for granted.
This shift from white to Indigenous self-identification is, I believe, fundamentally about a desire to leave behind the negative connotations of whiteness and move toward the material and symbolic values that now attach to Native American identity.
‘Attack on our sovereignty’
If you listen only to racial shifters, this growing trend could be seen as a progressive move that challenges the legacy of a racist system.
Yet the citizens of federally recognized tribes offer a different interpretation.
Most view anyone who self-identifies as Native American without being an enrolled citizen of a federally recognized tribe as a threat to tribal sovereignty. As Richard Allen, a former policy analyst with the Cherokee Nation, told me, “Not only is that an insult, but it’s also an attack on our sovereignty as Cherokee people, as the Cherokee Nation.”
Among American Indians, the term sovereignty is used to assert ongoing rights of political self-determination. Because tribes have the sovereign right to determine their own citizenry, American Indian identity is fundamentally a political status, not a racial one, a fact that is often overlooked in debates about Indigenous identity.
Racial shifters also undermine tribal sovereignty when they create alternative tribes for themselves outside the federal acknowledgment process. Most of these groups, such as the Echota Cherokee Tribe or the Southeastern Cherokee Confederacy, have emerged since the late 1970s.
The number of these new self-identified tribes is startling. Over the course of my research, I discovered 253 groups scattered across the U.S. that identify as some sort of Cherokee tribe.
This is a huge number considering that there are only 573 federally recognized tribes, three of which are Cherokee.
Racial shifting is a growing demographic trend that is creating confusion in the public sphere about who is Native American and who isn’t. But its threat is far greater than just social confusion.
Native Americans and their governments face thousands of race-shifters seeking to join their ranks. And as more and more people reject whiteness in favor of indigeneity, they do so at the expense of tribal sovereignty.
Circe Sturm is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts.
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Osceola says
If a person identifies as Native American whats the problem? I’m betting the author has no problem with a biological male identifying as a female. Everyone needs to start identifying as Race Neutral. That will be inline with this “gender neutral” nonsense that’s being pushed on us today. If there isn’t a white “boogeyman” to demonize, people will have to suck it up and realize all the negative things that happen in their lives might have more to do with their poor decisions than something blamed on another race.
Beachlover says
Osceola. You nailed it precisely. Not to mention the government/non-government benefits for being something other than White Male in this society. Affirmative action and a whole host of benefits given to the chosen people shows just how far our government has gone off the rails. We are not going to fix this so all we can do is try to contain it, as long as there have been humans, we have had jealousy and those who would rather steal from others vs work for a living.
Jimbo99 says
I’ve been saying this for the longest time. When a group needs solidarity they take it anywhere they can get it. Once the objectives as concessions are accomplished, at the end of the day, those poor people that are white & stood out on a sidewalk with a sign in solidarity are always going to be white. And white privilege will always be assumed for them. I mean if you take the diversity distribution formula of poverty, mathematically there will always be more poor whites than any other race. Simple math for poverty, 8.2% white, 19.5% black. Break out your calculator, 250.56 million whites x 8.2% poverty rate = 20.55 million whites in poverty. 44.78 million blacks x 19.5% poverty rate = 8.73 million blacks in poverty. By sheer numbers, there are 2.35+ times as many white people living in poverty than blacks in 2020-present in the USA. The math is what it is. And those 20.55 million poorest whites, they’re always going to be assumed to be white privileged when the dust settles after the protest season, & they’ll be excluded from any gains of prosperity. The sad part is, the 80.5% of the blacks that aren’t at or below the poverty line, those folks aren’t sharing the prosperity gains with the 19.5% of the blacks that are poorest. Last I checked, poverty is poverty, it sucks for anyone, regardless of skin color or gender identification. And the poverty rates continue to worsen for any demographic. I get it too, 19.5% is roughly 2.5 times higher than 8.2%. I would say that anyone going without has it no better than the others going without. Am I wrong on any of this ?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/200476/us-poverty-rate-by-ethnic-group/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/183489/population-of-the-us-by-ethnicity-since-2000/
Dennis says
Could it be that CRT teaching has something to do with hating to be white?
Michael Cocchiola says
You just don’t get it, Dennis. No one at the elementary, middle or high school levels is teaching CRT. No One! At “worst”, our students are learning critical thinking skills. You surely must have heard about critical thinking… “the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment”.
I fear you are listening to the culture warriors and believing their blatant lies without checking for truth.
The dude says
Where is “CRT teaching” actually happening?
Pierre Tristam says
Same classes where birds aren’t real.
The dude says
They aren’t you know…
Dennis C Rathsam says
They should make Elizabeth Warren thier chief!
The dude says
why?
Beachlover says
You are 100% Correct! Chief Warren!
Charlie Ericksen Jr says
Th answer here seems simple… The ” native ” population gets monthly Government money.. When I lived in North Dakota, where many tribes exist, people outside of the “tribes” would move into the locations, claiming Indian background and Uncle Sam, started sending them $$ Sure beats unemployment.
Pi$$ed Off Wife says
The Bureau of Indian Affairs does provide some monetary support to federally recognized tribes for things like healthcare and education, but it certainly isn’t as if Uncle Sam is running around handing out cash to anyone claiming to be Native. I think your statement is far too broad.
My husband is Native (verified not only by records but DNA testing) and a member of one of the Northeast tribes. The tribal leadership applies for grants for specific things; the money (if approved) is distributed to the tribal leadership, who then makes the determination as to how the money will be disseminated to specific programs or individual grants based on standing criteria.
