Posted on 06/18/2012 1:35:11 PM PDT by Kaslin
Remember when the Boston Globe prematurely declared this political scandal over last May? Good times.
Four outraged Cherokee activists who say Elizabeth Warren’s campaign has ignored their emails and phone calls will trek to Boston this week in hopes they can force a meeting with the Democratic Senate candidate over her “offensive” Native American heritage claims.“It’s almost becoming extremely offensive to us,” said Twila Barnes, a Cherokee genealogist who has researched Warren’s family tree. “We’re trying to get in contact and explain why her behavior hurts us and is offensive, and she totally ignores that. Like we don’t exist.”
Late last night, a Warren campaign official told the Herald that staffers will “connect” and “offer to have staff meet with them.”
…
“We would like to see her look at the documentation and admit there’s no Indian ancestry there and then apologize,” Barnes saud. “Hear us. Acknowledge us. Know that she’s brought us into this. We didn’t bring ourselves into this. This whole trip was planned to get a meeting with her.”
Barnes said there is still no evidence, despite research conducted by her and other genealogists, to support Warren’s claim of Cherokee roots.
These four Cherokee activists aren’t the only Native Americans offended by Elizabeth Warren's ancestral claims. As we reported last week, an enraged Harvard University alumna named Margo (Kickingbird) DeLaune (who, by the way, belongs to the Kiowa tribe of Oklahoma and is a registered Democrat), penned a joint op-ed with her son criticizing the Senate candidate’s conduct and urging the Harvard community to hold her “accountable for the damage she has wrought.” And, incidentally, much like DeLaune’s crusade for truth and justice, these particular Cherokee activists’ aren’t motived by politics or partisanship, either.
Politics isn’t a motivator, Barnes insisted. One of the women is a registered Democrat, and the other three are left-leaning independents, said Barnes, who said she voted for President Obama in 2008.
In any case, it’s not surprising “Granny” Warren is hesitant to meet with these individuals – after all, she’s failed to produce one single shred of evidence corroborating her tenuous claim that she is “1/32” Cherokee. What’s baffling, however, is that she simply refuses to renounce her “heritage” or apologize for her actions (her grandfather’s “high cheek bones” notwithstanding) especially when it’s painfully evident her conduct has offended Native Americans across the United States. If -- if -- Elizabeth Warren does apologize at some point, it would seem to suggest that she is indeed guilty of academic fraud. On the other hand, if she continues to hide from the Native American community -- and evade their unwelcome questions -- the backlash is likely to be more pronounced.
In short, one thing is clear: Cherokee activists want her to apologize for committing (what they consider to be) academic and ethnic fraud; and they’re not going away until she does.
I really can't understand why this is still an issue; didn't Supreme Chief Ward Churchill, himself, vouch for her heritage? /sarc
Pure craziness - it is still fraud as far as I’m concerned even if it had been true that she is 1/32 Cherokee for her to claim she is a Native American ‘minority’ race.
Actually there are quite legitimate Welsh genealogies that run back to King Ad.
Recently one major band of Cherokee has been trying to expel black Cherokees.
Earlier they got into some decades long court cases against the Delaware!
Some recognized Indian tribes keep their tribal rolls secret so there's no way an outsider can ever qualify for membership based on blood quanta. However, there are OTHER records. The Oneida, for example, were American allies in the American Revolution. There were something like 75 top quality warriors who fought in major engagements against the Brits. ALL OF THEM have been named by the Oneida, and they do appear in New York Revolutionary War records.
A fair percentage of them appear in the records of the Old Yellow Church as converts. Standard genealogical examination can demonstrate your ties to the Oneida, or not, fairly quickly. Your biggest problem is that paternal lineage is not big with the Iroquois ~ they use matrilineal accounting ~ just like the ancient Hebrews.
Then there's this current wave of racial intrigue among some of the Cherokee where they're trying to kick out the black Cherokee.
I wouldn't vote for Warren for a million bucks but if I were her I wouldn't meet with ANY Cherokee unless they proved their bona fides too ~ and could demonstrate their band had never been involved in disputes with the Delaware or black people in their tribe.
The trick with the Cherokee is you MUST have an ancestor in the Dawes Rolls. If your Cherokee ancestors failed to get listed you can't get into one of the recognized tribes. That does not mean you are no longer a Cherokee, just that you can't joint a recognized tribe.
warren’s war on Indians! :)
Her smok'm too much POS pipe.
It's only recently become popular for white folks to admit to Indian ancestry. Black folks have been into that for more than a century.
Now, how many white folks have Indian ancestry in this country. Well, to start with, there's a genetic marker ~ shovel teeth. If you got 'em and have no known East Asian or Cossack ancestry, you're in the zone ~ and that has been known for years to be 2%. Since that's an autosomal recessive, there'd be another 2% with no shovel tooth gene at all, and 4% with a recessive gene that could be identified. That's a grand total 8% of the white population have to have an American Indian ancestor.
That'd be well over 15 million people! The recognized tribes have no where near that number of members.
Going well beyond that group, there another 9 million white folks who have some or a lot of Sa'ami (Laplander) ancestry in this country. That's roughly 100 times the number of Sa'ami in Europe!
Maybe they couldn't get a reservation?
From that picture it lools like Elzbet has SHOVEL SHAPED INCISORS which suggest East Asian, Cossack or American Indian ancestry.
Thats gotta be post of the day.
What tribe uses the 1/32 standard? Most up this way require 1/4 or more.
We have groups of blacks in New Orleans who dress up in magnificent Indian garb every Mardi Gras and parade a route. These blacks identify emotionally or physically with American Indians and are proud of it. It would be really interesting if everyone in the South knew their real heritage because they would find a lot of mixed blood in their veins, I am sure. I for one, may have a bit of black blood because (now this is just 3rd party here say) on my mother's side her uncle in Mississippi had a farm and supposedly inpregnitated a black worker then raised the boy in his family. I don't know that to be a fact but I am sure that happened a lot in those days. It doesn't bother me at all because the more the mixture the richer the past, I say.
A. Swampum with wampum.
B. Become blood-brothers.
C. Smoke peace pipe.
D. Blame Bush.
The 1/32 rule allows real Indians who are 100% Indian to belong to some recognized tribe. Else, you could find some of those recognized bands dwindling down to a handful of people.
Remember, it's not how Indian you are, but what's your blood quanta running back to someone who was listed in the Dawes Rolls.
That was the number I saw in connection with the Warren story. If it’s wrong, I guess that’s good.
Thanks for that explanation. Around here the tribes tend not to mix quite so much, and most are from one band or another.
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