Elizabeth Warren Exposed a 200-Year-old Problem
We need to be honest and tell the truth across party lines at all times. With that said, no, Elizabeth Warren is not Native American and had no reasonable claim to “Native American heritage” at any point in her life. Although Warren is a well-liked public figure in the democratic party, a “little Native American” feud with Donald Trump turned into a major stain on her public image. With her “Native American heritage” assertion, Warren was doing something commonly done by many dominant society Americans that needs to stop.
Initially, there wasn’t an issue with Warren’s claims, or so the public thought at the time. For her own good, Warren should have just left the issue alone and focused on more important issues. However, she and her party did not do that. She instead bit Trump’s bait and took a DNA test. Liberal media initially assisted her in being very disingenuous, blatantly misinterpreting the results. And now again, the blue team continued its streak of making very bad decisions that backfired during a time they really couldn’t afford to lose more black and brown voters.
Here’s the real story: If you sift past all the bluster and conjecture of liberal media, it’s easy to see that Warren’s DNA test results revealed one primary thing, Elizabeth Warren is not Native American and has no legitimate or reasonable claim to Native American heritage. Her DNA results reveal that she is overwhelmingly white European, somewhere between 95-99%. Her belief that she has indigenous ancestry was helped by Stanford University professor Carlos D. Bustamante, who administered the test. Honestly, however, that indigenous ancestry was really inconclusive due to lots of variables that were strategically not mentioned in democratic party-leaning media. In short, she is a white American woman and always was just that; no hyphenations, not Native American lineage. Referring to “Native American heritage” is just something her family had been doing for generations without any factual or official connection to any tribe, or knowledge of Native American culture and tradition. And this is a very commonly done thing in this country that is blasphemous and disrespectful on so many levels. What’s even worse? Not only does Warren have no conclusive connection to Native American heritage, but she also has a documented and more traceable kinship to ancestors who were instrumental in displacing and rounding up Native Americans. She needs to have a seat.
When members of the white dominant society make claims of being part Native American, it is very akin to valor stealing and it’s a reprehensible form of appropriation. The article below articulates in more detail the many celebrities and public figures, including Warren, who peddle this foolishness and why it was always a self-serving transgression never rooted in reality or true respect for the Native American community.
The truth about the Native American experience is nothing pretty. They lived on these lands for thousands of years amidst beautiful plains full of roaming Buffalo and Eagles soaring above. However, things completely fell apart. We all know the story. They were eventually completely obliterated in time with very small numbers of real descendants left. Almost an entire race of people had been displaced and completely slaughtered.
It was only around the mid-1800s, after they were all almost completely wiped out, did people start to sympathize with their plight and realize how beautiful, spiritual, and honorable these people were. The indigenous people were pushed out by white settlers. If the leathery copper-skinned American Indians saw these modern-day white people marching around calling themselves part Indigenous, they’d probably want to reach for their bows, arrows, and guns. These predominantly white American people claiming “Native American heritage”, if it even exists, is beyond blasphemous and it needs to stop. Without even realizing it, the mere act of doing that is proving how “un-Native American” they are. Being Native American means a lot more than a possible drop of indigenous blood somewhere way down the line in one’s ancestry. And for people to imagine themselves “part Native American” primarily due to an intermarried ancestor or family folklore is a twisted evolved attack and insult to injury to the same eviscerated people. Most of the people grandstanding that they are part Native American are not Native American in blood, mind, appearance, or authentic tradition and they need to cut it out.
In her defense, Warren was never too public about this. However, it should have never been such a focal part of her identity to begin with because she is not Native American. Consequently, her party’s decision to defend and grandstand on this issue to face Trump’s taunts were in extremely poor taste. She didn’t even have an indigenous culture-inspired family story to tell. She is nearly a 100% white American woman who simply made much to do about inconclusive family folklore that someone may have been Native American.
It’s always a good thing to learn from our history and honor people. And ingratiating yourself into a community, being mindful of their situation, and advocating their modern-day issues and concerns is also a very noble thing to do also. However, purporting to actually be one of them is not. Enough said. Warren inadvertently exposed an issue that has been prevalent for nearly 200 years. Countless people in the dominant society are not Native American but are still pulling this charade right this very moment. Culturally appropriating a people who have been devastated is one of the worst things one can do. This decade’s long lapse in discretion is sure to follow her should she decide to run for higher office. And because she chose to bring so much attention to this herself, she can’t rain dance out of this now. Someone needs to have a “powwow” with Warren and others running the same hustle to finally cease and desist with this sort of thing for good.
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