As to your comment about “sure beats unemployment,” my husband served 26 years in the military then obtained his Masters Degree and went on to teach. Several of his family members have Bachelors or above, and are very gainfully employed and independent. His first cousin was on the cover of a major magazine several years ago with a feature article. It pains me to see people infer that Native people are lazy and looking for handouts. Are some of them? Hell yes. Are there white, black, brown and others in the same boat? Undeniably. I’m sick of stereotypes. There are good and not-so-good people everywhere, of every race.
The dude says
Pretty sure that to get that sweet sweet government money, you have to be able to prove Indian lineage.
Now… to handle the second of your inferred logical fallacy… the Indians “gets monthly Government money” for a reason.
Do you know what that reason actually is? Or is it just that brown skinned folks getting “Government money” upsets you so?
Jimbo99 says
Exactly, here in FL the Seminole tribe is a lock on State protected gaming industry.
https://www.mobilecasinoparty.com/7-richest-native-american-tribes-owning-casinos/
GreatPlains says
Having grown up among the Lakota, Yankton, Nakota, Dakota, Ogallala Sioux, Ponca, Omaha, Pawnee, Rosebud, Santee, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Kickapoo, Arapaho, and many other minor tribes on the Great Plains, I have direct knowledge about the dynamics of the Native American experience. I can equivocally state that Native Americans are considered to be the lowest of the low and in a lot of cases are equated as less than human. They are among the most discriminated against group and are the most economically disadvantaged people in the nation (a fact conveniently ignored). Indigenous children were ripped away from their parents and were forced to act “white” in a purposeful effort to eradicate their culture, language, and identity. These confused and conflicted children emerged from the experience in several different ways. They either fully adopted the white culture and intermarried with Caucasians and so forth until the blood line has become so diluted that you have created a situation which exists today where people discover through DNA, genealogy, etc. that they have Native American ancestry. The opposite is the group of Native American children who returned to their Indigenous tribes and have kept their blood lines fairly “pure”. If you only knew the abuses that Indigenous people have endured and continue to endure, you would or should be shocked! Having Native American friends and family members I was considered to be an acceptable and trustable white person. I attended pow-wows, giveaways, drumming circles, and was accepted into the homes of my Native American friends. Once you are accepted into their culture, you have never met a more kind, giving, and gracious group of people. On the flip side if they do not know you or you are not connected to someone they know or are related to, you better beware. Even with my connections there are Reservations I would not step a foot on for fear of my life. That is the animosity that has occurred because of the white mans’ treatment of the Indigenous people. It is no wonder that MANY people with Native American ancestry tried to pass as “white” for many generations to avoid the extreme stigma and discrimination they experienced and continue to experience in obtaining jobs, being viewed as lower than animal dung, and much more. I dated a gentleman who was a firefighter and was 1/4 Cherokee and was registered with his tribe who absolutely would not let anyone know his ancestry because of the fear of being discriminated against. He only very reluctantly shared his heritage with me when my mother met him and pressed him about his last name and it’s origin. I had never thought to ask, because it didn’t matter to me. He begged me not to tell anyone because he was worried about losing his job. So to these people who claim that people are claiming Native American blood for financial, political, etc. gain are sadly misinformed. Why would you purposely want to be identified among the most vilified and hated groups in North America? Anyone purporting to be of Native American ancestry should rise to the same standard as proving you are related to George Washington. Show your DNA results, family tree, tribal registrations and censuses, etc. and then we will believe you. Chances are when you do your DNA testing, you might be surprised at the results. In America we are truly “mutts” with many blood lines and ancestral origins. So the bottom line is that up tick in statistics could be a result of the popularity of DNA and genealogy research. This would cause a person to “rethink” their identity (maybe for some), but for the most part people might pause and then hopefully accept that we are all part of a complex human fabric, much as a beautiful patchwork quilts produced by Indigenous women.
Pi$$ed Off Wife says
Accurate, beautifully written and informative. Thank you, Great Plains!
A.j says
Sound like Indians & African Americans are in the same boat. White men are always trying to make people think like them. I know Indians suffered at the hands of the white so did Afrian Americans. Some of my fore fathers were hanged burned denied things they should have. The list go on and on. White men who need white people. Black men unarmed killed by white cops almost every day. White Karen’s call on African Americans everyday. They lie and white men believe them. Many black are dead because of lying white women.Who in their right mind would marry a white woman. Who will trust a white man. Not me.
Ray W. says
Thank you, Great Plains.
Factsdriven says
Wonderfully and beautifully said. Thank you❤️
Sherry says
Thank you Great Plains and Pissed Off Wife. . . Many in our community continue to be uneducated and bigoted. Hopefully they actually learned something today. . . or not.
DaleL says
Many states in the past had what was known as the one drop rule. If a person had even the slightest African ancestry they were considered to be African American. Both African Americans and Indigenous Americans were openly discriminated against. Heck, even Gays and Atheists blended in to avoid standing out and being shunned and discriminated against.
People cannot choose their ancestors, but through genetic testing (23andme, etc.) and genealogy, people have discovered in some cases that they have a link, even if small, to Indigenous American ancestors. In addition, the use of a color (black, white, red, yellow, brown) to lump people into racial categories is outdated and linked to America’s racist past. Is it really any wonder that some people of European descent (Caucasian is another term, without the use of a color.) choose to identify as other than “White”?
Beachlover says
We need to change the title to Elizabeth Warren strikes again!