Audra Simpson: Indigenous identity theft must stop
Professor Audra Simpson published an Op-Ed in Boston Globe.
White women who lie about their heritage reap untold benefits, shoving Native women from the center of their own stories and lives
ike a horror show set to repeat, one of Canada’s most lauded, influential, and seemingly steadfast Indigenous law professors and First Nations political advisors, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, was outed as a White woman. Shortly after, Elizabeth Hoover, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, revealed herself when she said “without any official documentation verifying the identity I was raised with” … she will cease to identify as Indigenous.
Claims to Indigenous descent have vaulted these women to positions of power and influence. So how could they say they were someone they were not?
Playing Indian is an American tradition. It rests on the idea that Indigenous people are not present. This assumption takes on a dangerous cast with Indigenous women because their lives are at greater risk than the rest of the population. They are the most raped, the most endangered, and have the lowest life expectancy on either side of the border.
Read the full article here.