Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is apparently still being targeted for the results of a 2018 DNA test that showed she has only a small amount of Indigenous American ancestry after she had claimed Native American heritage.
After Warren posted a tweet about Indigenous People’s Day, some users criticized her.
“On #IndigenousPeoplesDay, we celebrate the remarkable contributions, cultures, & resilience of tribal nations & Native communities,” she said. “And we recognize that the federal government must honor its promises to Native peoples & respect Tribal sovereignty & self-determination.”
“Maybe sit this one out Liz,” said one Twitter user in response.
“When is irony day happening?” said another.
FOX News also reported that media personalities Chad Felix Greene and Spencer Brown also contributed snarky tweets on Warren’s post.
“Social media users piled on this tweet after Warren’s previous scandal regarding her false claims of Native American heritage,” said the outlet. However, Warren’s DNA test from 2018 in fact proved that she does have Native American ancestry.
“We find strong evidence that a DNA sample of primarily European descent also contains Native American ancestry from an ancestor in the sample’s pedigree 6-10 generations ago,” said the test report from Carlos D.
Bustamante.
These results, which indicate that Warren’s family narrative of being descended from an Indigenous American ancestor who lived in the 1880s could very well be true, “were immediately misinterpreted,” by media outlets, according to fact checkers from The Washington Post. Some records appear to show that Warren identified in writing as an “American Indian” while applying for the State Bar of Texas.
In addition to the media, former President Donald Trump mocked Warren, calling her “Pocahontas” in reference to a well-known historical figure of the Mattaponi tribe. Warren was “egged on” by Trump to have the DNA test, said The Post.
Even though the DNA test results confirmed that Warren has Indigenous ancestry, Warren later apologized for identifying as a Native American, said another Washington Post report.
“I can’t go back,” Warren said in an interview with the outlet. “But I am sorry for furthering confusion on tribal sovereignty and tribal citizenship and harm that resulted.”
Kim TallBear, an associate professor at the University of Alberta, explained that the “very desire to locate a claim to Native American identity in a DNA marker inherited from a long-ago ancestor is a settler-colonial racial understanding of what it is to be Native American.”
“Senator Warren has reached out to us and has apologized to the tribe,” Cherokee Nation’s executive director of communications Julie Hubbard told The Intercept in 2019. “We are encouraged by this dialogue and understanding that being a Cherokee Nation tribal citizen is rooted in centuries of culture and laws not through DNA tests. We are encouraged by her action and hope that the slurs and mockery of tribal citizens and Indian history and heritage will now come to an end.”
Since then, Warren has worked with Congresswoman Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary, to introduce legislation that seeks healing for stolen Native children and their communities.
“The commission that U.S. Senator Warren and my colleagues want to create will be the first step to the healing that Native communities desperately need,” said Haaland in 2020. Warren has also directed people to support the work of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center in a statement regarding Trump’s use of “Pocahontas” to mock her.
President Joe Biden proclaimed Oct. 11 as Indigenous People’s Day last year, becoming the first U.S. president to do so, according to The New York Times. Some states have moved to recognize the holiday over Columbus Day.
“The Federal Government has a solemn obligation to lift up and invest in the future of Indigenous people and empower Tribal Nations to govern their own communities and make their own decisions. We must never forget the centuries-long campaign of violence, displacement, assimilation, and terror wrought upon Native communities and Tribal Nations throughout our country,” he said. “Today, we acknowledge the significant sacrifices made by Native peoples to this country — and recognize their many ongoing contributions to our Nation.”
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