Elizabeth Warren Admits to Native American Group: 'I Have Made Mistakes'
At a Monday campaign stop in Iowa, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren apologized for the “harm” she has caused in claiming Native American heritage.
“I know that I have made mistakes,” the 2020 Democratic hopeful told the crowd at the Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, The Hill reported.
“I am sorry for harm I have caused. I have listened and I have learned a lot, and I am grateful for the many conversations we have had together,” Warren continued.
The Massachusetts senator’s ethnicity has been in the public eye for months after years of accusations that she had falsely claimed Native American heritage based on scant or spurious records.
Warren accepted a professorship at Harvard Law School in 1993. In the years following her hire, the school’s news director, Mike Chmura, referred to her as a “Native American” professor and the school’s “first woman of color.”
Warren has consistently claimed Cherokee descent, but her claims did not receive widespread attention until she ran for Senate in 2012 — and outlets like The Atlantic began to dispute her story.
President Donald Trump has taken to calling Warren “Pocahontas,” both before and after the Massachusetts senator released a DNA analysis in October in an attempt to vindicate herself.
The analysis revealed “strong evidence” that Warren has Native American ancestry — from 6 to 10 generations ago — inspiring even more controversy.
“Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong,” Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said, according to NPR.
In October, Warren clarified the results of the DNA test on Twitter, noting that “DNA & family history has nothing to do with tribal affiliation or citizenship, which is determined only – only – by Tribal Nations.”
I won’t sit quietly for @realDonaldTrump‘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.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018
The second-term senator, known for being a “policy wonk,” recently released a set of policy proposals aimed at “criminal justice reform on tribal lands,” according to The Hill.
In her proposals, Warren called on the Department of Justice “to investigate the epidemic of sexual assaults and murders committed against Native women and prosecute offenders.”
The president has vowed to continue his attacks on Warren.
“Elizabeth Warren — I did the Pocahontas thing,” Trump said at a Thursday campaign rally in New Hampshire, according to Politico.
“I hit her really hard and it looked like she was down and out but that was too long ago, I should’ve waited. But don’t worry, we will revive it.”
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