Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: To all those who still want to pound on Warren for her family history that turned out to be legend-- [View all]catrose
(5,061 posts)Just about every Oklahoma native claimed claimed a Native ancestor. They all knew whether (1) they were on the Dawes' rolls, (2) they were a member of a nation (decided on by the nation), or (3) had Native ancestry without either of the previous being true, which didn't mean that they were any less proud of it. My spouse looks like Tom Baker (4th Doctor Who). He's Mohican, tracing his ancestry to one of four Native boys adopted by his English ancestors in the 1700s. Not a lot of DNA left, but it does show up in the Y chromosome. I supposedly have 3% Native DNA, which is approximately at the great-grandparent level, but no one in the family knows who that might be. It's easier to trace our Jewish ancestry, also 3%. Neither showed up in my child's DNA test.
And in the 70s-80s, companies really wanted to show their diversity and begged people to list anything along those lines. So I've no problem believing that Warren listed her ancestry because she was proud of it and because the organization wanted to show its diversity cred. (I know a red-haired, blue-eyed man whose company was happy to list him as black--which he is--and also gay, though he was married with children.)
I've read of Warren mentioning her ancestor, known at least to her parents, and the discrimination she experienced. So she has a bit more reason to claim this ancestor than all the descendants of Cherokee princesses that I've met.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided