UC-Berkeley Prof Admits She’s a White Person After Claiming She was Native American Her ‘Whole Life’
I am a white person who has incorrectly identified as Native my whole life, based on incomplete information.
UC-Berkeley anthropologist professor Elizabeth Hoover admitted she’s white and not a Native American.
Hoover has been pretending to be Native American her whole life. But it’s not her fault, you guys:
I am a white person who has incorrectly identified as Native my whole life, based on incomplete information. In uncritically living an identity based on family stories without seeking out a documented connection to these communities, I caused harm. I hurt Native people who have been my friends, colleagues, students, and family, both directly through fractured trust and through activating historical harms. This hurt has also interrupted student and faculty life and careers. I acknowledge that I could have prevented all of this hurt by investigating and confirming my family stories sooner. For this, I am deeply sorry.
Having my family claim Native identity does not mean Native nations claimed us. By claiming an identity as a woman of Mohawk and Mi’kmaq descent without confirming it with communities of origin, and by not confirming kinship ties back to politically and culturally affiliated Indigenous peoples, I betrayed and hurt my students, collaborators, and friends. I have negatively impacted people emotionally and culturally. For this hurt I have caused, I am deeply sorry.
The question about Hoover’s ethnicity came into question last October. She admitted she is white without admitting she is right:
“I have always introduced myself as the person my parents had raised me to be—someone of mixed Mohawk, Mi’kmaq, French, English, Irish, and German descent and identity,” Hoover said in the statement. “My identity within the Native community, rooted in the histories of my family, is something that shaped my entire life, even though I was not eligible for tribal enrollment due to blood quantum requirements.”
In her statement, Hoover also noted that she came to the conclusion that she cannot claim Indigenous descent after conducting genealogical research in response to recent questions about her identity, which she said she was first alerted to when a draft of a “pretendian” list circulated about a year ago.
Hoover didn’t apologize at that time.
Over 350 people have signed a petition to fire Hoover from the school.
UC-Berkeley spokesman Janet Gilmore said at that time the matter is “deeply personal.” A new statement said:
In a statement Wednesday, Gilmore referred to a step Hoover said she is taking to repair her relationships with colleagues and students. Hoover explained that she had been working with “restorative justice facilitators to better understand how members of the UC Berkeley campus community have felt harmed and betrayed, and ways I can work to meaningfully make amends for this.”
Gilmore said the campus is “aware of and supports ongoing efforts to achieve restorative justice in a way that acknowledges and addresses the extent to which this matter has caused harm and upset among members of our community.”
But don’t worry. Hoover has an excuse for taking so long for the apology:
The debate around my identity, and the turmoil it has caused on social media and in various circles, have been very harmful to people associated with me. I understand that even those who stand by my side have been harmed and their support often means enduring more grief, and I’m sorry for what they have endured as a result.
This apology has taken longer than expected, which may have caused more harm: it is based on deep self-reflection and input from others. This apology, insufficient as I imagine it is, in light of all that has happened, is an initial step in my attempts to take accountability for the harms that I’ve caused, in an effort to begin to acknowledge the hurt that people have felt as a result of my life and my actions. For many people, this letter will not provide relief or repair, and, as painful as that may be, I will accept that. This statement is not intended to be a comprehensive apology to everyone I’ve hurt, or a comprehensive listing of the actions I will be taking going forward, but a start, a beginning.
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Comments
“I caused harm…I have negatively impacted people emotionally and culturally..”
Oh gag me, what a load of horse sh*t. Why must progressives be such whiny little bitches?
Now, if you got preferential treatment through some Affirmative Action or set-aside program, then maybe you DID harm someone and you should make amends by self immolating.
Liz Warren, unavailable for comment.
Ya meens, Big Chief Pimple-On-Her-Tongue?
How many are there of these imposters?
And they are always the most hostile to Caucasians
Another one bites the dust
We are raising a generation of mountebanks — people who claim to be what they are not.
Race, sex, qualifications, social class, connections, intelligence.
Society used to shun charlatans like this. Now it is them.
Will she run for senate?
Run? Either that or a fast trot.
I was hoping for a foxtrot. It would help bring back some great music.
