Is “Queen Chief Warhorse” Native? And Who Gets To Decide?

By the way, “Queen Chief Warhorse” isn’t the only person to make that error. President Obama made it, too, in his children’s book wherein he writes about “thirteen groundbreaking Americans.” Among those thirteen is Sitting Bull. One of Sitting Bull’s grandson’s said emphatically that Sitting Bull did not consider himself “American.” That error is made a lot because people don’t know enough about who we were–and who we are. Given Racialicious’ audience, I’m glad to see the conversation because having it creates the opportunity for knowledge to be gained, and spread.

Warhorse:

“Let’s go back in time when the American Indians look like I look…”

Debbie’s response:

Does she really think that all Indigenous peoples were phenotypically Black? Or did she misspeak?

Later on (her remarks went far longer than the minute-long video), she said that reservations are “prison camps” and like the “projects.” There is a kernel of truth in that statement. There was a time when one had to have permission from a federal agent to leave the reservation, but that isn’t the case today. Does her audience know that? Does she? There is poverty and substandard housing on reservations but, for some of us, they are far more than that. We (at Nambe) are on a reservation, but we were never moved. We are on the land we’ve been on for hundreds of years. (Through carbon dating, our current village is dated to 1300, and ones we were in before are far older than that.) Our traditions are strong.

Warhorse:

“…and roamed the southeast part of the United States, freely.”

Debbie’s response:

Her use of “roam” is another indicator (to me) that she is steeped in stereotypes of American Indians.

Think critically about that word, who uses it, and when it is used. Basically, what she is describing is the movement of a people. That movement may be due to seasonal changes, or to follow herds, or to go where water or resources are more plentiful at a given time of the year. That movement is different than what the word “roam” means. You can look it up if you wish. It means to move about without purpose or plan or to wander over or through. See why it doesn’t work when applied to the movement of a people?

In 2009, I did some research on the use of the word “roam.” It is often used to describe the movement of Indigenous peoples. Here’s what I found:

On the web—

Search phrase: “Pioneers roamed”: 129 hits

Search phrase: “Cowboys roamed”: 938 hits

Search phrase: “Indians roamed”: 9,910 hits

I repeated the search in Google books—

Pioneers roamed: 23 hits

Cowboys roamed: 135

Indians roamed: 688 hits

Obviously, pioneers and cowboys were doing the same thing Indians were doing (moving from one place to another), but I think the discrepancy in use of the word is worth noting. The Indigenous peoples in the southeast part of the United States weren’t roaming. Using that word takes away from their intellect, their agency, and their humanity. It lets us think of them as “primitive” or animal-like.

Warhorse:

“I love what the Mayor said… We have to tell the truth. We cannot heal America till we fix the foundation. Can we start right there?”

Debbie’s response:

I agree. We do have to tell the truth and fix the foundation, but given her lack of substantive knowledge about Indigenous peoples, we can’t start with her.

PART TWO

Latoya poses the question: Who gets to say if “Queen Chief Warhorse” is Native? She, like anyone in the world, can say anything they want to. My guess is that she (like Elizabeth Warren) learned about a Native ancestor from stories handed down from family members. And with that story, she built a way of “being” Indian that is based on stereotypes. That’s too bad. It undermines the work she is trying to do to get recognition.

“Queen Chief Warhorse” has organized a group of people who share that story. They’re trying to get recognized but they’ve got a long way to go. As Gyasi pointed out, it is a difficult process but an important one. Among other things, it protects all of you (Americans) from being ripped off by someone who claims they’re a tribe and then charges you for performances or products that aren’t, in fact, accurate or authentic.

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