Buffy Sainte-Marie.... Indigenous or Not?

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Waterfall

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CBC will be soon be airing proof that Buffy Sainte-Marie was never Indigenous.
Apparently her birth family has come forward to expose the lies, saying she was not adopted from a Cree or Mic Maq tribe to an American/Italian couple. The family stated they never exposed her lie for fear of legal action from the singer.
There is supposedly a birth certificate that says she was born in the USA to the couple who she says adopted her.
What do you think?
Buffy says she knows who she is.
 
I was thinking...well who cares? Shes done a lot of good for the indigenous community, until I heard someone from the indigenous community, explain that their are many who have done good for her community without the lie, and it's important to speak out when a white person takes something else away from them to benefit from.
 
I heard that this morning. I have mixed feelings about this. She is an icon and well respected in many Indigenous circles. I know Cree people up north who love her. I wonder what they think and how they feel about this.

She has done a lot of good. If this report is accurate, she has also demonstrated colonial arrogance by taking on this persona.

It is sad that this is coming out
 
Waterfall said:
The family stated they never exposed her lie for fear of legal action from the singer.
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It begs the question "why now?" That's a question I often find important to ask. What's motivating "the family" now?

Would any Indigenous child have been adopted directly from a "tribe" back in that day? Would that ever have been documented? Most likely not. Is it possible the infant/child was apprehended/stolen, taken into foster care & then adopted out? Possibly privately? I could see that happening.
 
Northwind said:
I heard that this morning. I have mixed feelings about this. She is an icon and well respected in many Indigenous circles. I know Cree people up north who love her. I wonder what they think and how they feel about this.

She has done a lot of good. If this report is accurate, she has also demonstrated colonial arrogance by taking on this persona.

It is sad that this is coming out
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It really is sad, in more ways than one, if it's proven true.
I'd be curious to see if she would apologize and what her motivation would have been.
 
Carolla said:
It begs the question "why now?" That's a question I often find important to ask. What's motivating "the family" now?

Would any Indigenous child have been adopted directly from a "tribe" back in that day? Would that ever have been documented? Most likely not. Is it possible the infant/child was apprehended/stolen, taken into foster care & then adopted out? Possibly privately? I could see that happening.
Click to expand...
Absolutely could have happened that way 80+ years ago.
Great points!
 
Carolla said:
She's released a video & statement ahead of the CBC episode, according to what I see online.
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I said CBC is airing this. But now Im reading Fifth Estate is airing it tonight. Maybe both...not sure.
I hope what she says is true....I love her music.
 
Carolla said:
It begs the question "why now?" That's a question I often find important to ask. What's motivating "the family" now?

Would any Indigenous child have been adopted directly from a "tribe" back in that day? Would that ever have been documented? Most likely not. Is it possible the infant/child was apprehended/stolen, taken into foster care & then adopted out? Possibly privately? I could see that happening.
Click to expand...
Yes, but if there is a legit birth certificate showing she was actually born in the US to the couple who claimed to have adopted her, that explanation won't fit. So does that birth certificate really exist? A lot of this will ride on that piece of evidence, rather like the whole "Obama is not a natural born American and shouldn't be President" crap.
 
Mendalla said:
Yes, but if there is a legit birth certificate showing she was actually born in the US to the couple who claimed to have adopted her, that explanation won't fit. So does that birth certificate really exist? A lot of this will ride on that piece of evidence, rather like the whole "Obama is not a natural born American and shouldn't be President" crap.
Click to expand...
Could the birth certificate have been illegally created. Like Carolla said, kids were taken....eg." the sixties scoop"
 
Waterfall said:
Could the birth certificate have been illegally created. Like Carolla said, kids were taken....eg." the sixties scoop"
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Entirely. That's why I specified "legit". But someone likely needs to do some serious detective work to determine that. Hopefully, if The Fifth Estate is going to present it as evidence, they have done so.
 
Remember the indigenous woman, Sacheen Littlefeather, who accepted the Oscar instead of Marlon Brando? Last year she was accused of not being a true native also. (Not sure how that turned out.)
 
I'm wondering, Buffy could have searched her heritage through DNA in order to possibly find relatives. Or it could also be proven if her brother and sister from the claimed adoptive family are her blood siblings.
In this day and age with DNA and we're looking for a paper trail???? Surprised Trump didn't ask for Obama to do this...or maybe he did?
 
Waterfall said:
Remember the indigenous woman, Sacheen Littlefeather, who accepted the Oscar instead of Marlon Brando? Last year she was accused of not being a true native also. (Not sure how that turned out.)
Click to expand...
Update on this....she was found to be a "pretendian" of Spanish descent after her death last year.
Gosh I hope their research is true and this isn't just a way to nullify indigenous achievements.
Starting to get hard to know what's true anymore....
 
I believe things are more complex than they appear. It's clear she's been "adopted" or embraced by her indigenous community for a very long time and has worked for Indigenous rights and awareness from that foundation. That is theirs to work out. What I do understand is that each community - each situation - is different. Blood quantum can be a colonist projection is some cases. Potential for misusing that hospitality exists.
 
What can we really believe given the vast state of lies provided for the sake of successes ...

A billionaire even demonstrated that by condemiing university students for questioning Israel on their brutality ... when we don't know the half of it!
 
I read an interview with her, defending herself - her indigenous family defending her, and that’s all I need to know. It’s more than I need to know. The attempt to disprove her genealogy is an attack on Indigenous people - especially someone high profile like her, an advocate who has long been embraced by the Indigenous community.

This reeks of far right background noise - trying to disprove the genealogy of someone like her. Yes, there are the occasional frauds trying to exploit Indigenous culture to get benefits - but there’s a movement afoot to attack anybody receiving anything from being a minority - they’ll use famous examples, then that will translate to an attack on poor people and minority groups’ rights.

She isn’t faking. I’m disappointed in CBC for this.
 
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