How an Afro-Indigenous TikTok creator shares her culture

Kalle Benallie, Indian Country Today

TikTok creator Kara Smith said she plans on celebrating National Native American Heritage Month by doing what she’s been doing for two years — sharing the stories that were passed down to her and working on preserving that knowledge on her platform.

And especially having Afro-Indigenous people celebrate and take up space due to them being historically viewed as not Indigenous enough or less than.

“At times growing up I know I felt that and had voiced at school, ‘oh, I’m also Native American,’ because my mom always made sure to tell me my complete heritage, and oftentimes that would be denied or somebody would say ‘oh, no you’re not’ and invalidate what I had known,” the Chappaquiddick Wampanoag citizen said.

Smith, 28, known as @kararoselles on TikTok has garnered 116,000 followers and 3.5 million likes on her account. Her videos range from lifestyle, beauty and sharing her perspective as an Afro-Indigenous woman and a Wampanoag citizen.

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Learn more about Smith.

Two Black Inuit sisters focused the spotlight on multicultural identity earlier this year.

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