The unspeakable horror . . . to relinquish the halo of victimhood!! Perhaps she can write about her burdens of receiving scholarships, teaching positions and other social, economic and political benefits in a white society, while toiling under the label of “Native.” A great title would be something like “Native Like Me.” She could reveal to the unenlightened all of the harsh realities experienced by tenured Natives in academia.
Can’t wait!
From the underlying article:
“In her statement, Hoover noted that in retrospect, she should have examined her identity sooner, but that throughout her life her identity was “just a part” of her and that since she knew she was not eligible for enrollment, locating official genealogical records “did not seem important.” ”
She knew she is not eligible for enrollment because she’s not an Indian.
Tall tales like this would not matter, if we lived in a meritocracy. But when one identity or another is tied to financial benefit, lies matter.
Oh, and what in the name of all that’s holy, is she doing messing with environmental law?
Here are her “qualifications”
Education
BA, Williams College, Anthropology & Psychology, 2001
MA, Brown University, Anthropology, Museum Studies, with a focus on Native American living history museums, 2003
PhD Brown University, Anthropology, with a focus on Environmental and critical Medical Anthropology, 2010
Do any of these degrees supply the necessary underlying math, chemistry, biology or physics background for understanding environmental issues?
“She knew she is not eligible for enrollment because she’s not an Indian.”
Well, maybe or maybe not. If I knew that I had Indian ancestry, but not enough to register with a tribe, I wouldn’t bother either. But then another moral question arises: if no tribe decides I am worthy of registration, is it fair of me to publicly present myself as “an Indian,” especially when it comes to set-aside benefits? I suspect there are even laws that forbid that.
“Do any of these degrees supply the necessary underlying math, chemistry, biology or physics background for understanding environmental issues?”
Native peoples qualify via the “revealed wisdom” route. Like houngans or acupuncturists.
Exactly. If you attempt to cash in then whatever it is you are trying to cash in on had better be true. Ticking boxes on College applications or job applications to represent yourself as belonging to a group accorded extra points while not being part of that group seems fraudulent. Certainly unethical.
Many Americans with significant Indian heritage are stone cold “white” looking. It’s a great heritage but, please, leveraging this is an abuse. I am 1/16 Cherokee but definitely white washed out by 3/4 German and the rest English. What happened to my great great grandmother and her white husband is a heart-breaking story but that is the past… the distant past.
Neither have anything to do with physical sciences, They are social science studies.
Why would she do something like that? What happened to white privilege?
She’s a perfect candidate for Berkeley’s Rachel Dolezal Chair for Cultural Appropriation. She can work with Shaun King (AKA Talcum X) and look at appropriating one of many new genders under review.
Golly. All those ‘white privilege’ advantages she’s missed out on.
She’s a victim! Reparations are the only recourse.
This is so farcical — this twit is going the same deflection/rationalization route as the vile fabulist, Fauxcahontas — she was misled by her pawpaw’s “family lore.”
How! (oops)… how many other people have lied their way to the top. At least Kamala Harris put some effort into it.
True — Kamala expended some sweat, servicing Willie Brown.
As Glenn Reynolds keeps noting: If there’s all this “white supremacy” why is everyone faking being a minority?
It’s part neurotic, part narcissistic and utter corruption: welcome to the New America.
Straight up mental illness… Biological man using tampon:
https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1653810897633128468
Hey, remember when Cartman did that, and everybody laughed?
Using a tampon WHERE?
.
I’ll bet you can guess. First time I saw anybody claim doing that was decades ago in either Playboy or Penthouse in a regular “advice” column by some former call girl whose name escapes me.
My nephews football coach used tampons when his players got a nasty bloody nose. Those things really work on a bloody nose 😂😂
Establishing yet again that the only systemic racism in this country is against white people.
Let me guess, her Grandpa had high cheek bones too. I’m sure nothing will be done to recover what she stole from real native americans.
I’m curious what the “blood quantum” requirements are for acceptance into a tribe.
I could see her claiming a tribal identity in spite of having an insufficient amount of native ancestry had she been raised in the tribal traditions or on a reservation; but knowing that she hadn’t grown up as an Indian, and knowing that her blood percentage wasn’t sufficient to be accepted by a tribe, claiming native status on official documents would qualify as fraud if you ask me.
I have 1/16 Blackfoot Indian heritage (great, great grandmother on my mother’s side) but I wasn’t raised in the Indian culture, have never been a member of a tribe and would never consider myself Indian, nor claim that status on an official document.
