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A self-identified Native American scholar hired in 2020 by UC Berkeley recently admitted she has no proof she descended from two tribes she has built her academic career upon.

Professor Elizabeth Hoover, who specializes in environmental justice in Native American communities, published a statement on her relatively new personal website that she will no longer claim she is of Mohawk and Mi'kmaq descent.

Hoover's statement comes after she received pressure from others in Native American communities that questioned her ancestry, reported Indianz, a Native American news website.

After a thorough search of online databases, archival records and census data, "what I am currently left with is that I do not have any official documentation to verify the way my family has identified," Hoover wrote in her statement.

"…Now, without any official documentation verifying the identity I was raised with, I do not think it is right for me to continue to claim to be a scholar of Mohawk/Mi'kmaq descent, even though my mother is insistent that she inherited this history for a reason," Hoover stated.

"As such, I have been approaching my friends, collaborators, students, colleagues, and members of the general public, to share this information about my identity and to re-form these relationships as needed."

UC Berkeley officials, in a 2021 news release touting diversity cluster hiring as a way to address equity and justice, quoted Hoover and described her as a "new Native American faculty member in ESPM and one of 11 self-identified Native American/Alaska Native ladder-rank faculty members at Berkeley."

But Hoover's critics contend she built her scholarly career on false pretenses.

The Indianz report cites several examples and publications in which she used the Mohawk and Mi'kmaq connection to build up her academic reputation and scholarly field of work.

"More recently, Hoover said people who have been raising doubts about her background are the ones causing 'damage.' Internet messages seen … indicate that she considers herself a victim, even though she now admits her decades-long claims of being Mohawk and Mi'kmaq are unsupported by her own research," the website stated.

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https://www.thecollegefix.com/scholar-hired-as-part-of-diversity-cohort-now-admits-no-proof-of-mohawk-ancestry/

man being an oppressed minority is so tough in America these day, people are faking it all the time it seems, for some strange reason.

So she's giving up her position achieved through this deceit to give an opportunity for an authentic Native…right?!

SJWs strike again

Won't a 23andme test either prove or disprove it?

She should have said she was 1024th Cherokee, worked for Warren.

You know, my mother used to call us kids, "wild Indians" I think I might be Native American too...

Just like Stolen Valor, there needs to be legal punishment for outright lies used to gain benefits in a work or academic setting. I don't know why this stuff pisses me off as much as it does, but I can't stand liars of this magnitude and setting.

"Pretendian" - brilliant!

rynning said:

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Won't a 23andme test either prove or disprove it?

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No- its a little known secret that 23 and me really struggles with Native American ancestry. they cannot separately identify it. They even tell you so in their disclaimers.

Like for real. It really makes you wonder.

Eliminatus said:

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Just like Stolen Valor, there needs to be legal punishment for outright lies used to gain benefits in a work or academic setting. I don't know why this stuff pisses me off as much as it does, but I can't stand liars of this magnitude and setting.

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It pisses me off because I grew up with Native Americans who went to the same catholic school with my brothers and me. They were proud of their heritage and I was happy to know them. We built up respect through our shared faith. We were boy scouts together and they shared their heritage with all of us.

A person appropriating their heritage for personal gain, insults my friends and thus insults me.

Add to the list of Pretendians

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretendian

Mayor West said:

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So she's giving up her position achieved through this deceit to give an opportunity for an authentic Native…right?!

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No way...she has zero conscience or integrity.

gigemhilo said:

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rynning said:

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Won't a 23andme test either prove or disprove it?

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No- its a little known secret that 23 and me really struggles with Native American ancestry. they cannot separately identify it. They even tell you so in their disclaimers.

Like for real. It really makes you wonder.

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To expand further on this...

My great grandmother was supposedly full-blood Cherokee but she disassociated from the tribe when she married a white man. She is not included on the Dawes roles (what the tribes base Indian nation citizenship on).

My sister, mother and I decided to do 23 and me to help prove that we have Indian ancestry, and basically it showed we were white as could be - and thats when we found the disclaimer.

There is even some geneticists out there that are saying Indian DNA and European/Middle Eastern DNA are similar as far as the origin strands they look for (in other words, they could be original to the caucus mountains or northern africa). The problem is that does not match up with current "known" history guidelines. There are some histories out there that have been considered tall tales in the past that could make this origin work, but they conflict with what we view as established history. Bottom line - we were taught that natives came over the bearing straight and made their way down. DNA evidence does not seem to support that.

Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk!

But, if you can identity as a different gender than your genetics indicate, is it such a leap to identify as a genetically different race or ethnicity, especially when culture, which is the primary manifestation of ethnicity in practical human interaction, is only at best superficially related to genetics by association?
Gender fluidity is pushed as a virtue but ethnic fluidity is punished when the differences are much less distinct?

Crazy town.

Then how did it find mine?

Eliminatus said:

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Just like Stolen Valor, there needs to be legal punishment for outright lies used to gain benefits in a work or academic setting. I don't know why this stuff pisses me off as much as it does, but I can't stand liars of this magnitude and setting.

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It pisses me off because I worked DAMN HARD to get where I am at and continue to have to work hard to try and achieve my goals. These people were able to use things made out of whole cloth for personal benefit, and when confronted with it, they simply make something up and say my bad, and thats the end of it. Of my employer found out I was faking my credentials, I would be reported to the governing body over my credentials and quite possibly prosecuted and even jailed. Certaonly if there was an accident and I was found liable and had fake credentials I would be in jail. People that work honestly under the framework our society has built do so under the guise that hard work can and will pay off and if we are honest and abide by the rules that it will pay off, while people like this see you next Tuesday waltz in making things up and are rewarded for it. Its maddening amd one side of the political.spectrum straight up doesn't even care.

