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HORIST: Cherokees on warpath over Warren claim … and why not?

HORIST: Cherokees on warpath over Warren claim … and why not?

For more than two years, candidate Donald Trump and then President Trump has been referring to Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas.”

I have long advised Trump to stop saying that, but so far, he has not taken my advice in this matter – or on most anything else.  Of course, I took a different approach to it.  He should promise to never call her Pocahontas again just because she has used her self-proclaimed Indian heritage for advantage in her career – and yes, she did despite reports that she did not.  There is hard evidence in some of those  personnel files.  My suggestion to the President is to not give her the dignity and indirect legitimacy of an Indian name, but to henceforth refer to Warren a “phony Pocahontas.”

Now to clear things up in advance of a run for President (shudder), Warren submitted to a private DNA test that is said to show a “probability of Native American blood.”  The first thing that struck me was the word “probability.”  According to the report, she MAY have had an Indian ancestor some 10 generations ago.  That seems a bit short of confirmation.

If they dig deep enough into Warren’s DNA, they may find that she also has Neanderthal ancestry – as do many humans today.  But then, Neanderthals are not among the groups that qualify in the world of identity politics and protected classes.

According to her own report, Warren is 1/64th Native American, at best, and at worse 1/1024th Native American.  In either case, it is far, far, far to small to be categorized as being “part Native American.”  The “part” is just too little, too early to be counted by Yale University as one of their diversity faculty members – as they mistakenly did, based on her baseless claim.

Incidentally, Warren’s local newspaper, the Boston Globe had to publish a correction when their earlier reports had her lineage as 1/32nd to 1/512th Native American blood proved to be wrong.  Makes one wonder what unnamed source gave them the bogus numbers.

This brings to the fore, President Trump’s podium offer to donate $1 million to the charity of Warren’s choice if she could prove Indian blood.  It was one of those written-on-the-wind wagers that we all make, but it still can be called – at least politically – by Warren, and indeed she did.

While the bet is not legally or even ethically enforceable, it has not even been lost.  Based on all standards of determining multiple ancestries for official purposes, Warren is NOT – repeat NOT – to be considered any part Native American – not even in the face of those high cheekbones she once claimed as evidence.

Along with her DNA report, Warren released a campaign-style video highlighting her dubious claim to Native American heritage.  It was long on warm fuzzy western imagery but short on anything factual.  Like I said, “campaign-style.”  It was an attempt to make the Bostonian Brahman look like she came out of House on the Prairie – or more to the point, Teepee on the Prairie.

It is not only President Trump who scoffs at Warren’s sad attempts to be part of a minority.  Push-back comes from her claimed ancestral tribe – the Cherokees.  Instead of embracing Warren as their long-lost Indian princess who hopes to one-day reside in the Great White Teepee at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,  the Cherokee Nation issued a scathing condemnation of Warren’s dubious, if not totally discredited, claim – saying it was “inappropriate” and “wrong.”

Secretary of the Cherokee Nation Chuck Hoskin, Jr. (Chuck Hoskin, Jr.?) said that Warren’s claim, “makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven.”  Hoskin went on to accuse Warren of actually “undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage.”

What Warren has proven is that she has no relevant Native American ancestry.  It would appear that in attempting to give credibility to her claim, Warren has shot herself in the foot – with an arrow.

FOOTNOTE: Many of the politically wrong on the left claim that “Indian” is a pejorative – a slur.  That claim is usually issued by a bunch of palefaces residing on the east and west coasts – well-tanned palefaces in the case of the west coast.  This writer follows the lead of the Indians themselves.  I was once made an “honorary Indian” by the folks at the Indian Center in Chicago.  I recall seeing Senator Warren, herself, giving a speech in front of a sign that read, National Congress of American Indians.  I tend to use both “Indian” and “Native American” interchangeably, just as I use “Black” and “African American” interchangeably.  So, there it ‘tis.’

About The Author

Larry Horist

So, there ‘tis… The opinions, perspectives and analyses of businessman, conservative writer and political strategist Larry Horist. Larry has an extensive background in economics and public policy. For more than 40 years, he ran his own Chicago based consulting firm. His clients included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman. He has served as a consultant to the Nixon White House and travelled the country as a spokesman for President Reagan’s economic reforms. Larry professional emphasis has been on civil rights and education. He was consultant to both the Chicago and the Detroit boards of education, the Educational Choice Foundation, the Chicago Teachers Academy and the Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. Larry has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress, and has lectured at colleges and universities, including Harvard, Northwestern and DePaul. He served as Executive Director of the City Club of Chicago, where he led a successful two-year campaign to save the historic Chicago Theatre from the wrecking ball. Larry has been a guest on hundreds of public affairs talk shows, and hosted his own program, “Chicago In Sight,” on WIND radio. An award-winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries have appeared on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He is praised by audiences for his style, substance and sense of humor. Larry retired from his consulting business to devote his time to writing. His books include a humorous look at collecting, “The Acrapulators’ Guide”, and a more serious history of the Democratic Party’s role in de facto institutional racism, “Who Put Blacks in That PLACE? -- The Long Sad History of the Democratic Party’s Oppression of Black Americans ... to This Day”. Larry currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida.

  1. Frank Danger .... Lots of opinion and not a scintilla of evidence. Where is your proof, old man? Funny how…