Liz must drop native ‘myth’ for support
Cherokee activist suggests Warren let go of ancestry tale
Why did she do it? Elizabeth Warren still hasn’t answered that question, and unless she does, she won’t shake off the doubts and questions surrounding her claims to American Indian ancestry.
The Massachusetts senator called herself a minority for nearly 10 years. She reported that claim on a legal directory and two law schools reported her as a minority on federal forms.
Yet Warren is clearly not a minority. She’s white. Her family doesn’t appear on any Cherokee rolls. Even if she does have Cherokee ancestry from her mother’s family, it would make her a fraction Native American at most.
A Native American activist who has questioned Warren’s Cherokee status says that despite an attempt to address the issue in a speech this week, the Massachusetts Democrat did not put the issue to rest for her likely 2020 White House campaign.
“I think it would be wise for Democrats to not pretend this is going to go away and work this out now,” said Rebecca Nagle, a Cherokee Nation citizen whose op-ed on a liberal website critical of Warren caused a stir and may have prompted her speech this week.
And by working it out, Nagle means Warren has to let go of the “myth” that she has Cherokee blood and admit her story is false.
“She has a responsibility to own it,” she said in an interview with the Herald. “I think that a lot of people have stories of having native ancestry in their family and a lot of people aren’t willing to let go of that. There’s a real opportunity if she could take that bold step and face the reality about who her family is.”
So why did Warren claim minority status while she was working at Harvard and Penn law schools?
Warren has never given a real answer to why she claimed minority status. In her 2012 campaign and in her speech to National Congress of American Indians on Wednesday, she has denied she used her Cherokee claims to her advantage in her career.
“I never used my family tree to get a break or get ahead,” she said.
Warren’s speech was clearly designed to give herself cover in a planned 2020 campaign. It was also a sign that the issue had become a real political problem that had to be addressed.
Nagle praised Warren for promising to fight for Native American rights but said her speech didn’t go nearly far enough.
“I honestly think the speech was the result of public pressure,” Nagle said. “What she did is a step in the right direction and I hope she continues to walk in that direction.”
The Massachusetts Democrat gave no advance notice of the speech in order to avoid the media throng that naturally would have covered it and the questions that would come after it. It was designed to be a oneand-done, complete with largely favorable coverage from the mainstream media.
Now, Warren advisers and her Democratic supporters say the issue should go away. Problem solved. No way.
“I want to vote (in 2020) for a candidate I really believe in,” Nagle said.
And right now that candidate is not Elizabeth Warren.