February 1, 2019

"Warren has been in touch with Cherokee Nation leadership, apologizing for furthering confusion over issues of tribal sovereignty and citizenship and for any harm her announcement caused...."

The Intercept reports (without imput from the Warren campaign).
“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. “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.”
I found that via the NYT, "Elizabeth Warren Apologizes to Cherokee Nation for DNA Test."
The apology is a break from Ms. Warren’s previous public stance, where she refused to admit fault. Advisers close to Ms. Warren said she has privately expressed concern that she may have damaged her relationships to Native American groups and her own standing with activists, particularly those who are racial minorities...

On Wednesday, Chuck Hoskin Jr, the secretary of state of the Cherokee Nation, published an opinion column in the Tulsa World titled, “Elizabeth Warren can be a friend, but she isn’t a Cherokee citizen.” In the column, Mr. Hoskin said Ms. Warren’s test, which her office said showed strong evidence that Ms. Warren has Native American pedigree “6-10 generations ago,” did not take into account that, for most Native Americans, culture and kinship is what creates tribal membership — not blood.

67 comments:

Owen said...

Damage control. Now what?

mccullough said...

It had to be done.

But the Cherokee should rely on DNA these days. Maybe they don’t want to know how much Cherokee blood is left.

Lucid-Ideas said...

"furthering confusion" "any harm caused"

That sounds like 1/100th of an apology

Bay Area Guy said...

I.Am.Laughing.My.ASS.OFF!

If you've lost Cherokee Nation,.......

And you wonder why we don't take professional Leftists very seriously.

Senator Elizabeth "Paleface" Warren remains in heap big trouble.

Gk1 said...

What a nimrod. I'm beginning to think Warren is too fucking stupid to run for president. She's had multiple passes at this and she's still fucking up. Let it go already, no one is really talking about it except you and it does you no favors.

Lucid-Ideas said...

There should be an investigation to see what the value of her "Cherokee" claims have been to her career.

Any substantial value should be given back...

Rob said...

Looks like they smoked the peace pipe.

Bay Area Guy said...

While we're at it, I think Cher should now apologize for the song, "Half-Breed."

Lucid-Ideas said...

A quick rundown on why this sticks to her - forever

She got caught, Red-handed, playing the victim game and provided proof - real proof - that being (or playing one in real life) a minority is actually a status boost in this twisted poverty-porn-sitcom of a country we have going on right now.

She used fake minority status for political and potentially financial and status benefit and got caught.

Period.

Trump is genius. He called her bluff. I and millions of others intend to laugh at her - forever.

madAsHell said...

"Paleface" Warren

Trump is going to troll her with that on the campaign trail.

Wince said...

As stated above, her "campaign" is like a rolling exercise in damage control, where the damage is never completely controlled.

A hapless campaigner who's never governed or managed: what could go wrong?

Only question is whether it'll be a long or a short bleed.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Rob,

"Looks like they smoked the peace pipe"

In contrast to Kamala Harris, who smoked the Mayor's pipe.

gspencer said...

"and hope that the slurs and mockery of tribal citizens and Indian history and heritage will now come to an end"

Ever since this whole thing came to light, goes back to 2012 at least when Poke-us-Haunt-us ran for the Senate, I have seen slurs and mockery directed at Warren and all her underhanded tricks. What I have not witnessed is slurs and mockery directed at the Cherokees or any other tribes.

Lucid-Ideas said...

"...for most Native Americans, culture and kinship is what creates tribal membership"

According to this metric, Felipe Rose of the Village people has more in common with native tribes than Warren. She didn't even wear a headdress come on...

YoungHegelian said...

Ah, yes, the Cherokee Nation.

Being at least 1/8 Cherokee from my dear Pappy's side, I looked into joining the tribe. No go. The Cherokees limit tribal membership to those who have documented ancestors on the Baker or Dawes Rolls or who live on a reservation. This leaves millions of people in the US who have considerable Cherokee blood out of consideration for tribal membership.

