The Cherokee Nation issued a statement on Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test results she released yesterday saying that it is “inappropriate and wrong.” Warren took the test in response to President Donald Trump taunting her for her saying she was part Native American.
“Sovereign tribal nations set their own legal requirements for citizenship, and while DNA tests can be used to determine lineage, such as paternity to an individual, it is not evidence for tribal affiliation,” the Cherokee Nation’s Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is 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. Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage.”
Sen. Warrens family lore says that her great-great-great-grandmother was at least part Cherokee, which would make her 1/32nd Native American.
