This will be pretty quick for me, notorious as I am for long diaries. :-D
There was a diary posted here yesterday titled “Sacheen Littlefeather Claimed to be a Fraud”. That is, others made this claim. That diary has now been removed and the diarist bojo’d (it was his first diary on his first day of sign-up). But the damage may have been done. In addition, Googling her name reveals several articles amplifying the same claims. And a search of recent DKos diary titles showed no posted rebuttals. So I would like to rebut. With the caveat that I do not know the truth either!
Multiple posts online such as this one repeat charges made in a column from the San Francisco Chronicle that Littlefeather’s sisters claim that they are not Native American at all, it was “a fantasy,” and “It's disgusting to the heritage of the tribal people." Many more details at the link, but I don’t want to dwell on the accusations, as those are everywhere.
However, let’s look at the rebuttal that has not been posted at Yahoo nor most other sources of the story — incomplete reporting IMHO. The most complete article as far as revealing both sides seems to be in Variety (go figure!). To whit:
Notably, several Native American writers and activists have denounced the Chronicle column on social media, saying that its writer, Jacqueline Keeler, has long-exercised a vendetta against Littlefeather, among other figures she calls “Pretendians.” They also say Littlefeather’s sisters thought they were of Native American ancestry until Keeler informed them they weren’t.
“Her desire to weed out Pretendians has led to a violent vendetta against genuinely reconnecting Natives who don’t meet colonial standards,” wrote CarlyMButton on Twitter.
-snip-
Both sisters first learned of Littlefeather’s death through the internet; neither was invited to the funeral.
I am not a professional journalist so have no way to vet the backgrounds of all those concerned. But it strikes me as a family dispute that may have been amplified due to misogyny and racism. I have a Native American ancestor who was orphaned and “raised British,” so I don’t have much cultural knowledge but try to be supportive. I don’t want people making false claims in either direction.
In a comment in the original diary, I mentioned reserving judgment. I hope everyone here will do so until we know more. You can’t even believe everything you read in mainstream news aggregators (like Yahoo above). Clearly, with various shadings of truth, there are at least two sides of the story at play. Hopefully with time, this will be cleared up.
