Months after getting involved in a public feud that spurred harassment onto Native women on TikTok, Navajo creator Lance Tsosie, known as Modern Warrior, is once again receiving backlash from the app’s Indigenous community. Tsosie’s recent TikTok on “white-passing” and “white-presenting” people has earned him criticism across the platform.
Tsosie, who has 2.5 million TikTok followers, is known for starting his videos with, “Hey, colonizer,” and for calling out racism through his page. But his recent videos led some viewers to believe that he has perpetuated the very thing he claims to fight against.
“If you identify as white presenting or white-passing,” a person in Tsosie’s recent video started. “You’re white,” Tsosie finished.
“Stay in your lane,” he added in the caption.
Despite the video receiving 1.4 million views as of Tuesday, only a small fraction of the views converted to likes. The majority of the 25,000 comments were viewers expressing their disappointment that a creator they once looked up to was spreading harmful rhetoric.
@modern_warrior__ Stay in your lane. #nativetiktok #heycolonizer #indigenous #blm #bipoc #fyp #fypシ #navajo #tedtalk ♬ original sound – Lance Tsosie
“If I’m straight-passing in public, does that mean I’m not gay anymore?” a top comment read.
“No matter how much milk is in the coffee it’s still coffee,” another viewer said.
“Why is this giving pure blood vibes,” a third wrote.
“My sister is fair-skinned, and I am not. We’re biological siblings, as Indigenous as the other. So I’m a POC and she’s a white woman?” one commenter questioned.
Several content creators of mixed heritage also stitched the video to call out Tsosie for creating a division among these communities and invalidating multiracial identities. One TikToker who identifies as half-white and half-Native shared her thoughts in a stitch.
“I think it’s important for mixed Natives like myself to acknowledge that they are white-passing or white presenting, that they’re mixed race, but that doesn’t mean that they’re only white,” Marissa (@marissaindoe_) said in her video.
@marissaindoe_ #stitch with @modern_warrior__ You can be white presenting and be native❤️ #mixednative #nativetiktoks #indigenoustiktoks #firstnations #firstnationstiktok #anishinaabe #natives #indigenous ♬ original sound – Marissa🌿
“The color of your skin does not determine the value of your voice as an Indigenous person,” she continued.
Another Indigenous Alaskan creator wondered what Tsosie’s statement would look like in practice.
“So since you’re saying that because I’m white-passing, I’m no longer Native, does that mean I have to give up my Tlingit name? Or what about my tribal ID card, do I return that?” Kaelyn Schneider (@kaelynjschneider) asked in her video. “Does that mean that the police are gonna start searching for my mom who is MMIW [Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women] or do I need to fill out a piece of paper?”
@kaelynjschneider #stitch with @modern_warrior__ We claim white passing to show respect for our more melinated brothers and sisters but this just taking our heritage away completely! Shame on you lance! Do better, be better. #whitepassing #tlingit #indigenous #nativetiktok #mmiw #native #viral ♬ original sound – Kaelyn Schneider
Schneider told the Daily Dot that she has been told that she is not “white enough” or not “Native enough” her whole life. While she typically makes ASMR content, she says she also uses her platform to raise awareness about Indigenous issues, especially about MMIW like her mother Tracy Day, who she says has been missing for over three years. She expressed disappointment in Tsosie’s statements and said it invalidated families like hers as well as the violent history of colonialism among Indigenous tribes.
“Colonizers came here they stole our children and white washed our people,” she wrote in an email. “We lost touch with our history our languages our sacred practices. Our people barely survived genocide and we are still rebuilding! Of course there is going to be indigenous people who are light skinned and out of touch with their culture! Their ancestors were stolen! He’s invalidating the families of MMIW. The grandchildren and great grandchildren of the original MMIW. He’s turned from calling out colonial ways to spreading them.”
Schneider said she was a fan of Tsosie’s and admired what he had done for the Indigenous community on TikTok. However, she said she would no longer be watching him.
“The fact that Lance built his platform speaking as an Indigenous person calling out the colonial system society has in place, and that he has become so successful at it, is inspiring to all Indigenous people!” she said. “Because there aren’t many of us with a voice in the world, let alone one with 2.5 million people listening. I followed him and admired him for using his, but when I saw that video, it made me sick, it made me sad, but most of all it made me angry.”
TikToker @pnuks, who is Indigenous to New Zealand, stated Tsosie’s comments were giving “colonizer energy.” He also said it was harmful to tell Indigenous people “what they are or are not” and that Tsosie’s video maintained the idea of blood quantum, a controversial measurement of the amount of “Indian blood” a person has. According to NPR, blood quantum was initially used by the federal government to limit tribal citizenship.
@pnuks Replying to @Auntie Fa @modern_warrior__ @_auntie.fa_ ♬ Violin – Grooving Gecko
In a follow-up video, Tsosie doubled down on his point, using a meme to imply that “Native TikTok” were being anti-Black and protecting “whiteness.” Jordan (@jxrdan.simone), a TikToker whose content focuses on intersectionality and histories of marginalization, directly stitched this video. She told the Daily Dot that Tsosie wasn’t actively working to confront anti-Blackness in the Indigenous community with his video. Rather, he was distracting from the criticism he received for invalidating white-passing Indigenous individuals.
@jordxn.simone #stitch with @modern_warrior__ what in the blood quantum is this #bipoc ♬ original sound – jordan
“This post is harmful, both the meme and the earlier comment, is initially that they’re disingenuous,” Jordan wrote via Instagram direct message. “If he was really interested in confronting anti-Blackness in the native community, he would have conversations with Afro-Indigenous creators or address colorism.”
Jordan claimed that his post perpetuates the idea that whiteness can “dominate” one’s genes and erase their heritage.
“It becomes a “purity” thing, and that’s something we should all try to steer clear of,” she wrote. In her video’s caption, she also referenced Tsosie’s comments as akin to blood quantum.
Jordan said this strips Indigenous people of their community connections and called it colonialist. While she agrees that it’s important for white passing people to acknowledge their privilege, she said they shouldn’t have to erase their heritage.
“We should ALL do our due diligence in using terms like ‘white-passing’ before just tossing them around on the internet. There is a LONG history of conversations about being white-passing,” she wrote. “We should learn before we speak, and work to not erase each other but support each other.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Marissa, Kaelyn Schneider, and Modern Warrior via email, and to pnuks via Instagram direct message for this story.
This post has been updated to include a statement from Kaelyn Schneider.
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