The Liberal/Progressive Berkshire Eagle news site has called on Senator Elizabeth Warren to take a DNA test. As they write:
Since the news of her background came out, rather than renounce her claim, she has taken the course of fully embracing it — championing native causes, speaking to native groups of their pride and deriding their treatment at the hands of the U.S. government.
We cannot know whether this advocacy is an awkward attempt to identify with others of her heritage, or whether it is simply a socially-conscious politician’s desire to right historic wrongs on the part of disadvantaged people.
What we do know is that Sen. Warren has shown herself to be a fighter for social equality and for a capitalist system that floats all boats, not just yachts.
“News of her background came out” because Senator Warren did use it to get an advantage. “Fighter for social equality and for a capitalist…” gag me with a razor blade. The government cannot mandate social equality. They try but have you looked at Venezuela lately? And, most people buy a boat and trade up to the yacht. Although, personally, I would rather have a timeshare yacht. Too much upkeep. Not that I have a boat. I don’t have a canoe or a dugout. Which brings us back to Senator Warren’s Indian heritage.
Remember this:
Oh those high cheekbones! Beginning in the 1980’s, Warren used the anecdotal family stories to advance her career. And that is unacceptably bad behavior.
My father’s family also claimed Cherokee blood. Both of my paternal grandparents believed that each of them were Cherokee. They believed it to be true so much that they raised us on Cherokee history. My grandparents loved the Great Smoky Mountains. Every summer we visited them. Meemow and Pawpaw took my siblings and cousins and I to Cherokee, North Carolina. We went to see the Cherokee history play “Unto These Hills” and we visited Oconaluftee Indian Village, which is an interactive Indian encampment. They wanted to make sure that we knew “our history”. And, buddy, did I believe it. Both of my Dad’s folks had coal black hair (as did my Dad) and brown eyes, along with cheekbones. Notice I did not say high cheekbones.
I wanted so badly to be Cherokee Indian. I wanted to have dark hair and some cheekbones. I had and still have chubby cheeks and no noticeable cheekbones. They are there I can feel them. My cheekbones prefer to stay hidden behind their glorious milk fed fat. I was way too white, which even in the 1970’s I knew was not desirable. And, then I took the Ancestry.com DNA test.
Not one bloody freaking drop of any kind of Indian blood. Not one. I am 44% Scottish, Irish and Welsh. I am 39% Western Europe. I am 17% Scandinavian, which probably happened when my Scandinavian ancestors enslaved my Scottish and Irish ancestors.
Lucky for me I have ethics and standards and never even thought to use my Cherokee heritage, which turned out to be non-existent.
Elizabeth Warren should take a DNA test. If she is hard up for cash, Amazon.com has one for only $79 and Warren may be able to find a Groupon or something to get one cheaper. The truth really will set her free. I still love the Cherokee history that I learned. But, I have embraced my chubby Irish cheeks and Dewar’s Scotch.
SFC D says: I grew up with the same “we have Cherokee roots” stories from my mom’s side of the family. Based on historical photos, I believe it’s highly likely. What proof do I have? None. However, unlike Ms. Warren, I’ve never used it for personal or professional gain. I’m just an average Mick that tans well.
Ruffin says: My grandma was from Cherokee county, NC, too. She had the cheek bones, the native look. We never pushed that we were Indian.
So you’re 4% Indian. Big whoop. We’re also 3-5% Neanderthal. That’s the “you were eradicated” ratio.
John C. says: We had a family tradition, and photos that seem to confirm it, that my father’s mother’s mother was as full-blooded a Cherokee as anyone was in that place and time (in the Tennessee hills; quite a few Cherokee moved there to avoid the Trail of Tears, and avoided governmental notice for obvious reasons). A couple of years before he died, my father had a genetics analysis done, which in fact confirmed it. But it doesn’t matter, except as a thing of abstract interest: to be legally Cherokee you have to have at least one ancestor enrolled with the Cherokee Nation rolls (not all of those with enrolled ancestors have any Cherokee genetics in their makeup; the enrollment is what is important), and we do not, so we are not Cherokee. Neither is Elizabeth Warren, high cheekbones or no.
