{"id":9284,"date":"2021-03-22T19:20:11","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T23:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=9284"},"modified":"2021-03-22T19:23:29","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T23:23:29","slug":"texas-observer-candidate-claims-indian-identity-in-bid-for-public-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/03\/22\/texas-observer-candidate-claims-indian-identity-in-bid-for-public-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Observer: Candidate claims Indian identity in bid for public office"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\n\t\t\t2021 DreamHour Speaker Series (The Descendant Series): Marie Crabb\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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Marie Crabb, is Mescalero Apache-Irish and was born in San Antonio. She is one of the top-producing real estate agents in the city, with over 10 years of exp…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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According to DreamWeek San Antonio<\/a>, Marie Crabb is “Mescalero Apache-Irish” who is “heavily involved in her Native American heritage, serving as treasurer of the Central Texas Chapter of the American Indian Movement.” Crabb was featured in the DreamHour Speaker Series in January 2021.\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Indigenous Identity at the Heart of San Antonio City Council Race<\/div>\r\n
For years, candidate Marie Crabb has claimed to be Mescalero Apache. Those claims cannot be verified.<\/div>\r\n
Monday, March 22, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Pauly Denetclaw<\/div>\r\n
Texas Observer<\/div>\r\n
texasobserver.org<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThis article was originally published by the Texas Observer<\/a>, a nonprofit investigative news outlet. Sign up for their weekly newsletter<\/a>, or follow them on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/strong>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n In early February, on a warm, sunny day, Marie Crabb<\/a> left campaign literature for her neighbors in the Lone Star neighborhood on the south side of San Antonio. She wore a black cloth mask and a casual outfit with grey sneakers. At one point, she stopped to notice a person in a motorized wheelchair driving over a rocky, dirt path where a sidewalk should be.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\n \u201cThat man right there doesn’t even have the security of being able to drive on a sidewalk that’s going to protect him and his motorized wheelchair,\u201d Crabb said. \u201cHe’s driving over dirt and rocks.\u201d\u00a0\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\n Crabb is running for a spot on San Antonio’s city council representing District 5, and if elected on May 1, her campaign says she would be the first Indigenous woman on the council in the city’s history. Crabb identifies as Mescalero Apache, a federally recognized tribal nation based in south-central New Mexico and her run for office tracks with national trends of increased Indigenous political representation nationwide: 114 Indigenous people across the country ran for office in 2020, 67 of which were women. She has been active in San Antonio’s Indigenous community for years, even more so after becoming president of the Native American Students’ Association at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, where she graduated with a criminal justice degree in 2008.\u00a0\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\n However, the Mescalero Apache tribe says that neither Crabb, nor her mother, is an enrolled tribal citizen. Tribal code requires members to provide proof of “one-fourth (1\/4th) degree or more Mescalero Apache blood,” while applicants must also have one parent who is enrolled. Crabb has neither. As well, Crabb says she has no personal, cultural, or familial ties to link her to the Mescalero Apache, has never been in contact with people from Mescalero Apache, and has not participated in any cultural, spiritual, or linguistic activities connected to the tribe.\u00a0\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\n \u201cIt’s a different experience among the urban Indians and areas like San Antonio, because many of us don’t have tribal ties,\u201d Crabb says. \u201cI can understand looking for a tie or a cultural item or something, but that just wasn’t my life experience.”\r\n

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A post shared by Marie Crabb (@mariefordistrict5)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>