In Alabama, I went to school with many kids, both black & white, who had at least 1/4 Cherokee blood. My salesguy back in the early 2000's was a black guy from northern NY state. Yep, he, too, was 1/8 Cherokee.

The Cherokee's got their gig, and they don't want millions if not tens of millions of newcomers horning in on the action.

Hagar said...

Don't know when to quit and shut up.

FullMoon said...

Mr. Hoskin said Ms. Warren’s test, which her office said showed strong evidence that Ms. Warren has Native American pedigree “6-10 generations ago,” did not take into account that, for most Native Americans, culture and kinship is what creates tribal membership — not blood

What BS.

Her 1/1024 NA pedigree pool includes south and central american gene pool.I would like to see a poll of Native Americans as to whether culture and kinship is more important than blood.

As mentioned a million times by realists,it is not her family lore being questioned,it is her lily white self using the minority card for advancement.

Lucid-Ideas said...

"Elizabeth Warren Apologizes to Cherokee Nation for DNA Test."

The pipettes that took Warren's DNA to the analyzer were just tools of white oppression. With this apology they have been transformed into symbolic truth-telling pipettes of peace.

Peace-pipettes

MadisonMan said...

To whom does she apologize for her dreadfully poor judgement in bringing this whole thing up to begin with?

Lucid-Ideas said...

"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.”

You know what's funny? I'm just having fun with a trope's risibility. You know what's not funny Julie? Warren using you. I guess using you is ok though. God for bid mockery.

She wasn't making fun of you.

She was using you.

BarrySanders20 said...

Beer drinkers are next on the sorry for faking apology tour.

On Wednesday, Larry "Hops" Hopkins, the secretary of state of the Beer Drinkers Ass'n, published an opinion column in the Tulsa World titled, “Elizabeth Warren can be a friend, but she isn’t a beer drinker.” In the column, Mr. Hopkins said Ms. Warren’s video, which her office said showed strong evidence that Ms. Warren has beer-drinking pedigree “6-10 generations ago,” did not take into account that, for most beer drinkers, culture and kinship is what creates tribal membership — not blood.

YoungHegelian said...

I gotta admit "Fauxcahontas" is still one of my favorite nicknames for a politician.

Skeptical Voter said...

I thought I had heard (or perhaps it was a rumor) that the Cherokee Tribe was about to sue Princess Drinkum Beer in Kitchen. If so, that threat had a wonderful effect upon Ms. Warren's mind.

Out here in California--and particularly Southern California there are spirited disputes about just who belongs to which tribe. As a practical matter during the early 1900s and up to about 1975 being a member of one of the Southern California tribes--whose forebears were either digger or Mission Indians mostly meant you were dirt poor and living in a shack or a trailer on a backwoods reservation.


But when Indian Casino gaming became legal in California those tribal reservations not all that far from major population centers had a shot at some real wealth. Not all of them have succeeded. Just as in real estate, it's location, location, and location. But the revenue and the profit from those successful casinos gets divided among the tribal members. For those "lucky" tribes, it makes a real economic difference as to who is, and who is not, eligible to be added to the tribal rolls and share in the swag.

I don't know if the Cherokees have a similar economic bonanza--but whatever they have, they're keeping for the "real" Cherokees. And Fauxcahontas isn't one.

Owen said...

If you want to get a sense of the importance of tribal membership, read Jeff Benedict's "Without Reservation," about the miraculous survival of the Mashantucket Pequot tribe through one person living on a scrap of swampy woods in SE Connecticut. This enabled the tribe to gain recognition from the BIA and, through an Act of Congress (referencing a map that was...conveniently...not subject to examination), to acquire the rights needed to build Foxwoods Casino. Tribal membership suddenly became a very, very valuable property. It was accorded not on DNA or documented lineage but by vote of the existing tribe members. This led to some remarkable outcomes.

But no corruption in fact, or of the concept of "tribe." Read the book if your blood pressure needs a boost.

Lucid-Ideas said...

This whole piece makes it sound like some minor error in ettiquete - a faux pas

"Fauxpahontas" begrudgingly accepts her diminution.

Rob said...

