As Twitchy reported, not long after Sen. Elizabeth Warren spiked the ball when a DNA test showed she could have as little as 1/1024th Native American heritage — less than the average white American — the Cherokee Nation put out a statement saying that “using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong.”
We wondered which media outlet would be first to try to discredit the Cherokee Nation, and we think that honor goes to a Washington Post reporter who did some digging and found that back in 2012, the head of the Cherokee Nation “defended Warren and stressed that she never claimed to be a card-carrying member” — guess he never got his copy of the “Pow Wow Chow” cookbook. And this was before the DNA test fiasco.
The media is still circling the wagons around Warren, and now MSNBC analyst Zerlina Maxwell has called the Cherokee Nation’s statement ridiculous and problematic.
.@msnbc analyst: Cherokee Nation condemning @SenWarren is "ridiculous," "problematic" https://t.co/imG8XVy3Xw
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) October 18, 2018
What’s so problematic about the statement? Maxwell explained to host Craig Melvin:
I think that while the rollout of the DNA test and the decision to do a DNA test to be able to, quote, “prove” that she is part Cherokee, may not have been the best method. I also think that the Cherokee Nation’s response was problematic because it actually ignores the fact that DNA testing historically has been used to exclude black natives from tribal affiliation. And so, that history has been completely lost in this entire conversation, and that’s potentially very unfortunate.
So whose DNA testing, exactly, has been used to exclude black natives from tribal affiliation? Maxwell’s obviously insinuating the tests are racist, and since there’s no one else to finger, she might as well suggest that the Cherokee Nation’s statement was “problematic,” i.e., racist.
Someone called this, pundits on left attacking the actual Cherokee Nation (@sunnyright I think) https://t.co/hZJoQJVaAW
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) October 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/96gq/status/1053065819343642624
Yeah, and Maxwell’s not even the first we’ve heard of.
TFW you're so anti-Trump you're willing to throw an entire native American tribe under the bus to defend a rich white woman
— RoboHector (@HectortheRobot) October 18, 2018
Going to be awesome to see Ezra Klein types explaining to the Cherokee Nation what counts as being American Indian.
— George Purcell (@gpurcell) October 15, 2018
Ah, excellent, further reasons to despise the word "problematic" and desire its retirement from the English language.
— I Cast Spookaga? (@anceldelambert) October 18, 2018
I think she just said the Cherokee Nation is getting a little uppity.
— Stone Cold Snark (@brad43479) October 18, 2018
So is this officially a new low for liberals?
— Chris Cook (@realChrisBubbaC) October 18, 2018
Liberals: hold our beer.
— Jesse Bowman (@jessepbowman) October 18, 2018
Can we just ask … why is anyone in America even still suggesting that Warren is in any way, shape, or form Native American?
Would it be too much for the media to lay off the Cherokee Nation and maybe fact-check this list of Warren’s lies about her heritage instead?
Related:
SHOCKA! WaPo reporter attacks, tries discrediting Cherokee Nation for coming out AGAINST Elizabeth Warren https://t.co/23wqizfA2r
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 16, 2018
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