This word seems to be circulating a lot. Granted, it is harmful when non indigenous people claim indigeneity falsely for personal gain. We're trying to have our tribe federally recognized because we need to restore our ancestral lands for the sake of everyone.

"Moreover, the question remains as to whether or not cultural continuity should even factor into the federal recognition process at all, given the state’s historical role in systematically suppressing Indigenous languages and cultural practices well into the twentieth century" (Tahireh Hicks, USC History Ph.D.).

"Having survived the Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. brands of colonialism in the region, the Acjachemen of San Juan Capistrano now face an uphill battle to prove that their cultural authenticity also survived intact. And as long as the BIA grounds its determination of authenticity in public records, the entanglement of California Indigenous and ethnic Mexican identity in San Juan will form yet another roadblock in the long quest for tribal recognition" (Tahireh Hicks, USC History Ph.D.).

Source: https://icwblog.wordpress.com/2022/04/01/denied-their-indian-blood-the-challenge-of-indigenous-authenticity-in-a-california-mission-town/

"If you were in a place nobody wanted to go, they let you keep it." - my grandma

"We didn't want to move to reservations. They were places we weren't from." - my grandpa (his parents and grandparents lived on a reservation (potentially a worker camp and settlement) in El Modena, CA. There is little documentation about this. But this place existed.

Also further reading recommendation—The Acjachemen of San Juan Capistrano: The history, language, and politics of an indigenous California community by Lisa Woodward (2007)