Some impactful opinion pieces by First Nations authors:

Niigaan Sinclair: The inconvenient truth: Thomas King’s admission he isn’t Cherokee hits hard.

Tanya Talaga: Thomas King’s storytelling now feels like a betrayal.

Jesse Wente: Jesse Wente on Thomas King and finding hope in a hard moment (Video: 42min).


Thoughts:
I'm glad Lee Maracle and Murray Sinclair didn't see this betrayal. I wonder how many more are to come.

Personally, as a basic white girl who casually follows CanLit discourse, I'd heard the rumours for close to ten years, and assumed they weren't true because it seemed like the Cherokee Nation would've said something. And it just felt to obvious, maybe? Surely someone would've looked into it when the Michelle Latimer situation happened? Guess not! Or maybe they did, and this is how long it takes to gather that level of detail.

My hot take (which I've heard going around a bit): you can't be in King's position and not know that. A lot of us with roots in that part of the world have family stories about Cherokee ancestors, myself included. Which a lot of people believe because why would their families lie to them? Then you learn it's a whole trope, and look into it, and realise it's just family mythology. Or don't, because you're not claiming anything based on it, anyway. But if you're speaking on behalf of a people, as King was, not having the least curiosity, or desire to reconnect with family, feels like wilful ignorance at best. (Which is why the rumours felt too obvious. Surely, I thought, he must have made sure.)

It's not something that is making me, personally, reconsider my CanLit canon. I read a few books by King, and enjoyed them, but he wasn't a favourite author.


Palate cleansers:
Elamin asked Jesse Wente for some recs, and here's his list (copied from the episode description on YouTube):

Books:
The Knowing by Tanya Talaga
Bad Indians Book Club by Patty Krawec
The Idea of an Entire Life by Billy Ray Belcourt
The Boy From Buzwah: A Life in Indian Education by Cecil King
Survival Ojibwe by Patricia Ningewance
Danger Eagle written by Jesse Wente and illustrated by Shaikara David

Film & TV:
Saints and Warriors (coming soon to Crave)
The Knowing - documentary series based on Tanya Talaga's book (on CBC Gem)
Aki by Darlene Naponse
Uiksaringitara: Wrong Husband by Zacharias Kunuk
Meadowlarks by Tasha Hubbard (coming soon to theatres -- it’s a drama adaptation of her documentary, Birth of a Family, available on the NFB website)
Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man by Sinakson Trevor Solway

Finally, let's laugh about a funny time someone got fooled: 'Made-up quote' in Canadian satire site The Beaverton fools Time Magazine.