How journalists tell Buffy Sainte-Marie’s story matters - explained by a ’60s Scoop survivor 

She was born and raised not far from me. A white girl born a bike ride from the city of Boston (in Stoneham MA) of Italian/English biological parents...she was not adopted. She had NO interest at all in indigenous people until she attended UMass in Amherst MA where she majored in Oriental philosophy and Teaching. There she joined an on-campus indigenous group and that led to her coming up with an indigenous persona which she then started using in her early folk music appearances. Her Boston area (Wakefield MA) family was not very wealthy yet for 60 YEARS Buffy had one of the most powerful law firms in the world bully and threaten them..."If you let Buffy's secret out you will lose everything.." then she blackmailed her brother to protect her PBS contract. So if her indigenous family wants to look the other way, so be it...but there is another Buffy...like it or not.

What you are saying makes sense and I believe is correct in general. This is so multi-layered. Thank you for your care and sensitivity about all of this. I do agree that they could have presented it with more information to put it all in a better context. I wish... The impact, is of course huge. Her talent as a songwriter and musician, all of her work she did speaking out about indigenous issues. She has so much talent and did so much. And, yes, has been a huge role model for so many, including myself. When I started listening to the documentary , and they talked about how records were so well kept, my knee jerk reaction was...that's just not so !! Perhaps for some. But.... I know the "mess" records can be. So, i immediately felt this was going to be a "hit piece" and I was ready to discount it. And perhaps I just did not want it to be true. But as more and more facts were revealed, it all started to crumble. I did my own research and listened to many of her talks and read her statements through the years trying to make this not true. But i saw for myself how she kept changing her story over the years.....not out of "not knowing" but stating "facts" that were just not true. And those "facts' kept changing and contradicting. Her Piapot adoption was done as a result of her lying....that seems clear now. My heart goes out to them for this. The way they were deceived is unthinkable. And threatening her birth family is also unthinkable. I listened to her making statements about her "abuse" and again, it is always vague, details change and she speaks from both sides of her mouth. In the course of my digging, I found a statement made in social media by her son Cody who clearly said that Buffy dyed her hair black and used dark make up and that she definitely was white. That was the final knife for me. How she got away with that all these years, I just cannot understand. But I know for my own heart, this is definitely going to take time to grasp. Yes, there have been MANY that pretend, but the depth and degree in this just seems beyond anything..... As you well stated, trust, that is already so difficult....it is just one more blow...a BIG one.. So far, the statements she has made since, have not been forthcoming and continue to be filled with vagaries and inconsistencies. I wonder if, at this point in life, she will be open. I guess we shall see. This is all so, so very sad. Thank you for talking about this.

That entire early 60s NYC folk scene was made up of affluent young adults who wanted to be or pretended to be something that their not. Back then journalists wrote that Pete Seegar had blue collar roots and he was singing for the "working man", yet his dad was a Harvard professor and his mom was a teacher at Julliard. Early on Dylan and was written up to have been "a young Minnesota guy who spent his youth freight train hopping like his idol Woody Gutherie", yet he was just a middle class kid who dropped out of University of Minnesota and went to New York. And obviously Buffy and her team ran with the Algonquin, Mi’kmaq, and Cree tribe bits. People were a bit more gullible back then and journalist obviously did not do in depth reporting. Money talks and it reminds you that the music business is all an act at the end of the day.

She wasn’t taken away. She is not from Canada either. She pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes, got away with it. Get used to it.

BUFFY IS SOLE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THIS PAIN. ARE YOU KIDDING KEEP TALKING ABOUT IT. HER LIFE AND ACCOLADES WERE STOLEN FROM A REAL NISH. TIME FOR THE TRUTH.

I'd like an explanation for the comment about records not being so easy to come by. Adoption Records are OPEN all across Canada. Unless a birth parent puts a Veto on the release of the records, adoptees can apply for their adoption records, for their original birth registration. There's also something called the Non Identifying information file - this can include things like the family background, the circumstances of the child being placed for adoption, possibly information about the birth father if he's not named on the birth registration. I get really tired of hearing that these records do not exist or that they aren't available to an adopted person. It's not true! My Aunt gave up a child for adoption in Regina, SK in 1928 - there's an original birth registration for that person and my Aunt is named as the birth mother! A VETO will stop the release of the obc and that's the only thing that will. As to saying how the CBC broke the story is the problem - how is the CBC responsible for the care & attention, truth & reconciliation? It's a business. How many times, over the past 60 years, has the CBC featured BSM on programs? Maybe they're quite justly pissed off that she fooled the world. She wasn't searching - she wanted to set herself in a different category of folk singer as folk singers were a dime a dozen in the '60's. She found a way to get noticed and she ran with it.

A young girl of college age in the 60’s from a Boston suburb wanted to be a singer and entertainer. Also she actually had quite a lot of natural talent, and she knew how to work hard. These qualities might very well have been enough that if she had stuck to being Beverly from Boston of Italian extraction, she might have achieved this level of success. But. Perhaps she lacked confidence. Perhaps the economic times in NYC coffee houses at that time was a bit rough. For whatever reason, little by little, she crafted this alternate identity. She was a beautiful girl, and surrounding herself with feathers and other similar regalia had a striking effect. She learned how to mimic Native gestures. She understood and advocated for Native Americans, and was adopted into a Canadian First Nation. She is an artist. To some extent she took on the coloring of her new surroundings, she arranged to be adopted into a prominent family (brother of the chief) in the tribe, and her money and her advocacy for their causes softened any criticism there might be in the Indigenous community. As time went on it became more and more difficult to tell the truth, until it seemed impossible.

