Warren DNA test upsets tribes
Genetic analysis cheapens identities of Native Americans, some say
OKLAHOMA CITY — The DNA test that Sen. Elizabeth Warren used to try to rebut the ridicule of President Donald Trump angered some Native Americans, who complained the genetic analysis cheapens the identities of tribal members with deeper ties to the Indian past.
Warren was born in Oklahoma, which is home to 39 tribes and where more than 7 percent of the population identifies as Native American, one of the highest proportions in the nation.
But she’s not a member of any tribe, and many Indians take exception to anyone who claims to be part Indian without being enrolled in a tribe, especially for political purposes.
“It adds fuel to that misconception that I can go out, get a DNA test and then, boom, that’s all I really need,” said Brandon Scott, a Cherokee Nation citizen and the executive editor of the tribe’s newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. “But the facts of the matter are you need a lot more than that.”
The nation’s 573 federally recognized tribes do not have a single standard for determining membership. Tribes such as the Cherokee Nation use lineal descent, meaning a person is Cherokee if an ancestor is listed on an original tribal roll, regardless of their amount of Indian blood. Descendants of black slaves the Cherokee once owned are also members of the tribe.
DNA tests are not typically used as evidence to determine tribal membership.
Native Americans also resented Trump’s continuing use of Indian heritage as a means to mock Warren.
Opinion on Warren is not monolithic. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians issued a statement Tuesday saying the senator had not tried to “appropriate” Indian culture.
Questions about Warren’s heritage emerged during her race for the Senate in 2012, when reports surfaced that she listed herself as a racial minority in an academic legal directory. Trump then made the “Pocahontas” jibe a laugh line at his rallies in 2016 after Warren became an outspoken critic.
Warren acknowledged identifying herself as a minority in the directory for nearly a decade. At the time, she said she listed herself as having Native American heritage because she hoped to meet people with similar roots. Warren has denied using her heritage to get ahead.
While there are occasional reports of false claims of Indian heritage, such claims are terribly damaging in politics, said Keith Gaddie, a political scientist at the University of Oklahoma.
“Cultural appropriation is the dumbest thing that anybody can do, but especially a Democrat,” Gaddie said.