In my opinion, her claims of innocence through ignorance fall flat. She intentionally misrepresented herself for personal gain.
Generally speaking 1/4+ but very importantly an actual affiliation with a recognized tribal group. There are plenty of folks in the South who have Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw ancestors but have no affiliation with a tribal group. There was lots of intermarriage between these tribes and the Scots/Irish who explored/settled. I am one of those people who can legit claim ancestry but it wouldn’t be correct to claim Native American Heritage b/c I don’t have any relationship with a tribe and my % is just under the needed 1/4.
Same here,,,, 1/8 to be in the American Indian Physician society. Missed out…big whoop.. When my great grandfather was orphaned and taken in by a white couple, any connection was cut…. which at that time was a “good” thing.
Yeah I agree. Maternal Grandfather 3/8+ not quite 1/2 Cherokee but Maternal Grandmother only 1/8. While Paternal side Grandfather 1/4 but Grandmother 0 or nearly so. They and their families had been among those who managed to hide and/or marry into settler families so escaped the Trail of Tears.
It encompasses more folks than people may think and they had huge families. My Paternal Grandfather was on of 13 siblings and my Maternal Grandfather one of 8 siblings. Their fathers and fathers fathers on back had huge families as well.
The sad part is the whole pretending thing. I am happy to have the bloodline and I learned some fading traditions from my Grandparents but many others know these Eastern Woodlands skill sets, most of them better than I do, some of them without a drop. I am not about to try and pretend to be something I am not.
My grandfather was born in 1865. Do the math….my great great grandmother and her family also hid from The Trial of Tears. So much for being overly successful in “integration” back then. Was chatting about family history with another physician when out of the blue he asked if I knew anything about Culpepper county in Virginia. Well, yes…. my great great grandmother and her white husband were driven out of the county leaving my great grandfather orphaned. Turns out his forbearer probably was one of the torch and pitchfork mob. (his ancestor also murdered two blacks for the fun of it). Do I get extra bonus points in life for what happened almost 200 years ago? Some think they are eternally owed.
It differs with each tribe. And when they notice their children don’t meet the requirements to get in on the casino cash, well, rules can be changed.
They could claim to be descendants of the Texas Hold ‘‘em band of the Poker tribe.
Then they would be flush with success.
I feel a little sympathy. I was always told that my great great grandmother was a Quapaw. I honestly thought that was true until my brother participated in one of those DNA tests. Now, I know that isn’t true. Still, I thought it was kind of neat and would mention it if the conversation was turned that way. Heck, I’ve even been offered a job because a principal thought that “Asians” were good at math and science and I can be easily mistaken for a half-Korean. He never asked and I never said otherwise because I didn’t realize that played into the offer.
I think it more likely than not that she played up a resemblance for her gain. Do we know that she did?
Similarly, family lore (FWIW) had the stereotypical Cherokee about five generations back but, after a DNA test which showed I was 100% British Isles, I had to break the news to my cousins. One positive point to this was the explanation for a blood disorder, thalassemia minor, that pops up in the family every so often. The gene is through the Celtic line that originated in the Levant and is well known in that part of the world. It seems the Celts migrated through the Straits of Gibraltar a long time ago and took the gene with them.
.
Why do all these professor-babes write as if they were skipping their schizophrenia medication?
Karenomania. Left untreated it results in permanent leftophilia for which only shock therapy sometimes works.
Diversity matters. Individuals, not so much. #HateTrumpsLove #HateLovesAbortion
This only matters because Critical Diversity (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry) Theory (CDT) and DEI policy under politically congruent (“=”) doctrine of the Pro-Choice ethical religion of progressive liberal sects normalized color blocs, color quotas, and affirmative discrimination.
As someone who has Abenaki ancestry I spit on this poser. The hell with you for using Native Americans to gain money and fortune. You are no better than Lizzie Pauxcahauntus
I can sympathize with her. I always thought I was half Dutch until my mother did a genealogy search, and I found out it was really Swiss. What a downer.
At least you still get to use fertilizer.
Are you saying Cleavon Little’s character Bart in Blazing Saddles might not have been 1/8 Dutch on his Mother’s side?
“ I found out it was really Swiss.”
And you can take that to the bank!
“I have always introduced myself as the person my parents had raised me to be—someone of mixed Mohawk, Mi’kmaq, French, English, Irish, and German descent and identity,” Hoover said in the statement.
