Elizabeth Warren releases DNA analysis backing Native American ancestry claims

Boston25News.com ^ | October 15, 2018

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Senator Elizabeth Warren has released an analysis of her DNA showing that she has Native American blood.

An analysis of Warren's DNA sample showed she had a Native American ancestor in her family dating back six to 10 generations. The release of the analysis comes after President Trump has mocked her repeatedly for her claim that she has Native American blood and called her "Pocahontas." Critics have charged that Warren has advanced her career with a narrative she is a descendant of Cherokee and Delaware tribes.

A report released Monday says that the majority of Warren's ancestry is European but there is strong evidence to suggest that she has a Native American ancestor. A Stanford professor, Carlos D. Bustamante, who was awarded a MacArthur genius grant for his work tracking population migration via DNA, performed the analysis of the DNA, according to Warren's office.

The report notes with 99 percent confidence that five genetic segments on DNA were identified as "Native American in origin."

Warren's office also released a video to YouTube, "Elizabeth Warren's family story," which directly addresses the attacks on her heritage by the President and includes interviews with her family. A "Fact Squad" website with links to the DNA report and supporting documents was also launched.

[Haiku Guy]

So, she is between 1/1024th and 1/128th Native American.

I did not know these tests could resolve to below 1%.

[Haiku Guy]

I knew a boy named Sioux.

He was one tough SOB.

[left that other site]

Only 5?

I have 65, and have NEVER used it to my advantage.

[left that other site]

And I am 1% “Iberian Peninsula”! As in Spain or Portugal. Does that make me Hispanic?

[stylin19a]

he didn't do the analysis.

"An expert in genetic ancestry analysis carried out the computational work described below under Dr. Bustamante’s supervision."

[ClearBlueSky]

General question-only partially rhetorical.
If one is 1/16th Native American does that make you Indian? If so(and I imagine claiming that status IS the point here) why aren't half-Caucasian people(like Obama) white, not black? Are we to accept that ONE drop of minority blood(one or many generations back) negates the majority blood type??
If this is the new standard, then people with one Caucasian parent, grandparent or ancestor are WHITE. Right?

[stylin19a]

from the report:

For Native American references, we used samples within the 1000 Genomes project of Native American ancestry; these samples come from Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. (It is not possible to use Native American reference sequences from inside the United States, since Native American groups within the US have not chosen to participate in recent population genetics studies.)

so she's Peruvian ? or Mexican ? or Colombian ?

[RubyR]

I'm very distantly related to Obama through his mother's side. St. Mary's Co., Maryland to Nelson Co., Kentucky roots.

I've never had the test done but my father's showed less than 1% South Asian. So I'm deciding whether or not I should somehow exploit that to my benefit :)

Oh and he was 99% European.

[ClearBlueSky]

I think to be Hispanic one has to have ancestors with mixed Spanish/native(Mexican etc) blood. Direct to Spain is Spanish.
One set of my grandparents were Spanish, the other French. Not a single Spanish ancestor from Mexico or S.A.but, since my last name is common in Mexico some presume my family is Hispanic. Extensive genealogy done shows NO ancestors came from Mexico and no direct bloodlines to the Spaniards who colonized it.

I always wonder if I could claim immigrant benefits IF I could speak the language and act accordingly.LOL

[Trumpocrat]

“Face starts halfway down”. It means he has a big brain. Not a useful argument for us.

[left that other site]

LOL...I think my 1% Iberian goes back to the Latin Lover Boys swimming to the Irish Shore when the Spanish Armada was sunk. That was 500 years ago, before the USA existed.

If Liz has 1% Native ancestry , it would be just as significant, which is NOT.

And, even though I lived in Florida for 16 years, I never did learn to speak Spanish. LOL!

[zeugma]

Unlikely that Trump has any percentage of American Indian ancestry. His mother was a Scottish immigrant, and his father’s parents were both German immigrants.

Yet, if he were to take one of these tests (anonymously) , it is extremely likely that they'd find similar amounts of 'evidence of 'indian' heritage. When you're looking at claims of 10 generations back, you're dealing mostly with noise, not signal.

[This I Wonder32460]

There is even .01%, which could be a false positive. I was originally .01% caucasus, then they changed the way they do things and my caucasus is gone.

[JohnBovenmyer]

Everyone is missing the “dog that didn’t bark angle.” There is an important control population absent in the analysis, no European controls from Spain! Study uses samples from modern Mexico, Columbia and Peru as proxy for Native American ancestry. But those populations are far from purely Native American. Spanish imported diseases wiped out most of the them and Spanish imported DNA replaced a lot of theirs. At least from reading the Globe reporting, I can’t rule out this showing Senorita Warren had a Castilian ancestor instead six to ten generations back. If that information is not in the full report, but the sequences in question are, then other experts more knowledgeable on Iberian DNA might be able to resolve my point. I also wonder whether Canadian Native American DNA is available for comparison or whether that is slso blocked by tribal politics.

[smokingfrog]

I’m guessing way less than 1%.
Half the people in the US probably have more Native American DNA than she does, so definitely not relevant.

[RightGeek]

BOSTON GLOBE: “Due to a math error, a story about Elizabeth Warren misstated the ancestry percentage of a potential 10th generation relative. It should be 1/1,024.”

[RooRoobird20]

1/1024th Native American, bwah hah hah hah!!

The real Cherokees are rolling on the floor laughing their @sses off!!!

[smokingfrog]

From the Slate article:0

Native Americans have been reluctant to participate in genetic testing, which means scientists don’t have many reliable markers for that population. In addition, the genetic profiles that have been conducted show that many card-carrying members of certain tribes, such as the Cherokee, have more European ancestors than Native American ancestors. That means even the small number of Native American genetic markers we know of aren’t present in large segments of the population, making it difficult to find evidence of Native American DNA in people like Elizabeth Warren. That’s part of the reason that most Native American tribes have resisted using ancestral genetic analyses to determine membership.

[TheConservativeParty]

Trump is living in her head 24-7.

For any reliable test of her genetics, a mutually agreed upon lab that she and Trump say is neutral,must be used. The technicians should even be interviewed and credentials looked at.

The DNA sampling must be done while approved observers are present or she will use a fake donor sample.

We know libs lie cheat steal....anything to further their evil goals.

[Old Yeller]

Like someone said, she probably had a blood transfusion with Indian blood right before the testing.