Top Democratic presidential contender, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), is in hot water—from members of her (alleged) own tribe.
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed liberal Senator has long claimed to be part Cherokee—famously listing herself as a “woman of color” on her job application to a tenure-track professor position at Harvard law, without any proof.
Now, actual Cherokees are demanding answers—and demanding to know whether Warren is, in fact, a member of the tribe (and, if she isn’t, why she lied.)
“She’s not part of the Cherokee community,” said Chad Smith, who led the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation for nearly twelve years. “She hasn’t reached out. She hasn’t come here and participated much.”
“The mark of value in claiming heritage is: Do you use your position to give back?” Smith added. “If it is a claim that is valuable to her, she should be helping Indian country. She might be doing it with the overall agenda. But unless she’s contributing back, it is a somewhat hollow claim.”
Warren, for her part, has claimed that she learned about her family’s Native American heritage from stories passed down through the generations—and, famously, her grandparent’s “high cheekbones.”
She has also claimed she “never asked for any benefit” from her heritage, and “never got any benefit” from it—despite her being touted by Harvard Law as a diversity hire.
