Cherokee Nation Prosecutes Fake Cherokee Tribes #Pretendians #CherokeeNation

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]The Cherokee Nation continue to prosecute fake Cherokee tribes, so you better watch out. The Cherokee are coming for you.

[00:00:07]Membership standards for these fake [music] tribes are often minimal.

[00:00:11]Many require nothing more than the belief one is Cherokee.

[00:00:17]Fake tribes imitate [music] authentic Indian tribes. Almost every group uses the title of principal chief [music] or chief as their head.

[00:00:26]Several groups make up tribal roles that are not part of Cherokee culture.

[00:00:30]Members very often create Indian names for themselves.

[00:00:34]The majority of these names have [music] no connection to Cherokee tradition.

[00:00:38]At times, the names are romanticized and stereotypical.

[00:00:43]Fraudulent tribes often state their [music] intention is to learn and spread traditional Cherokee culture.

[00:00:49]Here, a chief makes [music] a presentation.

[00:00:52]He is wearing a war bonnet.

[00:00:54]Cherokees never wore them.

[00:00:57]A teepee. [music] Cherokees never lived in them.

[00:01:01]A man claiming to be a fire keeper in a costume of his own creation.

[00:01:06]A radical misinterpretation of a booker dance.

[00:01:10]On their websites, these groups express their versions of Cherokee history and culture. [music] These frauds are harmful in the fact that they uh they distort our history, they distort [music] our culture, they misrepresent who we are um by putting on these these particular uh shows of trying to be Indian. I'm proud to be a Cherokee >> [music] >> and I was raised Cherokee and for them to misidentify themselves [music] by uh mocking my ancestors is just [music] wrong and it's it's heartbreaking. Many of these fraudulent groups use deceptive practices to take advantage of the rights and privileges reserved for real tribal [music] governments. One group sold counterfeited automobile license plates.

[00:01:59]Another group, [music] claiming sovereignty, deceived a local sheriff with a fake court order and took custody of a child. The case was exposed >> [music] >> and the child was returned to its parents.

[00:02:10]Several have tried to open illegal casinos. [music] One fake tribe illegally channeled money from a government grant to schools for each student [music] enrolled in their fake tribe. They charged $120 for memberships and no proof of Indian ancestry was required. [music] We have people out there who are scamming other people for thousands and thousands of dollars. But what really concerns [music] me about groups that aren't legitimate is the damage they can cause not only in outside parties and governments listening to them in terms of making [music] federal policy, state policy, local policy, but also interfering in people's lives.

[00:02:48]>> To me, they're still in our history, our culture.

[00:02:53]And that right there belongs to the [music] Cherokee people.