Scott says: Elizabeth Warren, aka Fauxcahontus needs to take a DNA test, prove she’s a liar, then GO THE HELL AWAY!!!
CSS says: Is everybody crazy or just naive? Why would she need to take a DNA test AGAIN? Do you think she has not already taken one years ago in secret in hopes that she could trot it out to prove her heritage and prove all you naysayer wrong? I suspect hers would be close to identical to Toni’s and so remains hidden. Don’t demand she take a DNA test, demand she produce the results of the one [or more] she has already had done.
Toni Williams says: CSS
I suspect that you are very very right. She’s probably taking 10 of them and hopes that at least one will show that she’s some kind of Indian.
TW
CSS has a great point, or Elizabeth will try to find some real Indian to get a saliva sample (or whatever sample it is that 23 and me use).
Nmissi says: I grew up on the Cherokee ancestress myth, too. And it seemed likely- straight dark hair, high cheekbones, some medical weirdnesses in the family, almost complete lack of body hair. All this through my grandmother’s lineage, where it was gospel that we were Cherokee..We have pictures. This family, er.. don’t look quite “white”. Mamau’s paternal grandma’s complexion is of a rather dusky hue. Her hair stayed long and black well into advanced years.
Then I did the research. Unless it got in before 1690, I can’t find it, this native ancestry in her line. That whole line is English, through and through. Weirdly, I did find “native” ancestry in my Dad’s family- where it wasn’t expected. His grandmother, who has a nice, ordinary anglo name- grew up on a reservation in Oklahoma territory, and while SHE isn’t on the Dawes rolls… her brother is. And they have the same birth parents. But since I come from her, not him… I can’t claim tribal affiliation.
GWB says: Yes, my mom was surprised to find American Indian in our background, when doing genealogy research. Same sort of thing, a great^n-grandparent married a woman from the reservation in OK. It was a minor surprise on the mutt side of my family.
My MiL, OTOH, was registered (and was able to use appropriate gov’t services when she lived in eastern Washington). So my son has it in him, possibly twice.
As others have said, though, it’s just a heritage thing for us. There’s pride in claiming the best qualities of a number of cultures as your own. (It’s not cultural appropriation if it’s your culture to start with, right?)
Wfjag says: If you look at the “science” underlying the popular DNA testing firms’ products, it’s essentially rubbish. Identical siblings have very different results reported by the same firm; people who send samples to different firms receive different results. I’d suggest she take a polygraph.
geokstr says: Warren may be setting a trap for the Republican candidate when she decides to run for POTUS. What if she’s already had a DNA test done that shows she’s 01.62% Siberian-American? She’ll withhold that until the Republican is fully invested in calling her a “lyin’ paleface” and mocking her as “Lieawatha” and “Fauxcahantas”.
Than she springs the trap about her huuuuugge minority heritage late in the game, discrediting him/her for his/her “RACISM!” with little time to recover. Not saying it would work, but I wouldn’t put anything past a Marxist,
Wyldkat says: I suspect that many of us who have history in eastern Tennessee or western Carolina have legends of “Indian” blood. I also grew up with the idea that somewhere in my family tree was Cherokee. During the summer months, when he tanned very dark, my older brother could pass as “Indian”. We grew up admiring and respecting the American Indians. –grin- My parents also took us to see Unto These Hills and Oconaluftee.
I did some research into my family tree about a decade ago, partly in hopes of finding that blood. I found one native woman, back in the 1700’s. 1. In the 1700’s. Not enough to claim blood. Instead I found, like many of the people of the Smokies, plenty of Scots and Irish. The fact that we have two branches of the family that just stop (on in the early 20’s the other in the 1860’s) do not prove anything, except that records from those regions are scarce. So I am 100% American Mutt.
Warren is no more American Indian than I am.
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