Pocahontas (the bad version), sometimes referred to as Elizabeth Warren, is getting slammed. She took a bogus DNA test and it showed that she may be 1/1024, far less than the average American. Now Cherokee Nation denies her, “DNA test is useless.” Even they don’t want her. Phony!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2018
In the light of recent claims about Elizabeth Warren’s Native American heritage, there appeared many controversial questions, arguments, and criticism. The Cherokee Nation was upset by her statement, President Trump expressed disbelief in this fact and many more accusations sounded concerning this matter. A newly announced candidate for President had to take actions and clarify the situation for everybody.
The question of whether Elizabeth Warren is Native American has an answer now.
The story of Elizabeth Warren (born Elizabeth Ann Herring) began on June 22nd, 1949 in Oklahoma City. She was born in a middle-class family after three older brothers and described her family as teetering “on the ragged edge of the middle class”.
Related – How much percentage Native American do you have to be to enroll in a tribe?
Early Life
When Elizabeth was 11, her father Donald Jones Herring, had a heart attack which put the family in a tough financial situation with multiple medical bills to pay and the pay cut since the head of the family could no longer carry out the work he used to do. To improve the situation, her mother, Pauline Herring (née Reed), took a job at Sears while Elizabeth got a waitressing job at her aunt’s restaurant.
Later, she had won various awards and a scholarship to GWU and eventually became a teacher at her alma mater where she had met her first husband. Balancing between family life and education, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in speech pathology and audiology, and in a few years, already expecting a second child, she got her J.D. and passed the bar examination.
Elizabeth Warren’s Career
The main focus of her career was bankruptcy law. She had taught at several schools including UHLC, UT Law, Penn Law, and Harvard Law School. Her public policy work began with the activity opposing what later became BAPCPA of 2005.
Moving her practice through the Congressional Oversight Panel, Troubled Asset Relief Program to the Special Advisor position of The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in 2012 she defeated incumbent of Massachusetts, Scott Brown. In 2017, she became Vice Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
In February this year, at a rally in Lawrence, Elizabeth Warren officially announced her presidential campaign for the 2020 elections.
Trump Calls Her Pocahontas
As a child, she was told about her Native American ancestry and she considered being Native American a part of her story. For this, she was later immensely criticized for listing herself as a minority in a directory for Harvard Law School. It led to a range of accusations of falsification of her heritage for the sake of her career which she denied and several of her colleagues had also confirmed that her ethnic status played no role.
In light of the statement and the upcoming presidential run, President Donald Trump called Ms. Warren “Pocahontas” mocking her for claiming to have Native American ancestry. With his disbelief of this fact, he also challenged her to take a DNA test to prove whether she really is part Native American, commenting that he had a feeling she’d say no. Together with that, the President claimed he would give a million dollars to her favorite charity if she manages to prove with a DNA test that she indeed has Native American blood. As it turned out, President Trump was wrong.
By the way, @realDonaldTrump: Remember saying on 7/5 that you’d give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry? I remember – and here's the verdict. Please send the check to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center: https://t.co/I6YQ9hf7Tv pic.twitter.com/J4gBamaeeo
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018
DNA Test Results
In late 2018, Senator Warren took a DNA test that has revealed that her heritage consisted of primarily European descent but at the same time contained Native American ancestry from an ancestor in her pedigree ranging six to ten generations ago (with no evidence of African ancestry).
However, President Trump along with many others misinterpreted the result of her DNA test and claimed that Senator Warren “doesn’t have any Indian blood”.
My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrump’s attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry. pic.twitter.com/r3SNzP22f8
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018
The scientists though say it’s false to say that she doesn’t have any “Indian blood” even though they don’t refer to “blood” as ancestry. However, the evidence suggests that Warren very likely has a Native American ancestor and her DNA sample has been analyzed by a respected geneticist of Stanford University.
At the same time, with the data collected to date, there’s no way to tell if the Senator is more or less Native American than any other average American since the ancestry vastly differs across various geographical regions of the country.
However, Warren never stated to be “more” Native American than President Trump or any other person but only stated that she has a Native American ancestor, which is proved by the results of the DNA test.
Reaction for Native Americans
The DNA test angered many Native Americans including the Cherokee nation who called it “inappropriate and wrong”. The reason for this is that Senator Warren previously claimed to have the heritage of Cherokee and Delaware.
The issue in this situation is that no DNA test can prove the heritage of a particular tribe but only the presence of an ancestor. The tribes have specific citizenship requirements and the DNA test cannot distinguish among numerous Native American groups.
“It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven,” Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a statement. “Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage.” Washington Post
In her defense, Elizabeth Warren stated that she has never claimed to be a Cherokee citizen or being eligible for Cherokee Nation membership. In her claims of having Native American ancestry, she was simply referring to the family stories of Native American lineage. Essentially, the reason why the Native American community was so upset with her revealing the results of the DNA test (before contacting the Cherokee Nation) is that while many people take “Native American” as a racial category, they have different beliefs on how to identify a Native American and whether they belong to the community. Native American membership is a precious thing for them, so the claims to Native American heritage are based on a DNA test are false for them.
I won't sit quietly for @realDonaldTrump‘s racism, so I took a test. But DNA & family history has nothing to do with tribal affiliation or citizenship, which is determined only – only – by Tribal Nations. I respect the distinction, & don't list myself as Native in the Senate.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018
Eventually, Warren apologized to the Cherokee Nation leadership and stated that she wasn’t a person of color nor was she a tribal citizen. She added
“My apology is an apology for not having been more sensitive about tribal citizenship and tribal sovereignty. I really want to underline the point, tribes and only tribes determine tribal citizenship”.
The executive director of communications of the Cherokee Nation, Julie Hubbard, stated that Warren understood that the Cherokee Nation tribal citizenship isn’t based on a DNA test but on the centuries of culture and laws.
Bid For President
On February 8th, 2019, Warren officially announced that she will be running for President in the elections of 2020. She is calling for major changes in the government and her first campaign took place in Lawrence, a former industrial mill town. She appealed to the working class families, union members, new immigrants, women and tried to demonstrate the constituency of this group.
At the rally in Lawrence, she stated “This is the fight of our lives. The fight to build an America where dreams are possible, an America that works for everyone,” Warren said. “And that is why I stand here today: to declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States of America”.
With the evidence provided, criticism arose and apologies made, Elizabeth Warren eventually proved the presence of the Native American ancestor in her pedigree. It’s unknown which particular tribe she is descended from; however, she is the DNA test does not give her enrollment status in any tribe.
References:
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/29/politics/elizabeth-warren-native-american-pocahontas/index.html
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/10/the-facts-on-elizabeth-warrens-dna-test/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Warren
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-dna-test.html
Featured image courtesy of Elizabeth Warren Facebook.
