TAAF's statement.
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https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067952795892TAAF - The Tribal Alliance Against Frauds
PRESS RELEASE: HEATHER RAE BYBEE 4-3-23
In the Hollywood Reporter article on March 31, Heather Rae says “I began to really look into my family’s history in a deeper way” and “I’m still in that process, so for several years I have identified as an ally.”
The time to have looked in a deeper (honest) way was before ever claiming to BE Cherokee and centering herself in all these “Indigenous” endeavors as if she is one of us, speaking from a Cherokee perspective she will never possess. This is the classic backpedaling of a pretendian who has made a LOT of many based on her claims of BEING a Cherokee woman.
And what she has always claimed to be is Cherokee. Even with her relatively recent qualifier that she is “not a Cherokee tribal citizen”, she still claimed to be of Cherokee heritage. She doesn’t understand that this is still centering herself as a Cherokee, as an American Indian woman. And that is not true. Stop already.
What she carried forward with her from childhood as a personal “mandate” was a family myth that fueled her white saviorism.
Rae claims to have been identifying as an ally rather than as a Cherokee for some time.
Yet we cannot find any prior public statements by Heather Rae identifying herself as a non-American Indian “ally”. The closest we have found are one biographical statement where she is noted to have vague “Native American heritage, but is not a recognized citizen of a tribal nation” and one vague Instagram post where she says “We can be allies, with roots in culture. In other words, we get to participate in supporting the center, which is a beautiful thing.” She also said in that post “We can find our place – with respect, integrity and responsibility.”
It’s a shame she never did any of that. And this sole, vague reference to allyship that was easily found does not indicate an effort on her part to correct her false claims and become an ally. Which is a title that is earned, not one that is self-declared. We are seeing a pattern here…
That is also backpedaling, including the vagaries. We don’t use DNA, monolithic vague claims of being “Native American”, or blood quantum.
We rely on sovereign tribal nation citizenship, tribal kinship, and documented genealogy. Heather Rae has none of these. Period. There is nothing left to guess at.
How easy it is now to suggest that she has been working through this for years, privately, speaking to friends and family about it. If this were true, she should have been transparent about it.
She was not transparent (did not publicize) about the “reframing” of her identity (her backpedaling rather than truth-telling) until now because she is being called out now. She’s not sorry for what she’s done, she’s upset that she got caught. Two very different scenarios.
TAAF has dozens of examples to share of Rae’s centering behavior as a self-proclaimed “Indigenous” woman. She’s never stopped doing it....
People who self-identify as “Native American” with nothing to back it up other than a vague family myth,
like Heather Rae, and then check boxes to get minority status as business owners for loans, or university scholarships or to further their lucrative careers by cashing in on being an Indian are committing ethnic fraud. They are usurping the voices of actual American Indian people. They are centering themselves in spaces meant for American Indians. Heather Rae is a white savior. Her saviorism is no excuse for pretending to be Cherokee all these years, which clearly furthered her career.
To quote Chickasaw citizen Tony Perry:
“Heather Rae, a white woman who claimed Cherokee ancestry, used her false identity to become one of the most influential people in Hollywood. Rae serves on the Academy of Motion Pictures’ Indigenous Alliance and previously led the Indigenous Program at the Sundance Institute. Through this, she shapes what Native films people see and what stories people hear. Rae coordinated the Academy’s “apology” to Littlefeather and, likely, the ongoing exhibit at the Academy Museum that perpetuates Littlefeather’s fraud.”
We wonder why Rae began “reframing” her public identity in 2020? Could it be that she took a lesson from what happened to Michelle Latimer at that time? Backpedaling.
Heather Rae clearly has no respect for tribal sovereignty. If she did, she never would have claimed to be Cherokee without first doing her genealogy, submitting it to the Cherokee Nation for verification and moving forward appropriately from there, in whichever direction her genealogy took her....
While Rae wants to see people who are researching their family myths be allowed the space to do that, which on its own is completely reasonable, TAAF recommends that you don’t claim to be Cherokee in the meantime, until you discover that myth is true.
Where is the acknowledgement by Heather Rae that she has ZERO ties to the Cherokee people? Where is her apology? At the end of the Hollywood Reporter story she said “….and there’s an indication those ties could be there.” Still hanging on to her claim that maybe, just maybe, she could still be an Indian…. She is putting a seed of doubt in people’s minds that we can’t discount her “Indigeneity” just yet. Where is that indication? We would surely like to see it. Because Cherokee tribal genealogists have not been able to find it.
Otherwise, Heather Rae, where is your apology and your commitment to standing down from all American Indian spaces as a non-American Indian woman? This is very reminiscent of another high-profile white woman who shamelessly argued incessantly with the Cherokee tribe with whom she falsely claimed a connection. This is NOT the behavior of an ally.
A simple admission of having made a gross error in judgment and an apology would have sufficed. This is just kicking dirt in our faces.
Heather Rae’s response should have been: “I am not an American Indian woman in any way. I believed my family’s myth without verifying it and claimed a Cherokee identity that did not belong to me. In doing so, I acknowledge that I have caused harm. I apologize deeply for that and vow to educate myself and do better going forward as a white ally.”
THAT would have garnered forgiveness and respect. As things stand, there has been zero transparency, honesty, accountability or apology, let alone amends.
Note: It is not true that TAAF did not respond to the Hollywood Reporter’s request for comment. We did reply to Rebecca Sun, several times, letting them know we would like to comment, and providing a phone number as well. They have not responded to us.
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Bolding is mine.
There's much right in TAAF's statement, but a few things off. There's no sign Rae benefitted in any way from her claim of being Cherokee. No scholarship, business loans, or getting hired. Hollywood doesn't have Indian Only Preference like the BIA. Nobody else except tribal govts do.
It's ridiculous to claim you have to be of that people to write or make films about that people. That would mean, for example, that NDNs couldn't write about whites. The problem is if you claim to be writing or acting as an insider.
Rae never did. She produced other people's stories, like Blackfoot and Gros Ventre author James Welch.
I agree with TAAF and wish Rae had been straight forward and said, "I used to believe I am, there's no evidence for it." Just like Warren, she's making things worse with her mistakes.
And right wing racist media are loving this. They seem to be the only ones reporting on it because it pushes their claim that "the real Natives are gone."