I can see that many here are critical of Senator Warren, but they should remember that her ways are not the white man's ways. And she can offer something no other candidate can: knowledge of how to use every part of the bison.

rehajm said...

The Cerokee spokesman trying to help her out- the message is ‘stop questioning her advantage gained by her lie’.

Don’t question Harvard’s motives either.

Bay Area Guy said...

I thought Senator Elizabeth "Paleface" Warren (D-Cherokee Nation) did the DNA test to establish that she was, in part, genetically a Native American -- albeit only 1/1024.

So, What precisely is she apologizing for? (a) doing the DNA test, (b) being only 1/1024 Native American or (c) gaming the Harvard Tenured faculty provisions by exaggerating her 1/1024 minority status.

I'm still confused!

AlbertAnonymous said...

Late to the blog post and comments, so maybe this is already answered... but when is she going to apologize to the country for her obvious duplicity in claiming a heritage that is now, proven to be, total bullshit?

And plagiarized “NATIVE American recipes” submitted to the totally NOT offensively named cookbook “Pow Wow Chow” ?

Moronic doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Kevin said...

Where is the part where they note Trump was right all along?

We know how that story would be written were the roles reversed.

n.n said...

An ounce of diversity, and a pound of Jew... White privilege.

Kevin said...

Ms. Warren said she has privately expressed concern that she may have damaged her relationships to Native American groups and her own standing with activists, particularly those who are racial minorities...

Not people but groups, minorities, activists.

"Let the hate for the individual flow through you."

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

no mas! Her faux-ma's turned into a faux-pas

she should quit politics and cash in doing Jeep commercials,
where they highlight the authentic vs the phony, yuppified 'Sport-Ute' that tries to take advantage of their time-honored market niche

(yes, we did just say "yoot")

tcrosse said...

Warren needs to ditch the granny glasses and get some Dame Ednas.

Lucid-Ideas said...

This was so much more than a joke. This was massive. This blew the lid off everything that came before it like Dolezal and Shaun King. Because she was and is in the running for a top job.

Democrats are poverty pirates. They always have been going back before the civil war. Their worldview is serf/slave-ruler/owner. They really at the end of the day have no room for the middle-class. They are the true cavaliers. The true anti-middle class.

The hypocrisy was always known, but this was a rare public display. Elizabeth Warren used oppressed heritage not her own for gain. Period. She used this to show solidarity with a base - for which without their oppression pumping - wouldn't vote Dem.

We all know it. We've all said it. They can not win elections without ethnic minority, immigrant and non-citizen, democratically oppressed bases (like blacks) without pimping this shit.

The Warren debacle is funny but it is also deadly serious. They pimp solidarity and use people for status. They are still slave owners.

Hari said...

Is she apologizing for:
(a) taking the test
(b) failing the test
(c) taking the test when she knew she would fail it
(d) failing the test when she thought she would pass it
(e) claiming that failing the test was actually passing the test



The Godfather said...

I think I may have the same Native American ancestry (1/1024) as Sen. Warren. But I have never claimed to be a "minority", and I would have been laughed at if I had. Why didn't Harvard laugh at a claim of minority status by a woman so pale she'd disappear in a typical public rest room?

Yancey Ward said...

Warren had one chance to defuse this issue, and she failed spectacularly, and all because Trump goaded her. When she got the DNA result, she should have, right that moment, conceded her stories about her heritage were untrue, and that her critics on the matter were all correct- she didn't even have to name Trump as the most vocal and well-known critic. Had she done that that first day, no one would be talking about this issue today. But, no, she had to try to claim vindication.

What is it about Trump that makes his enemies so damn stupid and self-destructive?

Shouting Thomas said...

So Warren has been fully exposed. Nice.

Althouse's claim to have suffered some sort of "oppression" and "subjugation" because she's a woman is every bit as hilariously absurd as Warren's Fauxcahontas act.

Her Marxist feminism is part of the problem. End the racial and sexual quota and set aside system.

Pull the mote out of your own eye, prof.

JaimeRoberto said...

According to 23andMe I'm as black as she is Indian. I wonder if I can parlay that into a professorship somewhere.

