In an effort to prove Donald Trump wrong, Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a DNA test to prove she is part Native American. In case you missed it, Trump often mocks Warren by calling her Pocahontas, claiming she is lying about her background. The term is deeply offensive to Native Americans, but Warren isn’t exactly get love from the Native American community.
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The test, which conducted by a Stanford University professor, showed that Warren has a Native American ancestor going back six to 10 generations, which means she is somewhere between 1/32nd and 1/1,024th American Indian. Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. released a statement, which read in part, “Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong. 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.”
Native American journalist Simon Moya-Smith blasted Warren, writing on CNN.com, “Warren claims now to have Native American heritage. And her claim to having such heritage — versus a claim of actually being Native — feels sneaky to me. Where has she been on these many issues that plague our communities? Although the results from her DNA test are new, her identity claims here aren’t. Why has she ignored us for so long? Why only now come around? This latest disclosure lets her save face without having responsibilities to the Native community she’s claiming to share heritage with. Furthermore, name me one nation or tribe that claims her. None do.”
Can’t argue with that. See the reactions from Twitter below:
1.
#ElizabethWarren listen here Chief Whiteface according to popular dna testing companies you are no more native America than the typical European American 😂😂😂😂
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) October 15, 2018
2.
i just watched the #ElizabethWarren heritage ad. i'm nauseated. the video sums it all up. Non-Indigenous Americans will never stop making claims to all things Indigenous: bones, blood, land, waters, and identities. The US continues to appropriate every last thing.
— Kim TallBear (@KimTallBear) October 15, 2018
3.
Instead of listening to #ElizabethWarren explain how she has Native DNA dating back 9 generations ago, pay attention to how the Indigenous people have responded to her.
— L E F T, PhD ⚫️ (@LeftSentThis) October 15, 2018
4.
Well that’s awkward... #Fauxcahontas #ElizabethWarren pic.twitter.com/oT4rkhNRvb
— we want minions prequel 7'1" 27 IQ (@GOP_dude11) October 15, 2018
5.
Too many white women think it's cute & exotic to say they're "part-Indian," sheltered from the violence, hunger, racism, erasure, family separations, substandard housing & plumbing, bad healthcare & poor education that many Indigenous women have survived. #ElizabethWarren
— UAINE (ndnviewpoint) (@mahtowin1) October 15, 2018
6.
#ElizabethWarren taking a DNA test to determine “Nativeness” upholds belief that Native is a racial category (instead of a political citizenship), and this is the rationale underlying why the ICWA is currently under attack. This ideology is destructive to Tribal Sovereignty!
— Emmy Scott (@EmmyNawjoopinga) October 15, 2018
7.
Seriously, can we talk about how Warren did the biggest disservice to Natives by doing this? It’s just upholding the idea that DNA has anything to do with being Native. Kinship ties mmkay! #ElizabethWarren https://t.co/PARZDa6iEq
— Emmy Scott (@EmmyNawjoopinga) October 15, 2018
8.
9.
#elizabethwarren Chief paleface😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/e3Hbk5SJJd
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) October 15, 2018
10.
Reminder: There’s NO 👏🏽SUCH 👏🏽THING 👏🏽as ”Native American” DNA. The NA term is first & foremost a lazy, colonial way to describe 100s of unique, sovereign nations all VERY diff from one another (spoiler alert: Not all tribes had tipis & headdresses 😱) #ElizabethWarren More+
— Taté Walker (@MissusTWalker) October 15, 2018
11.
12.
Watching White people debate Native identity is literally painful. #ElizabethWarren pic.twitter.com/fh1Ya7Cprk
— Rebecca Nagle (@rebeccanagle) October 15, 2018
13.
Maury needs to find a way to work 23andMe results into his show for elizabeth warren type situations
— Jaim (@j_a_i_m_j_a_i_m) October 15, 2018
14.
Elizabeth Warren releases DNA test that says she might be as much as 3.25% Native American.
— Ryan Hill (@RyanHillMI) October 15, 2018
The fact that she felt the need to do this speaks volumes about the state of our politics.
This is like an episode of Maury!
😫😫😫
cc: @TheMAURYShowhttps://t.co/i5tkq4BuEv