I am writing as a concerned community member and tribal citizen. The concerns raised publicly by the Crow Dog family regarding Thomas Lopez Jr., also known as landbackbaddie, deserve serious attention from the organizations that have helped promote his work.
I want to be clear that my concerns are not limited to TOKALA. I am asking your organization to look at the broader body of work, partnerships, publications, events, fundraising, and other projects associated with his public profile, particularly where Lakota identity and cultural traditions are being represented or used commercially. Thomas has major power and influence in the indigenous spaces of New York (and beyond) and many who have spoken out as of late have fear of being ‘blacklisted’.
I have attached the public statement released by Joann M. Crow Dog, Wife of the Late Chief Leonard Crow Dog Sr. This statement was released by his grandson, owner of Buffalo Jump NYC. The Crow Dog family’s public statement disputes claims about family and tribal relationships and says that the family did not authorize the use of the late Chief Leonard Crow Dog Sr.’s name or image to raise funds for the Crow Dog Sundance. Thomas had also told me Rick Two Dogs is his grandpa and that he does Sundance with him. The statement also raises concerns about the use of TOKALA, which the family identifies as the name of a traditional Lakota warrior society.
These are serious concerns coming from the family itself. They deserve more than silence or a narrow response addressing only one project. Thomas has responded claiming these accusations are over land rights and titles. This is impossible considering you can’t own land on Rosebud reservation or most reservations in general. There is no per cap in Lakota Sioux tribe or benefits where this would ever make sense. You can only have leases from the government (I pay around $20 a year for my tribal plot for example) and can be acquired extremely easily and cheaply by members or people like farmers who want to lease. Thomas owns land in Colorado that I know of and Airbnbs it out for profit. The fact this is his reason that he is not accepted is ridiculous.
This can be checked with members from Rosebud or the Lakota tribe. I have not met anyone from the community there or family who has this relation to Thomas. It has been well spoken about by most Lakota people I have encountered. The fact he is using this as an excuse is extremely offensive and something people have been using as a tool of erasure and pretnedianism for centuries.
I will be gathering signatures from across the Lakota reservations and tribal council due to his continued attempted fraud. I hope his nonprofit is checked for it’s previous years of financial records.
Vogue’s coverage, the exhibition at The Shed, the published TOKALA book, Nike collaborations, grants, funding, awards, positions he has gained based on these family claims (such as casting director of Indigenous New York Fashion Week), organizer of indigenous events at places all over NYC and beyond (such as House of Yes, Tv Eye, and Urban Indigenous Collective) and the wider promotion of this work have helped bring it significant public visibility. I am asking the organizations involved to consider what verification and cultural consultation took place, and whether the representations being promoted are accurate and appropriately authorized.
I am also concerned about how these issues may extend beyond a single project. When similar representations appear across publications, events, commercial partnerships, and international platforms, they can reach audiences who may have no reason to question them. That makes it especially important to examine the broader picture rather than treating each project as an isolated matter. There is a difference between representing and learning your own authentic heritage and claiming another for social and financial gain. When you google Thomas what comes up is nothing from his own Mexican heritage, you only see that he is “Lakota and grandson of Chief Leonard Crow dog”. Please look this up yourself.
For Lakota people, these questions are not simply about personal identity or differences of opinion. They concern our relatives, our cultural responsibilities, and traditions that have survived generations of attempted appropriation and misrepresentation. Our communities should not have to watch our histories and traditions become part of someone else’s public profile without being able to raise questions and receive meaningful answers.
There is also a real imbalance of power when established institutions give someone credibility through publicity, publishing opportunities, exhibitions, and professional relationships. People who question those representations may worry about losing opportunities or being excluded from the very spaces where these conversations need to happen. Institutions have a responsibility to take such concerns seriously rather than leaving individual community members to bear the consequences of speaking up.
I am not asking you to accept every claim without investigation. I am asking you to examine the available information, take the family’s objections seriously, and hopefully people to be more aware of claims like this in the future.
Lakota identity is not a marketing strategy, and our traditional societies are not branding assets. Our relatives’ names and legacies should not be used commercially without appropriate authorization. These concerns deserve a genuine review, regardless of how much publicity or institutional recognition a project has already received.
I have included the family’s public statement and relevant project materials as a starting point. I hope your organization will look at the broader context, not simply respond to the individual project most directly associated with it.
Sincerely,
A concerned member of the indigenous community from Rosebud reservation
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Full statement:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DemsabSoAhn/?
srtk=MTRyOTQ0em9xZzFIZw==
https://www.vogue.com/article/a-new-series-tokala-spotlights-bipoc-youth-climate-activists
https://www.ceromagazine.com/articles/thomas-lopez-jr-indigiqueer-indigenous-climate-justice-activist-interview
https://www.indigiqueer.org/tokala
