Are Pretendians The Reason for Spike in Native Population?

 Interesting article at RedState on why the huge leap in the Native American population. The author seems to believe pretendians are the reason.  I think that’s too simplistic 

Read article 

Well, it’s not likely that more Native Americans are entering the U.S. right? So, there has to be another explanation.

But, according to Sturm, this increase is occurring because “individuals who previously identified as white are now claiming to be Native American.”

She also explains that “[t]his growing movement has been captured by terms like ‘pretendian’ and ‘wannabe.’”

The author refers to this phenomenon by what she calls “racial shifting.”

Insert Elizabeth Warren and Rachel Dolezal jokes here.

But what is interesting is that the author points out that those choosing to identify as Native American are trying to move further from “whiteness.” The author says that in her 14 years of researching this issue and interviewing “dozens of race-shifters” for her book, “Becoming Indian,” she “learned that while some of these people have strong evidence of Native American ancestry, others do not.”