'That's just what I was told'

Family lore, DNA and PREY!

It’s Pretendian Week (is that even a thing?) over at Indianz.Com and the first story dropped on September 12, 2022. “Big backers of breakout hit Prey falter on tribal affiliation inquiry” seeks to answer the age-old question: Who is your family?

In the case of Dakota Beavers, a star of the mega-successful film Prey, now streaming on Hulu, the answer seems fairly straightforward. On his maternal side, he comes from a long line of Hispanic people, primarily from southern New Mexico. His paternal side is European American, with his late paternal grandfather having been born in Tennessee.

But just how does a young actor get Mescalero Apache Tribe out of this? And where does Ohkay Owingeh come from?

Well the answers to those questions will be revealed as Pretendian Country Today takes a deeper look at Dakota Beavers and his maternal ancestry in an upcoming post here on Substack. And while the information is far from earth-shattering, it is representative of a larger trend among people whose families come from Spanish-speaking, Hispanic and/or Latino communities. They are relying on family lore and and DNA tests to bolster their claims of being Indigenous, Native and even from specific tribal nations.

Genomelink.io markets genetic testing services to Latin Americans, offering to let people whose ancestors come from the region find out whether they share DNA with Pima, Huichol and other indigenous groups.

A prominent example previously seen on Indianz.Com and on Pretendian Country Today is Regan Loggans aka Regan de Loggans (they/them). The self-appointed agitator infamously transformed into “Mississippi Choctaw” thanks to a 23andMe test. Before that, they were merely a first-generation LatinX descendant.

Then there’s an equally infamous account on Twitter that went by @NaniNizhoni. The person behind the account shut it down after Pretendian Country Today asked about their past, which included a claim of being from the Mescalero Apache Tribe. But you can’t keep a good Pretendian figure down so the person is back online with an entirely different account that spews a special version of ignorance under the guise of being an “Indigenous” voice. They went private on Twitter after a post here questioned whether @fantasmaanonn was indeed the same as @NaniNizhoni.

Finally, there are entire groups in the Southwest that are seeking to be treated in the same manner as tribal governments due to the onetime presence of enslaved Indians in their communities. Since residents of these communities can’t necessarily identify the tribes from which the victims — usually women and girls — were stolen, they are turning to DNA to “prove” their alleged Indigeneity. #MMIW is being turned on its head in the most perverse way possible.

All of this prelude is a roundabout way of saying: Watch out! Whether predator or prey, there’s always something interesting around the corner.

The Predator, portrayed by Dane DiLiegro in PREY. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios