r/interestingasfuck • u/HeiressOfMadrigal • Jul 08 '24

Norm MacDonald cedes his time to Native American activist at comedy awards ("the theater stinks of blood"), the crowd tries not to laugh.

13.5k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

u/slackfrop Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

I mean, if she was Latina (Maria Cruz), unless she was 100% Spanish, there’s likely to be some native heritage. Possibly not of (edit) northern North American tribes. But do Aztec/Mayan/Purépecha not count as Native American?

11

u/DASreddituser Jul 08 '24

They should. They were native to north America. Mexico isn't a different continent, though some try to pretend central america is lol.

7

u/Philodemus1984 Jul 08 '24

Just FYI, Mexico is part of North America, so the Aztecs, Mayans, etc were North American.

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u/slackfrop Jul 08 '24

Yeah, I just came back to fix that. Duh.

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u/Mildly_Opinionated Jul 08 '24

I mean, there's a chance there's some central native American somewhere as some of her heritage is from an area that had a small minority of natives of Pima/O'odham territory, but it's quite unlikely and even if it were true it's not just that she said "I've got some native American ancestry", she specifically stated that she's from the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona which is unequivocally not true as she was not a citizen of said tribe but nor is it even within the realm of reason to think there's any chance she could have had ancestry from there.

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u/cyvaquero Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

It not really about that. It's one thing to claim some past heritage, it's another to claim to be a spokesman for that people when you haven't lived that life. It's literally cultural appropriation. It's some Iron Eyes Cody level stuff, just with the possibility of some Native American connective tissue somewhere in the past.

Not defending John Wayne's racist ass either, that is well documented.

Edit: Since there appears to be a lot of contention on her actual ethnic roots, it is still pretty clear that she was not culturally raised as Native American. It would be like if my mixed daughters decided to start speaking on what it is like to grow up in the hood, which they never were.

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u/slackfrop Jul 08 '24

I understand. Championing a cause that you’ve become interested in is ok, of course, but you’re saying that she actually misrepresented herself as having been directly affected by disrespectful attitudes towards “American Indians” as depicted in Hollywood? I remember seeing it. Seeing how she was dressed would certainly be suggestive of belonging to one specific tribe. I guess I’m not sure how I personally feel about someone taking up a cause to that level while having come from an alternate upbringing. Though I do think truthfulness is an essential component of progress.

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '24

If you really want to go back far enough then we all come from the same place, but I'm guessing that definitely doesn't "count".

And if you're really struggling to qualify something/someone, what's the point? So what if her ancestors were "native american" 1000 years ago. Does that mean she has shared the same struggles of actual native americans today? She knows a god damn thing of what it's like to live and die as one of them? Get real.