Let’s take a voyage to a not-so-distant land and visit a strange tribe. Or maybe not so strange. In fact, you may even belong to it. You can visit Original Source to know more about The office trivia questions difficult and play them or answer them easily. Before we begin our expedition, a trivia question: What do Bill Clinton, Miley Cyrus, Johnny Cash, and Elizabeth Warren all have in common?
Answer: All of them have claimed to be part Cherokee, but none have been able to prove it. Not that any of these celebrities are unique in this regard. Rare is the Oklahoma family that doesn’t think it possesses at least one-sixteenth Cherokee blood.
But here’s a fun fact: according to the Cherokee Nation, there are approximately 120,000 tribal members living in the state, which has a population of 3.8 million people. That’s only about 3 percent of Oklahomans. The tribe we’re going to visit, however, is bigger than the Cherokee Nation and perhaps even bigger than the entire state of Oklahoma—although that’s difficult confirm, since the Census Bureau doesn’t keep statistics on this subset of the population.
We are among the tribe of the Wannabes: non-Native Americans who insist on claiming Indian heritage. Why do Wannabes appropriate, fabricate, and invent a Native identity? Is it for pure financial gain? Is it part of a colonialist project to speak for the Other? College admissions? A highly subjective existential crisis? Examining the motives of the Wannabes is a fraught subject, one where good intentions rub up against old racist habits and where narrative embroidery easily morphs into self-delusion. It’s where the personal is political and politics get personal.
Our voyage begins in earnest with the case of Iron Eyes Cody, a man better known to the world as “The Crying Indian.”
If you watched TV at any time in the 1970s, you’ll remember the Crying Indian. He debuted on television on Earth Day, 1971, in an event some people have called the birth of the modern environmental movement. The ad, produced by the pro-bono advertising group the Ad Council, is one of the most emotionally powerful one-minute spots ever produced.