Thread by @DarrylLeroux

Getting a lot of questions about the “Abenaki tribes” in VT & NH since publication of my book. To be clear, all of them are involved in #raceshifting. All of them. The actual Abenaki people took a strong stand against the “Abenaki” charade in New England last April.

I explain in Chapter 1 of #DistortedDescent that virtually everybody enrolled in these “tribes” are white French-descendants relying on Indigenous OR French women ancestors born prior to 1650. I discovered this in doing research on online genealogy forums. #raceshifting

Rich Holschuh is member of Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs and public liaison for “Elnu Abenaki Tribe” in VT. He has 1 (potential) Mi’kmaw ancestor born in 1641 (Germain Doucet), though there’s some controversy about whether Doucet was Indigenous at all.

At Oct. 9 meeting of VCNAA, he explained how my book was putting “Abenaki tribes” in VT in “negative light”. Good. I’ve seen and completed dozens of genealogies of their leaders. Every single one of them rely on an ancestor or 2 from 1600s. #raceshifting

You may remember Raymond Lussier, the “tribal judge” for “Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe” in VT who falsely turned a French woman (Catherine Pillard, born 1651) into “Huron-Wendat” woman named “Ouenta”, "long-lost daughter of great Huron-Wendat chief."

theconversation.com/how-some-north…

Since publication of the article above and my book a month ago, he has double-downed on Pillard being “Ouenta” and even suggested that another French woman (F. Grenier, b. 1604) that I discuss in Chapter 2 is “Indigenous”. #raceshifting

Not surprising, as I explain in Chapter 2 how these "tribes" use Pillard extensively as an "Indigenous" root ancestor for membership purposes. #Raceshifting is at the basis of movement in New England and has been for a longer time than in ON, QC, NB, NS.

Lussier has himself relied on a couple ancestors born in 1600s to shift into an “Indigenous” identity, according to his own genealogy. This is basis of entire “Abenaki” movement in NE, which is why actual Abenaki people have taken a stand against these “tribes”. #raceshifting

Unfortunately, the state of VT recognized 4 of these “tribes” in 2011 & 2012 … this, despite the fact that first and main “Abenaki” organization in state failed to receive federal recognition after a decade of research. #raceshifting

VT authorities barred actual Abenaki people who were prepared to testify at state recognition hearings from testifying. You can read more here on Denise Watso’s blog: abenakinews.blogspot.com

None of 4 state-recognized “tribes” had to produce any ancestral data as part of recognition process. They mostly relied on fact that Abenaki people historically lived in the region and were mistreated by white settlers to evoke political sympathy. #raceshifting

As Circe Sturm has argued in her book on the self-identified "Cherokee" movement in U.S., the advent of state recognition has been a gift to #raceshifting ... state recognition is often nothing more than "pure politics".

sarweb.org/becoming-india…

In this case, white French-descendants weaponized pain and suffering faced by generations of actual Abenaki people who lived in NE, then lobbied to ban descendants of these same people from testifying about truth. Sturm calls this process "symbolic inversion". #raceshifting

There are a few hundred Abenaki individuals, registered at Odanak in present-day QC, who live in parts of NE and NY. They’re not related to “Abenaki tribes” in VT or NH though. This PhD dissertation explores some of these dynamics: pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7751/3fcf2d74c…

I have extensive documentation on #raceshifting movement in VT & NH. I write about it briefly in chapter 2 of my book Distorted Descent: White Claims to Indigenous Identity: uofmpress.ca/books/detail/d…