Since a comment was posted here which contains an often told and recent lie about Elizabeth Warren, that she claimed membership in the Cherokee Nation, a lie aided by Chuck Hoskins jr. misrepresenting what she has said, here is what she has actually said about that.
"I won't sit quietly for [President Donald Trump's] racism, so I took a test, But DNA & family history has nothing to do with tribal affiliation or citizenship, which is determined only—only—by Tribal Nations. I respect the distinction, & don't list myself as Native in the Senate."
The opportunistic campaign of using racism and misogyny against Elizabeth Warren, as it would any Democratic Woman or man they can mount this kind of campaign against is obviously an organized and planned strategy among Republicans and their legions of trolls online and their water carriers in the media. It certainly doesn't help when people like Chuck Hoskin misrepresented what she said in a way that aids that effort. Since he's a Democratic politician as well as a politician within one branch of the Cherokees, he should repair the damage that his statement has done. I don't know about the internal politics of the entity he represents but his misstatement is hardly the last word on that subject.
Warren was clearly trying to put the question of her Native American heritage to rest, but in doing so, she may have opened up new lines of attack that Trump and other critics can use. The president and Republicans have focused much more on Warren’s claims of Native American heritage than on her sweeping policy proposals to clean up corruption in Washington, lower the cost of housing, and hold corporations more accountable.
By taking the test, Warren angered at least one prominent tribe. Rather than settling the speculation by responding to Trump’s challenge, she prompted an entirely new argument about whether she should have taken the test at all, and opened up fears that she had hobbled her presidential campaign before it even got off the ground.
The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center — an organization raising awareness about violence toward Native American women and families, and the charity Warren requested Trump donate $1 million to as part of his bet about her DNA test — came to the senator’s defense this fall.
“We appreciate Senator Warren’s push to bring awareness to violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women and families, who all too often are invisible to most Americans,” the center said in a statement. “As marginalized communities, we often struggle to bring tribal interests to the center of the debate.”
Also voicing support for Warren’s decision was the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians — one of three federally recognized Cherokee tribes (the Cherokee Nation is another).
“Senator Elizabeth Warren does not claim to be a citizen of any tribal nation, and she is not a citizen of the Eastern Band,” said Eastern Band Principal Chief Richard Sneed in a statement to Business Insider. “Like many other Americans, she has a family story of Cherokee and Delaware ancestry and evidence of Native ancestry.”
Sneed said he believes Warren has shown respect for Cherokee tribal sovereignty, and “has not used her family story or evidence of Native ancestry to gain employment or other advantage.”
Chuck Hoskin jr. should both correct the record and act to mitigate the use he is to Republicans attacking Elizabeth Warren. As to whether or not anyone should take a DNA test, IT'S HER DNA, SHE'S GOT EVERY RIGHT TO HAVE IT TESTED IF SHE WANTS TO. She's got as much right to use it to find evidence to confirm her families oral history as anyone does to confirm their own family history. She hasn't applied to become a member of any sovereign nation and Hoskin's tacit claim that she had has been a big help to the racists who are actively attacking the rights of all Native American nations and groups. Hoskin is a politician, he should understand what he did. If he doesn't he should find out because it was stupid and counterproductive.
I have not quoted what Hoskin said because I will not further such false "memes" by repeating them.
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