Elizabeth Warren apologized to the Cherokee Nation for her DNA stunt – Washington Examiner

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has offered a private apology to the Cherokee Nation for publicizing the results of a DNA test showing she might have distant Native American ancestry, the Tulsa World reported.

“We are encouraged by this dialogue and understanding that being a Cherokee Nation tribal citizen is rooted in centuries of culture and laws, not through DNA tests,” Julie Hubbard, the tribe’s executive director of communications, told Tulsa World. “We are encouraged by her action and hope that the slurs and mockery of tribal citizens and Indian history and heritage will now come to an end.”

The reason for the apology? Warren is at most 1/1024th American Indian according to the DNA test. But she had made plenty of hay from her supposed Native American heritage for decades before that.

Before embarrassing herself with her 23andMe stunt last October, Warren submitted recipes to the Pow Wow Chow cookbook, claimed Native American heritage on her Harvard Law School job application, and even fundraised off being nicknamed “Pocahontas” by the president.

It was that mockery that inspired Warren to take the DNA test. It didn’t go well.

The Cherokee Nation was one of the first to condemn Warren’s actions as “inappropriate and wrong.”

“It 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,” Cherokee Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said last year. “Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage.”

Warren has made amends for that mistake. Whether Warren can convince primary voters her judgment is sound is another question. The apology is a start.