Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s release of a DNA test that suggested a lineage to a distant Native American ancestor has roiled the Cherokee Nation and others in indigenous communities frustrated about the seizure of cultural and social ties for political maneuvering.
But the public rollout, accompanied by a campaign-like video, provoked strong rebukes from tribal leaders and activists.
“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.”
Hoskin said the tests cannot even reliably determine lineage among North or South American tribal groups.
Trump seized on the Cherokee Nation’s criticism Tuesday morning in a three-tweet salvo in which he resumed using his derisive nickname for Warren, “Pocahontas.”
“Thank you to the Cherokee Nation for revealing that Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, is a complete and total Fraud!” he said.
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
Warren has defended herself, saying she did not benefit professionally from claiming indigenous lineage. But she appeared to concede a main line of criticism from Native American leaders — that sovereign tribal groups determine citizenship and cultural lineage, not DNA tests such as the one she took.
“I won’t sit quietly for @realDonaldTrump’s racism, so I took a test,” Warren wrote on Twitter. “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.”
A spokeswoman for Warren’s Senate office directed The Post to Warren’s campaign. A campaign spokeswoman did not immediately provide a response Tuesday.
The Cherokee Nation’s rebuke marks a dramatic shift in its response to Warren. In 2012, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker reacted to Warren’s claims of indigenous ancestors by saying he wished “every congressman and senator in the U.S. had a kinship or felt a kinship to the Cherokee Nation.”
Kim TallBear, a researcher at the University of Alberta, called Warren’s claims “yet another strike” against “tribal sovereignty.”
That erosion, TallBear said Monday on Twitter, has been long-standing.
“Non-Indigenous Americans will never stop making claims to all things indigenous: bones, blood, land, waters, and identities. The U.S. continues to appropriate every last thing.”
Richard Sneed, the Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, released a statement on Tuesday that was largely supportive of Warren.
“Senator Warren has demonstrated her respect for tribal sovereignty and is an ally of the Eastern Band," he wrote. "As such, we support her and other allies — regardless of party — who promote tribal sovereignty, tribal self-determination, and protection of Cherokee women.”
Gyasi Ross, an author focused on Native American issues and culture, told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that “there is definitely a level of anger, of tone-deafness” in Warren’s approach.
... watch: @bigindiangyasi tells @chrislhayes on @allinwithchris that "both donald trump & elizabeth warren should give that million dollars to the national indigenous women's research center... for making indigenous ancestry into a campaign prop." #inners pic.twitter.com/WdxMXoir7I
— fake nick ramsey (@nick_ramsey) October 16, 2018
Trump had previously challenged Warren to prove her claims of Native American ancestry, saying he would donate $1 million to charity if she did so. He later claimed he hadn’t said that.
Ross said Warren and Trump should each give that amount to the National indigenous Women’s Resource Center for “making indigenous ancestry into a campaign prop.” Warren had already suggested that Trump’s promised donation go to the center.
But Ross and others were frustrated over the spectacle diverting rare focus on issues affecting Native Americans.
For instance, a North Dakota voting law that bans P.O. boxes as an alternative form of address has disenfranchised native voters with tribal ID cards, he said. The Supreme Court declined to review the law.
Tribal groups have also been challenged by issues like high suicide rates, stubbornly high levels of unemployment, and encroachment on protected lands, among other issues that are often outside mainstream American discourse.
A row of Native American political candidates, many of them women, have emerged across the country this year in response.
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