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Elizabeth Warren Apologized For Calling Herself Native American

posted 6 years ago by [deleted]
6 replies | jump to latest

Elizabeth Warren apologizes for calling herself Native American. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Tuesday that she was sorry that she identified herself as a Native American for almost two decades, reflecting her ongoing struggle to quiet a controversy that continues to haunt her as she prepares to formally announce a presidential bid. Her comments more fully explain the regret she expressed last week to the chief of the Cherokee Nation, the first time she’s said she was sorry for claiming American Indian heritage. The private apology was earlier reported as focusing more narrowly on a DNA test she took to demonstrate her purported heritage, a move that prompted a ferocious backlash even from many allies. Warren will be vying to lead a party that has become far more mindful of nonwhite voters and their objections to misuse of their culture.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/elizabeth-warren-apologizes-for-calling-herself-native-american/2019/02/05/1627df76-2962-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html

--- For the Democratic electorate, roiled by Trump’s racially insensitive comments, it’s become more important for a Democratic standard-bearer to show an understanding of issues related to race and identity. ---

[–] Rorikon (18045) 6 years ago

https://www.washingtonpost.com/resizer/ZKKV7-_fwc3Eql-IPsPOOqv8yEw=/856x0/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/MT5TG7RJU4I6TGCNTOH3UAB6QE.png

Hyuk hyuk hyuk. She got baited hard and lived a lie all her life cause of her parents story telling that the great moon two moons ago rose above the sky bright in cider red with lying wolf coming down the blue mountain to tell her she was a native indian.

'Two of the top three Virginia Democrats claim they wore blackface. The third is being accused of sexual assault: he did not wear blackface because he is already Black. Now, Liz Warren is again being accused of appropriating the race of our Native Americans. It seems that some white Democrats dislike their race, while the other is a Harvey Weinstein- Bill Clinton protege.'

What we now know is that Warren actively identified as a Native American as far back as 1986. This was not some mix-up or misunderstanding or someone who worked for Warren making a mistake. This was Warren's doing.

That still doesn't mean that she gained anything from her decision to call herself a Native American on some documents. The bar registration card is a simple formality, not the sort of thing that would somehow benefit Warren in some material way.

But what it does mean is that Warren's efforts to clear all of this up before she officially becomes a presidential candidate -- she's in the exploratory committee phase now -- have failed and failed miserably.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Missed this reply, sorry about that, agreed 100%

This, her really, just really bad handling of the issue, combined with her eventual comment that her heritage was not relevant, meaning that Republicans were/are bringing it up to attack her (and that only Republicans were bring it up, they weren't the only ones), nothing more, and her heritage was not relevant to the political problems, so stop talking about it, was just so bad that from that moment forward I personally tuned her out.

Saying to anybody, stop talking about my heritage, who cares, heritage isn't important, you're deflecting, let's get back to politics, etc, is absolutely offensive to billions of people on the planet whose very lives are shaped/guided by their heritage, especially with the rise and popularity at that time (and now) of the ancestry dna kits, not to mention her lack of awareness by writing-off Native Americans (for all she knew, she had an entire wing of Native American relatives out there in the world, she didn't know because she really didn't lift a finger to vet her own background, a Harvard Professor, she was certainly surrounded by people who would have directed her to the ancestry kit, or to researchers who could dig deep into her family's documented records), and her lack of awareness by brushing away concerns that she was misappropriating a Native American identity by continuing to insist she had ancestry based on oral history.

All she had to do was say, I'll do the ancestry dna kit and we can all see what all the ancestry is, I'll tweet when I get the kit, submit the test, and get the results, now let's get back to politics.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

It's problematic to define your ethnic identity based on a DNA test result, and it's also grossly oversimplifying things to try to boil it down to a percentage or fraction. For various biological reasons, DNA doesn't come down to us in perfect fractions.

Honestly, some tribes have a lot of official members whose DNA tests would show around the same or even less Native American ancestry than Ms. Warren does, because they only have to demonstrate direct descent from one person listed on tribal rolls from the nineteenth century, who themselves may have been half Native or less.

But it's not just about a percentage of DNA. It's about a cultural and social experience.

[–] slimone (7996) 6 years ago

She should be ashamed of even bringing this up. I mean who really cares???

[–] Nirvana (271) 6 years ago

Hahahaha old chief spreading bull still thinks she has a chance at the presidency

[–] slimone (7996) 6 years ago

Yes, referring to her ancestry was a big mistake. I mean who cares.