Charpie said:

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Then how did it find mine?

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Really? Thats great! No idea. It's very possible that our story is wrong, or that we have too much white in us. But when we did it a few years ago, that was what we read (in reference to identifying Native DNA).

Now I need to go find my login and see what has changed.

EDIT:

Disclaimers are still there. They basically say on 4-5 generation removed, there may not be identifiable DNA passed down.

Very interesting. Is the problem caused by the inability to identify uniquely American Indian DNA, or rather the fact that DNA is not passed down 50-50 by both parents? In other words, each child gets varying proportions of their parents DNA. Because of that discrepancy, by the time three or four generations have passed, an individual may not have a single piece of their great great grandparents DNA.

gigemhilo said:

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rynning said:

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Won't a 23andme test either prove or disprove it?

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No- its a little known secret that 23 and me really struggles with Native American ancestry. they cannot separately identify it. They even tell you so in their disclaimers.

Like for real. It really makes you wonder.

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You mean the same company that routinely gives wildly different info for identical twins and triplets?

That 23 and me?

Their results have always been questionable.

Charpie said:

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Then how did it find mine?

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You're probably staph at 23andMe, too.

Madman said:

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gigemhilo said:

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rynning said:

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Won't a 23andme test either prove or disprove it?

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No- its a little known secret that 23 and me really struggles with Native American ancestry. they cannot separately identify it. They even tell you so in their disclaimers.

Like for real. It really makes you wonder.

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You mean the same company that routinely gives wildly different info for identical twins and triplets?

That 23 and me?

Their results have always been questionable.

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Ha ha, I always suspected that was true. Do you have any links or other evidence to support that? I'd love to send them to my sisters who are huge 23 and me addicts.

No mames

Will conservatives be seizing upon this or pouncing?

rynning said:

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Won't a 23andme test either prove or disprove it?

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The convenient thing about most Native American tribes is that they usually have tribal rolls. Who is a member. To be descended, the lineage needs to be traced back to an enrolled member.

Professor Forked Tongue

both?

DNA from mom and dad is passed 50/50, but it gets tricky when you get to the XY. I believe there is more dilution on the female side than on the male (as far as what is passed from ancestors). I could be totally wrong but that was how I understood it.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/18/dna-testing-twin-results-show-why-you-should-take-dna-analysis-with-a-grain-of-salt/amp/

Lots more out there.

Charpie said:

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Then how did it find mine?

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Good question. At one point my genetic profile showed 1.9 % ancestry from Spain/Portugal, then that disappeared and I was Scots-Irish-English-French-German with some Dutch and Scandinavian thrown in for good measure.

To me, is someone believed their entire lives they were in a certain ethic group, lived the culture, experienced whatever disadvantages and biases, if any, that were occurring at the time, then they have at least a viable explanation for having continued to make the claims and live that life.

If, however, it was a deliberate adult choice to adopt that identity for a specific social or economic advantage or eligibility for special treatment, with an intent to deceive for personal gain, then that is unethical. Such as, for example, to obtain access to preferential hiring, or business loan status, or education grants, etc.

So we have Elizabeth Warren and now Elizabeth Hoover lying about American Indian ancestry. It's clear we shouldn't trust an Indian woman named Elizabeth.

gigemhilo said:

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rynning said:

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Won't a 23andme test either prove or disprove it?

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No- its a little known secret that 23 and me really struggles with Native American ancestry. they cannot separately identify it. They even tell you so in their disclaimers.

Like for real. It really makes you wonder.

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My guess is there is little distinction between American indigenous genetics and Asians and Polynesians

Sea Speed said:

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Eliminatus said:

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Just like Stolen Valor, there needs to be legal punishment for outright lies used to gain benefits in a work or academic setting. I don't know why this stuff pisses me off as much as it does, but I can't stand liars of this magnitude and setting.

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It pisses me off because I worked DAMN HARD to get where I am at and continue to have to work hard to try and achieve my goals. These people were able to use things made out of whole cloth for personal benefit, and when confronted with it, they simply make something up and say my bad, and thats the end of it. Of my employer found out I was faking my credentials, I would be reported to the governing body over my credentials and quite possibly prosecuted and even jailed. Certaonly if there was an accident and I was found liable and had fake credentials I would be in jail. People that work honestly under the framework our society has built do so under the guise that hard work can and will pay off and if we are honest and abide by the rules that it will pay off, while people like this see you next Tuesday waltz in making things up and are rewarded for it. Its maddening amd one side of the political.spectrum straight up doesn't even care.

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The old dig on the Bush family and aristocracy is that "they were born on third base and take credit for hitting a triple."

In Elizabeth Warren's case she got hit in the batter's box and think she ought to get third base.

Native Americans from both continents are descended from Siberian Asian peoples. There are a couple of spots on the South American coast where genetics indicate Polynesian Islanders may have landed on South America and mixed with the populations.

Anyone else have acquaintances that always do the "land acknowledgement" thing when they post on Instagram?

"On occupied [some tribe or another, sometimes multiple] lands."

Typical Progs, though, because when in Santa Fe they chuck the natives and call it "Georgia O'Keefe Country."

Eliminatus said:

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Just like Stolen Valor, there needs to be legal punishment for outright lies used to gain benefits in a work or academic setting. I don't know why this stuff pisses me off as much as it does, but I can't stand liars of this magnitude and setting.

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That kind of reminds of the issue my dad had with Mohammad Ali.

He didn't hate Ali because of race or public actions. He just didn't like Ali because he dodged the draft and wondered which American took Ali's place in the draft and went to Vietnam.