Seeing Red said...

No casino booty for her!

walter said...

I suspect beer has been supplanted by stronger stuff chez Warren.
Maybe consulting https://www.trumpedupdrinks.com/

rhhardin said...

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.

Indian culture is risible. That, not offending the tribe, is what got Warren in trouble. Everybody made fun of her with Indian jokes.

walter said...

Phillips banging a drum in a kid's face did wonders for their cause

wildswan said...

"But the Cherokee should rely on DNA these days. Maybe they don’t want to know how much Cherokee blood is left."

Indigenous people around the world have in general decided not to rely on an outside culture, i.e. DNA tests, to decide on tribal membership. (South Africa is a different case because there people whose grandparents lost land under apartheid could not get it back without a DNA test.) Senator Warren didn't know this basic fact about how the Cherokee and most other indigenous peoples decide tribal membership. That shows how remote she was from any real participation in Cherokee life. She wasn't even aware that a DNA test could be an issue.

One reason why the indigenous people don't want to use a DNA test is that in the early days in this country indentured servants and slaves frequently ran off and joined the tribes; and, moreover, the different tribes swept down on the settlements, seizing groups of men, women and children who were then held for ransom or who joined the tribe. So DNA wouldn't have told you you much in 1680, let alone now. Besides that, isn't it up to them how they decide membership?

Fernandinande said...

As Paul Revere's revolting cries so clearly addressed the issues tribal sovereignty and citizenship and any harm and stuff during the American revolution ....

"Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die

They took the whole Indian nation
Locked us on this reservation
Though I wear a shirt and tie
I'm still part redman deep inside"

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

1/1024andMe

stevew said...

Someone finally gave Liz some good crisis management advice. Embrace it, own it, apologize for it, early, and thus take it off the table later. Anyone inclined to call her Fauxchahontas in the future risks being seen as churlish. Much like anyone slut-shaming Kamala Harris down the road a bit.

In my occupation, sales, we have a saying: bad news does not improve with age. Better to get the ugly stuff out of the way early. Liz and Kamala are doing this well.

chillblaine said...

Cherokee people, Cherokee Tribe!

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

it was probably O'Doul's she drank.
under the disapproving gaze of her 'Black Mammy' figurine

chillblaine said...

"Gravity," starred Sandra Bullock, her gray tank top, etc, and a fella. Gorge. Georeged Clooooney. What a movie. Not bad. Etc.

chillblaine said...

O'Doul's until Saint Patrick's day. Just a little Jack for seasoning. Tip O' The Morning Fellow Drunkies!

wildswan said...

There is an interesting book called The UnRedeemed Captive about baby girl kidnapped during the Deerfield Massacre. She taken to Montreal and adopted by an Mohawk family which refused all offers to buy her back. She was raised by the Mohawks as a Catholic which in some ways was worse than becoming a tribe member because her father was the Congregational minister at Deerfield in the days when a Protestant was a Protestant. Because the Massacre was so famous and her father so prominent, she was never lost sight of. The book is well done and extremely interesting. And if you are a Catholic, it's interesting in terms of unrecognized bias. Savage life and Catholicism seem pretty much one thing - somewhat like the Kavanaugh hearings. I felt so marginalized when I read it, I cwied. Or else I thought, "But you didn't keep us down did you, nanny booboo."

Molly said...

(eaglebeak)

This dolt--Elizabeth Warren, that is--claimed her parents had to elope because her father's family didn't want him to marry someone who was part Cherokee.

And this was in Oklahoma? I knew she was full of it from that moment on.

In Oklahoma, if you're not part Indian, you're nobody.

The state's favorite son, Will Rogers, was born in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory (that's Oklahoma), was on the Cherokee Tribal Rolls, and is the most beloved figure in the state. Everything is named after him, as a typical state guidebook notes:

"Rogers has ... been honored and remembered as an American hero. In fact, Route 66 is sometimes called 'The Will Rogers Memorial Highway.' Among his other namesakes include The Will Rogers Institute, a charity endorsed by many celebrities; the Will Rogers Turnpike section of Interstate 44, running from Tulsa and passing Claremore, Oklahoma (the home of his final resting place at the Will Rogers Memorial) en route to Missouri; and Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma."