I'm 70 years old and since age 13, she was a role model for me so this news was extremely heartbreaking. She was not part of the 60s scoop because it started 10 years after she was born. I didn't want to believe all this sad information at first, but after much investigation, I know it's true. She is not Native American at all. Except for being adopted into the Cree tribe. She has basically stolen many awards from true indigenous people, and owes a major apology to all who trusted her.

I appreciate your generosity of spirit and the need to understand and forgive but the evidence appears overwhelming. I myself wanted to give the benefit of the doubt upon initially hearing the story, however the appearance of LA showbiz lawyers into the narrative served to muddy the waters and cast a completely different light upon the affair. She needs to step forward and address the multitude of accusations that have been laid at her door. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Wasn't the cbc story spearheaded by an Indigenius journalust from the USA?Andxalthoygh this has been hard on many, many people...what's happening now within and around the community, is a very important discussion regarding pretendians. A discussion that's going to lead to greater scrutiny, honestly and justice.A lit of oppertunuties, careers and financial benefits has been coopted by pretendians. If this,story hadn't come up in a big public way, this empowered energy to stand up to these people might still be flying under the radar.

The first teacher in Native arts and culture and music was an Italian-American Pretendian featured on Sesame Street. That is what colonization looks like in the modern world. Beverly Santa Maria needs to pay back all the prize money (with interest), cancel her honorariums & awards, take back her Juno's, cancel her stamp, take back the Order of Canada, take back the Oscar that was displayed at the Smithsonian Institute as the first 'win'. Beverly knew who she really was when she looked the Piapot family in the eye and claimed to belong to them when they first met at a Pow Wow in Toronto in the 70's. My understanding is the family never stopped looking for their two dead daughters who were taken by Indian Affairs - they stopped when they adopted Santa Maria. It's the family and Community I feel the most for in amongst all of this fraud committed by Bluffy. She's done an unimaginable amount of damage and harm. - Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown/Pimisi

Don't blame the journalists for causing a shock. Blame the pretendian herself.

Oh Puffy ❤

When u walk like a duck, talk like a duck, look like a duck, think like a duck …. you are a duck. Ancient childhood truth.

I am curious if this is a common feeling she gets by journalism in general, or this topic specifically. After 30 years in the press, I have *never* told a story that made everyone happy. Nor do I want to. Still, I do recognize and understand her reaction. It is a story that is upsetting to many, and for many different reasons. But I can also recognize the voices of those who wanted the press to be *more* aggressive in their approach to Sainte-Marie, with more confrontational and punishing questions. She is after all now accused of being a fraud. As far as I recall, CBC’s The Fifth Estate *did* point out that she was adopted by a Canadian indigenous family. I can't at this point see that CBC’s reporting is anything but solid and considerate.

As an Irish/French/Romany blue eyed blond woman, I have been an ally to the Chumash and Ohlone tribes here in California. I was always cherished in that role and I felt like I was part of the family. Being an ally is an amazing honor. I can't for the life of me understand what Buffy has done. As a white person I am disgusted. And the harm she did to her birth family is beyond the pale. Many artists sold their soul, seems to be true in this case. I am so sorry for all the harm, it cuts me to the core, it really does. Romanies are also the ones rejected in the European world, but people like Cher made it romantic, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves but also Half Breed,. Not how it works, there is mostly pain and not glamour. Thank you for this podcast.

The ugliest side of this , to me, Is just how deep “ the power of pretending” Can run in our lives. JD Salinger ran wild with this core idea in The catcher in the rye Phonies I have met way worse phonies Complete rotten core people Who Recite the four way test at rotary And Sit in the front row at church And are virtually so full of phoniness there is no room for the love of God , the communion of the saints , and the heart of the gospel. And. Worst of all. They rub off on all of us including myself. We become accustomed to fake. All we can do is eradicate it from our selves

Hi i am glad that this person no buffy but the person that talking about friendship and being adopted it good thing in there case thabks for positive reasons on this subject matter and good luck 🤞

BSM: I Am the Great Pretender. Thanks Platters.

They took away all the kids in this family? It took her decades to find her siblings? Unbelievable! This is one of the most tragic things I've ever heard.

03:55 Host Vinita Srivastava: "There actually weren't that many women of color on Sesame Street." Which Sesame Street did you grow up watching? In the 70s, Maria and Susan were the two lead female characters, and they were fantastic. Was it a different show in Canada?

Thank you for this!

😶

Oh geeeeeee LEAVE HER ALONE

🔥 BREAKING NEWS: Buffy Sainte Marie has just released a statement confirming that she IS 💯% INDIAN. She has revealed she is a lifelong Hindu and was raised in New Delhi, India 🇮🇳

why buffy why

I agree that Buffy should take a DNA test but this statement is from Ancestry DNA: Inheritance is random Ethnicities may be passed down unevenly, or not at all.

"I recoiled ... then I heard ... " Etc. From the beginning, you tell us about your views, your experiences, = you yourself. Yet you criticise Canadian journalists for taking an interest in their own careers. Then you introduce your guest, who likewise speaks continuously about herself. How are you two better than self-serving careerist "white dude" journalists?

Bob Dylan changed his Jewish name Zimmermann to Dylan though never faked his roots when breaking into show bussiness,so as wiith Buffy Saint Maria,Italian to aboriginal for fame and fortune. Outside of the real aboriginal's who lost to a gifted Italian has had a incredible life and is someone you don"t won't to mess with.

Buffy is my Native American sister, no matter what. She stands with us, advocated for us, speaks for us...

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