Colonialism’s Endgame
In reporting both negligent and tone deaf, the Independent stated on October 12, “Just in time for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the U.S. designated its first tribally nominated National Marine Sanctuary right off the Central Coast.” While creation of the marine sanctuary is undoubtedly a good thing, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) partnership with the Northern Chumash Tribal Council (NCTC) celebrates Columbus Day, not Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
How so? Simply because the NCTC is not a Native American tribe or indigenous organization. Its founder lacked Chumash ancestry and was not accepted into any Chumash community as one of their own. A California court found his claim of Chumash identity to be based on hearsay.
As the sanctuary proposal moved forward, NOAA’s leaders made light of complaints from the Native communities marginalized by the agency’s elevation of NCTC: the Xolon Salinan, and Salinan Tribe of San Luis Obispo and Monterey Counties, and the Chumash yak tityu tityu yak tilhini, Barbareño Band, and Barbareño/Ventureño Band. NOAA was too eager to grease the wheels of the approval process by claiming to have a “tribal” nomination to fix its problem. When pressed with the evidence, NOAA acknowledged that they do not vet who is a tribe or indigenous community. Yet they still went ahead and misled the American public by describing the NCTC and two other similarly flawed partner organizations as “indigenous tribes or groups.”
The Independent’s hands are not clean, either. Its reporters and editors have been apprised of the neo-Indian problem in their region for years yet still make these errors. Colonialism’s endgame for Native Americans — their replacement by neo-Indians — relies on this cahooting between those seeking to take Natives’ place and those intentionally or duped into helping them succeed.
Brian D. Haley is a professor of anthropology at SUNY Oneonta and a fellow fo the Society for Applied Anthropology who received his doctorate at UC Santa Barbara.