She's a moron; no wonder the Cherokee can't stand her.

Birkel said...

There are two Cherokee tribes and one does not speak for the other.
Warren even gets her racist apology your wrong.

Molly said...

(eaglebeak)

rhhardin says: "Indian culture is risible."

You speak of Indian culture--which one? I take it you're an expert.

The culture of the Cherokee and the culture of the Apache are, um, not the same. The culture of the Mandan and the culture of the Seminole are not the same.

Did you know that the Cherokee were settled farmers on the East Coast before the first Europeans arrived? Did you know that (oddly) many of the Cherokee fought on the Southern side in the Civil War, including General Stand Watie (the only Indian general in the Confederacy, I think)?

Did you know you have a much better chance of getting elected in Oklahoma if you can claim to be part Indian (tribe of your choice)?

I think that's where the entirely risible Liz Warren was coming from. It got her a cushy job at Harvard, why shouldn't it make her President?

Speaking of which, did you know that Charles Curtis, Vice President of the U.S. under Herbert Hoover, was a member of the Kaw tribe, as well as being part Osage?

As an expert, I'm sure you did know all these things and more besides.

chillblaine said...

"Gravity," is a movie about Sandra Bullock and her tank top. A gray tank top. Did anyone else see this movie, and enjoy her tank top and acting, as much as I did? Anyone? Bueller? Ok, just me. My next slide is when I took a vacation in Bimini and saw a woman looked just like Sandra Bullock. Short-shorts. I had to go excuse myself for five minutes. She looooooked goood. Where was I?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

I've never heard of anyone from Oklahoma who didn't have Indigian blood, or at least claim some.

And native culture north of Mexico city is not so much risible as almost nonexistent. What culture did they have? What books did they write? What buildings did they erect? What music did they play? What science did they discover? What technology did they develop? They had the same stone age tech and tools as any other prehistoric peoples, that is, plenty of wood lore, but very little advancement beyond wearing skins and making bows, arrows, tomahawks, and crude flutes and drums.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

LOL.
I wish Warren wasn't such a leftist. She's the least offensive to me, and I'd much rather have Warren than some corruption institutionalizing criminal like Hillary.

Big Mike said...

Elizabeth Warren's campaign theme song.

Molly said...

(eaglebeak)

Everybody's less offensive to me than Hillary.

Sam L. said...

You're too late, Lizzie; TOO LATE.

Not Sure said...

Whether or not her claim to being part Early American helped her get a job at Harvard, it surely protected her from being called Old Hatchet Face after she got there.

Fen said...

She needs to apologize to all minority women for stealing a racist quota that was set aside for them.

Related: Yale is looking to hire 3 more law professors, whites only. A fourth position is set to open in 2 weeks when Professor Smith leaves for DC to staff the Congressional White Caucus.

This Day In History: Ann Althouse was shamed into expanding tbe list of bigoted words prohibited on her blog. Initially, only the "n-word" was barred. Some found it odd that a Constitutional Law Professor would have such an embarrassing blind spot related to concepts like equal protection. As of this date Althouse has refused to apologize. But now words like kike, wop, spic, wetback and redneck are banned on her blog. It is uncertain if these bigoted expressions will likewise gain the coveted masking and become the k-word, w-word, s-word, that other w-word, and r-word.

BREAKING. The Florida leader of a White Supremacy group was killed today in an explosion. Ricky Bobby hosted seminars praising the superior genetics and intellect of the white race. He perished tragically attempting to light a cigarette while pumping fuel at a local Exxon.


tim in vermont said...

Her problem isn’t taking a job from a real minority by gaming affirmative action. That slot could have gone to a qualified black person, for example, but they found a way to give it to a white girl. But Democrats don’t care about that, her problem is that she is just sort of a damp squib as a candidate.

whitney said...

Go look up an image of the Cherokee Nation leadership. They actually do look like Elizabeth Warren.