#28: (Editorial) Silence of the Lambs, or, Identity Theft

(This was originally posted in November 2008.)

First, they stole our lands. Then they steal our identities.

On 23 October 2008, a program chair at a large Midwestern university emailed her support of an individual as a “target of opportunity” candidate to the program’s graduate students. In that email, the chair wrote the following statement: “With departmental approval, a ‘target of opportunity’ hire enables [the university] to recruit a particular individual who could contribute not only to academic excellence but also to a climate of diversity at [this university]” (emphasis mine). Unfortunately, however, this program chose a candidate who so far fails to demonstrate how his possible hiring will contribute to this professed “climate of diversity” commitment on that campus.

For nearly a decade, this candidate has professionally profited from his claim to be American Indian. Yet this candidate is neither a citizen of Indigenous Nations nor of “American Indian” tribes. But he apparently feels entitled to claim these identities and cultures as his own in order to bypass the competitive-job search process in academia. At this time, it appears that the academic program is posed to support his masquerade to its students, its campus, and to Indigenous Peoples and Nations inside and outside of academia. It seems that this program will again knowingly misuse the “search waiver” process in order to re-hire this particular candidate. (He was initially hired by them as a “target of opportunity” in 2004 but left soon after for a direct-hire position at another Midwestern university. Apparently, he is unhappy at that university and wants to return back.)

If the program’s faculty carry through with hiring this individual, then they send the following message clearly and loudly to Indigenous Peoples/American Indians, especially the Meskwaki Nation: non-Native People are better-suited than Indigenous Nations to determine who are citizens and representatives of Indigenous Nations. This action of the program, in their attempt at create a climate of pseudo-diversity, is an insult to Indigenous and American Indian nations and tribes. Their actions run counter to the basic right of Tribes and Nations to determine who are their citizens, and also runs afoul of the UN’s “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” (Article 33: “Indigenous peoples have the right to determine their own identity or membership in accordance with their customs and traditions” and Article 35: in which the Nations “have the right to determine the responsibilities” of Indigenous individuals “back to their communities”). To paraphrase a sentence from this candidate in question, then, the “so-called ’self-determination’” of any university cannot override the sovereignty of Indigenous nations in identifying who are its citizens and representatives. Thus this candidate’s misleading claim of being Meskwaki is ironic considering that so much of his scholarship promotes Indigenous self-determination…just as long as if he actually does not have to heed to it!

Writing this, I am reminded of Thomas Harris’s 1988 novel, Silence of the Lambs. This novel, which was adapted into a popular film, features Buffalo Bill, a character who kills off females for their skins. Because he can never be an authentic female, it is the intent of Buffalo Bill to create a female costume that he can don in order to feel and look like a woman.

Indigenous Peoples have long been subjected to a spectrum of Buffalo Bills, to what my mother calls “the original identify theft.” We have long witnessed these images and people in U.S. popular and mainstream culture-with sports mascots, in mainstream Hollywood cinema, with “box-checkers” and “Indian at heart” individuals, etc. However, the time for silence about these peoples, their supporters, and the harm they cause is over.

I am committed to the “search waiver” process (the phrase that the university’s HR/EEO office told me was the correct term to use) and so I publicly support the principles and integrity of this process. As one of my university professors explained to me several times during my doctoral course work, this process emerged for various reasons including as a way to resist the “good ol’ boy” employment system that was in place at universities for so many decades. I take this professor’s words to heart, so it is unsettling to see direct hiring misused by candidates, programs (faculty and students), and administrators. My own academic program encouraged me to support this integrity as one tactic of resistance for social justice (including in employment practices) during my doctoral training. Thus, it seems appropriate to call upon that university program to put the direct-hire principles into action.

Of course, the program and the university have been alerted to the actions of this individual. And recently, on 17 November 2008, when I asked this individual in person if he actually was going to go through the “direct hire” process, he admitted to me that even if he is not a citizen of the Meskwaki Nation, he still felt entitled to claim a “feeling” of what he calls “cultural affiliation” with them (in order to, I suppose, bypass the competitive job search process). (He also repeatedly apologized to me, not for his actions, but for “inconveniences” he might be causing. After his third apology to me, I replied that I was sorry for the Indigenous Peoples whose jobs he was stealing. At this, Buffalo Bill stomped off, huffing that he would no longer talk to me.) In a subsequent email to me in which she cc’d several university administrators, the program’s chair supported this individual’s “feeling” of being Indian by stating that “self-reporting” was sufficient for her program’s contribution to cultural-diversity. I suppose that at some time in my future, then, they will allow others to come in as a “direct hire” candidates based upon their respective feelings of entitlement to the culture and identity of their longing.

What I do know for certain is that this university, which earlier in 2008 has been profiled in a campus paper regarding another Buffalo Bill of theirs, will be unable to plead ignorance about the “self-reporting” circumstances regarding the current recruitment activity in that department.

(Note to Indigenous students and employees in academia: if you encounter a Buffalo Bill who threatens the integrity of the direct hire process and you want to take positive, meaningful pro-Native action, then you might first contact the Indigenous Nation or Tribe of whom s/he is purporting to be either a citizen or representative. Provide them with a list of university contacts and listen to that Nation’s suggestions on how best to proceed. Because of the seriousness of such a situation, do understand that if you let the university know that the emperor wears no clothes, then you may very will be the object of non-Native professional, social, and legal retaliation. Tread very lightly.)

November 2008

Resources:

• UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

• AIANP: “Statement on Ethnic Fraud”

This statement was released in 1993by the Association of American Indian and Alaskan Native Professors (available online and is included in Red Power: The American Indians Fight for Freedom, 2nd edition). The statement reads as follows:

“We the Association of American Indian and Alaska Native Professors, hereby establish and present our position on ethnic fraud and offer recommendations to ensure the accuracy of American Indian/Alaska Native identification in American colleges and universities. This statement is developed over concern about
the racial exploitation of American Indians and Alaska Natives in American colleges and universities.

We think it is necessary to establish our position on ethnic fraud because of documented incidents of abuse. This statement is intended to assist universities in their efforts to develop culturally diverse campus communities. The implications of this statement are threefold:

1) to assist in the selection process that encourages diversity among students, staff, faculty, and administration, 2) to uphold the integrity of institutions and enhance the credibility with American
Indian/Alaska Native Nations/Tribes, and 3) to recognize the importance of American Indian/Alaska Native Nations/Tribes in upholding their sovereign and legal right as nations to determine membership.

Therefore, the following prioritized recommendations are intended to affirm and ensure American Indian/Alaska Native identity in the hiring process. We are asking that colleges and universities:

* Require documentation of enrollment in a state or federally recognized nation/tribe with preference given to those who meet this criterion;

* Establish a case-by-case review process for those unable to meet the first criterion;

* Include American Indian/Alaska Native faculty in the selection process;

* Require a statement from the applicant that demonstrates past and future commitment to American Indian/Alaska Native concerns;

* Require higher education administrators to attend workshops on tribal sovereignty and meet with local tribal officials; and

* Advertise vacancies at all levels on a broad scale and in tribal publications.”

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