Major WTF #pretendian vibes. I came across Tweet that alleged a Hopi prof at @asu passed from COVID19. As a Native ASU student who knows Native profs & a Hopi prof at ASU ( #nativeintheivory is small world) I felt sick & hurt thinking it may be someone I knew. 1/
#NativeTwitter https://twitter.com/endlesswario/status/1290062477657436161

I even messaged a close friend asking if they heard anything. Hopefully this is not true & am hopefully becuz there aren’t very many Hopi profs at @ASU. If this is false & someone created a fake character using queer Indigenous identity then shame on them. 2/
#nativetwitter

Shame on them for EXPLOITING a very marginalized and historically oppressed identity (queer) and group of people (Hopi/Indigenous) for their own financial and ego-boosting gain. /3
#NativeTwitter

Further, Native communities are small world networks. I immediately thought of someone I knew. Had this happened much earlier in the pandemic when I was most fragile from trauma that COVID19 impacted on our Native communities I may have hurt more than it did.
/4
#nativetwitter

There is more to say about impacts of pretendianism. I’m sure whoever created the queer Native acct benefited from $ maybe at expense of real Natives. Natives been dealing with nonnatives claiming Tribal identity from a family story but now gotta contend with made up person. /End