#very informative

pocfansmatter:

fandomshatepeopleofcolor:

^{about tyler blackburn. i’m gonna preface this by saying that i’m not native american and i urge native americans who have spoken about this to send us a message so we can reblog their posts/or for others to recommend posts written by native americans.}

^{anyways, i’m real mad.}

^{honestly, tyler blackburn’s entire career has been built on stealing roles for native americans. and sure, he said he had a reasonable doubt on whether he was native american or not, i mean, who is going to doubt their grandmother?}

^{but let’s think about it, and first let me show you guys a picture from a pilot shot in 2011 (i assume after he was cast in pll and they boasted about having native american rep)}

^{if you look up tyler blackburn plus brave new world, i’m pretty sure there are some articles written by native americans criticizng the casting. they speak about the fact he looks very white + they can’t find any records of him being enrolled with any tribe (i’ll come back to this later because it’s important).}

^{okay so. when he was being casted in pll, they called tyler and asked if he was ethnic and he talked to his grandmother who said ‘Harold, was my, my grandfather’s name, Harold’s great grandmother was Cherokee, Indian.’ okay so, let’s do the math (which yes i know it’s wrong but i need to bring up another thing tyler said} 

^{ok: his grandfather’s great grandmother was cherokee.} 

^{greatgrandmother: 100%, grandmother: 50%, mother: 25%, harold: 12.5%, tyler’s parent: 6.25, tyler: 3%}

^{now, perhaps the grandmother didn’t marry a white man, maybe she married someone who was already mixed or another native american, but either way, tyler is going to be between 3% and 12.5% native american.}

^{alex was meant to be played by someone who was half native american.}

^{not 12.5%.}

^{now, all i just said is technically wrong, but ‘TB: And I was like — ½ Native American —  and I was like, great! Like, I mean, because it, it, the pool is like, so small.’ since tyler brought up what percentage alex was meant to be, i wanted to clarify this.}

^{moving on, why is this wrong, as the newsarticles written by native americans said, they couldn’t find him enrolled anywhere. it means that tyler was not enrolled with any tribe, he had no connection to native americans. which is incredibly important, and native americans prefer have talked about how they dislike the percentages thing (1/8th of blood) as proof of being native american.}

^{tyler was right on one point though – the pool is very small. and it gets even smaller by the fact native americans do not get the chance to play roles meant for them, instead it goes to white boys who look ‘ethnic enough’ like tyler.}

^{tyler learned about this in season 1. he could have quit. he could have said ‘i’m not gonna take the role away from a native american.’ when season 2 introduced more of his backstory, had him visit a reservation… he didn’t think… maybe i should quit and insist they recast my role with a native american actor?? tyler has had this information but a year and he continued benefitting from the lie,} 

^{i’m sorry… i’m not comfortable with that. and i’m tired of the posts that seem to just… make tyler a passive figure in all of this. sure, his grandmother told him something that was incorrect. but he always knew that it was a very removed ancestry, but he still took roles meant for native americans. time and time again. in pretty little liars (technically not required for him to be native, but the role was meant to go to a poc). in brave new world. and now in roswell new mexico.}

^{tyler has been benefitting from this. while actual native american actors are excluded from hollywood.} 

^{mod capitu.}

Native American here! Direct descent of one tribe & enrolled member of another. Both of southern California.

Okay I know NOTHING about this actor or show but I wanted to respond to some statements made.

First the thing about his grandmother telling him his Native. That is a really big issue Native Americans have to fight against regularly. The “my grandparents told me we’re Native” lie so many white people are told when they are young & cling to for years. Elizabeth Warren I’m looking at you.

We’ve repeatedly asked people to stop with those statements if they have no other evidence to back it up, we’ll get back to this don’t worry.

Next, the blood quantum thing the OP gets into. It’s the part where OP brakes done the percentages of Native the actors family would be. Please don’t do that. Many Native Americans, myself included see the blood quantum method as racist. Even though many tribes (including my own) still use it many are actively trying to seperate ourselves from it. We are the only people in the world required to use it. It’s dehumanizing & a tool created by the government to kill ourselves off. I could go on & on but lets move on for now.

Now, Tyler is not Native. It’s not because of his percentage or enrollment either, although they could of saved him here, it’s because no tribe CLAIMS him. It’s widely agreed amongst Natives that instead of using BQ as a way of verification we use direct descendants AND your relationship with the tribe.

Does the tribe you claim, claim you?

Have you been to the reservation?

Do you participate in the community?

Have you met your family from the tribe?

Do you know your history, traditions, anything about the tribe you claim?

If most the answers are no you’re not Native, HOWEVER.

There are special cases.

There is a thing called “reconnecting Natives” its used in cases like adoption, kidnapping, mixed children who had their identities hidden, etc. In the act that a person finds out they may have Native American heritage they have a lot of work to do. If they wish to claim Native ancestry they have to actively inform themselves & learn about their tribe, meet with members of tribe, actively participate in their community until members of said tribe decide to claim that person. They still have to work on reconnecting but they are then members.

Sorry this got so long but, as far as I can tell Tyler isn’t Native. He should of walked away once he learned of his character’s background. There are many Native American actors out there who would be good for the role & are constantly overlooked in favor of non Native people. Johnny Deep I’m looking at your ass too.

mwg-7: