I think when people say that, it has nothing at all to do with that sad historical travesty. As someone else pointed out, we all came from societies that were based in tribes and clans. We now live highly individualistic lives, cut off from the sense of community that was a vital part of our survival strategy and happiness for nearly all of human history.

“Modern Western culture may be safe and comfortable in ways that were not possible in earlier parts of human history, but our current focus on individualism that is centered around attaining wealth and power has taken a huge toll on us. We have a society that has perfected the art of making people not feel necessary to each other, and our emotional health and happiness suffers because of it.”

Modern humans crave the sense of tribe because it’s how we are wired and it’s a huge loss not to have it. This is not necessarily related in any way to what you’ve described. Every Indian I have ever seen/read about wants to be called an Indian. Native American is a PC term invented to assuage white guilt, which is what I think this tribe thing is as well.