Cherokees Cry Foul: Wannabes and fake Cherokees are cashing in on their heritage

In 1997, Rita Coolidge was one of the founding members of Walela, a Native American music trio, that also includes Coolidge’s sister Priscilla and Priscilla’s daughter Laura Satterfield. The trio released albums in 1997 and 2000. Waleli means hummingbird in Cherokee, not Walela.

Although Coolidge claims Cherokee heritage, she is not legally a Cherokee. Native Americans are the only ethnic group who have to carry cards issued by the U.S. Government to prove they are members of federally recognized tribes, and Rita Coolidge does not meet the criteria as set forth by law to call herself a Cherokee.

It is also a violation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 to market or sell merchandise as Native American or to use the name of a tribe if you are not a member of that tribe. A first time offense is punishable by up to a $1000,000 fine and/or time in jail.

Coolidge claimed in a Native American magazine article which is on her http://www.walela.com/ page that her family was not a minority in the neighborhood, but they were the only Indians in the neighborhood.

Coolidge contradicts herself in the next paragraph saying she was raised on the reservation. Now, if she was froma reservation how could her Cherokee family be the only Indian family in the neighborhood? And there is no Cherokee reservation in Tennessee. Why did Rita Coolidge make this up? Doesn’t she know real Cherokees know she isn’t telling the truth?


she isn’t telling In 2004, Coolidge released an anthology of her complete career, entitled Delta Lady.

It seems when her career began to falter she started claiming that she was Cherokee to give it a boost.

Douglas Blue Feather (real name Douglas Bonnell) also fails to meet the strict criteria for enrollment in one of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes but continues to insist he is Cherokee because a DNA test confirmed it.

DNA tests can tell if you have Native American ancestry, but they cannot tell you which tribe your ancestors came from.


When questioned about his Cherokee heritage Bonnell said he knows Cherokee chiefs. Does this make him a Cherokee? No!


It’s time the wannabes stop trying to cash in on our heritage. We are sick of it. They need to market their music as “Native Style” instead of claiming they are one of us. Cherokees and other tribes have decided it's time to fight back instead of sitting back and letting these people continue to fool the public into believing they are Cherokees or Native American. If you are Native American you have a government issued card, and none of these people have those.


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