What is Navarro ethnicity suppose to be? Because Kali Reis looks black. She ain't "Alaska native"
That kept bothering me. Show kept pretending her to be " Alaskan Native trooper Evangeline Navarro". When I clearly see that girl is light skinned mixed-race black passing woman.
And no - blacks didn't originate in Alaska and are not "Natives" of there.
I looked up Kali Reis ethnicity.
Reis was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 24, 1986 and is the youngest of five children. She and her siblings were raised by their mother in East Providence, Rhode Island. Reis claims Cape Verdean ancestry, and identifies as being of Native American descent, specifically Cherokee and Nipmuc ancestry. She is a member of the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe, an unrecognized tribe in Massachusetts.
As a child, she attended and competed in powwows regularly. She has incorporated the name Mequinonoag, which she translates as "many feathers" or "many talents," into her boxing nickname, "K.O. Mequinonoag."The name was given to her by her mother, whom Reis identifies as being "the medicine woman of our Seaconke Wampanoag tribe."
I'm not gonna say she lies about her heritage. Her mother is involved in tribal stuff. She probably has some Native blood in her. But she is not Alaska Native like show tried to present her. Not even close. She even has afro hair. And Natives in down USA or up north in Alaska all have straight hair. They do not have curly hair.
And I wish someone would call out producers on that. They either should have hire local actress who is actually Native from around. Or not make character Alaska Native.
And it's interesting with Kali herself. She really grew up around Native stuff in East Providence, Rhode Island. Her mother being there in Native stuff, attending meetings and stuff. Daddy was absent and they divorced when she was little. She is younger of 5 siblings and who knows - some might have have different fathers.
There are very few pictures of her mother and siblings. Here is her mother and brother. You can see that she is lighter then her mother. And her brother is completely black. Which makes me think not all 5 children were from same father. And her brother has black dad.
https://modelfact.com/kali-reis-parents/
One of her brothers died and she put throwback pictures. I assume with her other siblings. And you can say her brother is completely black
https://worldcinemaparadise.com/kali-reis-sister-siblings/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CoXOxSaM19g/?hl=en&img_index=6
More info here. They mention her father name is Flinky Reis
https://boxing-social.com/features/kali-reis-everything-or-nothing-at-all/
We don’t mention it; but the passing of her father, musician Flinky Reis, signalled the beginning of a darker autumn.
Kali’s heritage is mixed, half-Native and half-Cape Verdean, but she’d never quite settled with either group entirely, explaining she was, “never Native enough and never black enough. Just the skinny, light-skinned girl”. Growing up in Providence wasn’t easy and turning to vices at a strikingly young age would lead to confusion and pain left hanging over her adolescence, like unpaid debts.
“I don’t come from a family of fighters – I’m the oddball. I was artistic, I was always into something and being Native American-Cape Verdean, my mum raised me deep in our culture,” she said. “I didn’t grow up in Bel-Air, you know, but it wasn’t Compton either. We were well-off sometimes and then other times we weren’t. My parents got divorced when I was really young, age four or five, so my father was in-and-out my whole life. I was just that younger kid, being bi-racial, being unsure of my sexual identity, I couldn’t really find where I belonged. It was tough.
“Natives have this idea of hair being poker-straight, so then I’d have my mum straightening it out before Powwow competitions, just to make sure that nobody made fun of me and called me the ‘black girl’.
This is her father. He looks like light skinned mixed race black passing
https://thekeefefuneralhome.com/obit_view.php?id=2860&placeholderpic=&name=Frank%20N.%20%20Reis%20Jr.
Here is more about her ethnicity. This one is the most interesting. Has more information about other ancestors.
https://ethnicelebs.com/kali-reis
So many of them. It looks like most of her ancestors are afrian-americans. Who sometimes were breeding with local natives. And whites were somewhere too. But eventually all of them took "African passing" and look like light skinned mixed-raced people. None of them look native or white. There is very little native blood in them. That's why they weren't that much accepted by the Natives. To the point that her mother had to straighten her hair for those gatherings. share