LOL. Who introduces herself like that? I like the “and identity” part. Because there wasn’t enough stupidity in that sentence, already.
So — how many minority candidates were denied a position on the UC-Berzerkeley faculty because this fake was holding their AA space?
Has she ever done interviews, reporting, studies, papers or been a cited source etc based on this false status? How can someone look that up?
For the record I may or may not be between 0 and 1% Choctaw. Not that it matters because my “identity” doesn’t revolve around stuff like that.
I like this chick’s page at Berkeley.
Research Interests / Specializations:
Native American food systems, food sovereignty, Native American environmental health movements, heirloom seeds, Indigenous uses of fire, Native American museum curation, community based participatory research, environmental justice, food justice
Ha, ha … “food sovereignty” … that’s a new one on me. “Indigenous uses of fire” … man, that’s some important “research” there. “community based participatory research” – that sounds like something Kamala Harris would say.
This is a complete joke. Of course, this is from Berkeley’s ESP department, so there’s that …
“Indigenous uses of fire” … Smoke Signals 101.
They also have a.course in Indigenous Use of Fire taught by some dude called Molotov.
I thought that Arthur Brown invented fire.
Wouldn’t you think an anthropologist, of all people, would have checkedout her lineage decades ago? Ancient peoples is what they study.
Identity politics has a way of coming back to bite you.
I had a student of Salvadorean parentage who did a DNA test. He was shocked to find he was >90% indigenous (could’ve guessed by looking at him) and that his European ancestry was Italian rather than Spanish.
What is it with these Leftists and their lying families?
If only the transgender athletes were as self-aware of the harm they cause.
I don’t get it. If a man can declare he is a woman and a woman can declare that she is a man, then why can’t a white woman declare she is an indian? Maybe if she claimed to be a lesbian indian who spoke in pronouns she would be accepted. Who knows!
All of this nonsense would end instantly if quotas were banned.
Got it wrong about her indigenous-ancestry, until that claim itself became inconvenient?
Such is “anthropology” these days.
Snarking aside, decades ago I, with regret, had to give up on designated “anthropology” as a source for techniques. They had been a great resource for looking at large companies, industries, professions, or “movements.” What’s going on here, as a group, as a community, as a social system?
Sadly, there are no field anthropologiests left; not for some time. Of course, they had to go. Looking at groups clearly, honestly, perceptively can reveal any number of inconvenient truths. I mean actually inconvenient “inconvenient truths” popping up. It ruins the grift.
I am now wondering if “Stuff White People Like” has an entry for “having an oppressed people’s identity in one’s genome.” Of course, the white people who are singled out in this blog (FWIW, I am the wrong kind of white person) would actually be horrified to discover that this was actually true, but would gleefully claim that it was so if it afforded them any sort of special treatment or privilege. That would be similar to them openly welcoming other ethnicities into the neighborhood, as long as they bring along a small boutique restaurant.
Darn. Now I have a mission. Seek out liberals in my neighborhood (90+%) and then ask them if they are comfortable with having a genome with a minority component. This will freak them out, even more so when I refuse to name the minority because “that would be racist.” I try to never pass up an opportunity to live in someone’s head rent-free. I could ramp it up a bit more by then saying “this must be why you and so and so get along so well.” That will guarantee that they will spend all waking hours trying to identify that similarity. Finally, to close I will simply say “I’m all right because I’m all white” and saunter off.
“would actually be horrified to discover that this was actually true, but would gleefully claim that it was so”
As opposed to, say, Angela Davis…
It explains a lot about higher education.
What is it with lily-white academics named “Liz” claiming to be indigenous?
It wasn’t cool to be French, English, Irish, or German when she was growing up, it was (cool) to be capital “N” Native; well, perhaps the capital N came later. She probably just wanted desperately to be cool, still does, never got over it. Some just never grow out of adolescence.
Imagine the personal devastation when she learns that she is an American working, proudly no doubt, for an institution whose namesake is one of the country’s most successful and famous capitalists. (Stanford isn’t exactly the remote branch of some State U). Oh, the horror! Keep her away from tall buildings, high bridges, and speeding trains. OTOH, could this announcement and shame just be the latest iteration of continuing to be “cool?” Yeah, I’m going with that.