The Not Real Indian, "Indigenous" Author Thomas King

Sometimes a person finds that they have been lying to themselves instead of trying to trick the world. Thomas King carried a secret claim from a distant parent that he carried like a charm, and he lived inside a story that he inherited as a child. That narrative eventually evolved into identity, purpose, and the cornerstone of a famous "Indigenous" author career worth over $5 million.

We cling to anything that makes us feel like we belong, especially when our lives start with absence. This is the silent machinery of human nature. We don't realize how thoroughly we've been woven into our own myth until the truth is revealed with the icy precision of an investigator. King's destruction is not the disgrace of a con artist, but rather the breakdown of a man who understands that the narrative that kept him alive was never his. Ultimately, it serves as a reminder that the illusions we inherit, hold dear, and base our lives on are the most haunting. Let's face it, this California child, now an elderly man, was told he was Indigenous, so he believed it, and studied indigenous people, and wrote of the plight of the peoples.