Elizabeth Warren's DNA Test Released, Less Native American Than Average American
In a move that many are claiming to be a first step on the road to the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren released the results of a DNA test which shows that she has some Native American ancestry.
That test, however, shows that percentage of Native American blood is possibly less than the average american.
The Boston Globe reports the DNA test shows “strong evidence” that Warren had a Native American somewhere in her family anywhere from six to 10 generations ago.
The study was conducted by Carlos D. Bustamante, a Stanford University professor.
He said the study shows that Warren’s ancestry is “vastly European,” but does show “the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor.”
After the story was released by The Globe, however, the news agency had to print a correction. “Due to a math error, a story about Elizabeth Warren misstated the ancestry percentage of a potential 10th generation relative,” the paper said. “It should be 1/1,024.”
“If her great-great-great-grandmother was Native American, that puts her at 1/32nd American Indian. But the report includes the possibility that she’s just 1/1024th Native American if the ancestor is 10 generations back,” the correction said.
According to that math, if Warren is just 1/1024th Native American, that would put her has having a possibility of only a .098 percent Native American ancestry.
However, according to the New York Times, scientists say the average European-American is made up of .18 Native American.
That would put Warren on track for being less than the average American.
In addition, the Globe notes that finding Native American DNA can be “tricky” due to a lack of availability of Native American DNA.
This is partially because many Native American leaders have urged tribal members “not to participate” in genetic databases.
“To make up for the dearth of Native American DNA, Bustamante used samples from Mexico, Peru, and Colombia to stand in for Native American,” the Globe reported.
Warren has been frequently criticized by President Donald Trump regarding her claim of being part Native American. Trump has often mocked that claim by referring to the senator as “Pocahontas.”
Warren has claimed that her great-great-great-grandmother, O.C. Sarah Smith, was partially Native American. This fits with the study’s finding that a Native American appears in her lineage “in the range of 6-10 generations ago.”
Warren took to Twitter on Monday to ask for the $1 million Trump promised to donate to charity if she could prove her Native American ancestry.
By the way, @realDonaldTrump: Remember saying on 7/5 that you’d give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry? I remember – and here's the verdict. Please send the check to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center: https://t.co/I6YQ9hf7Tv pic.twitter.com/J4gBamaeeo
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 15, 2018
“By the way, @realDonaldTrump: Remember saying on 7/5 that you’d give $1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry?” Warren wrote. “I remember – and here’s the verdict. Please send the check to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center.”
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