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Activists want more than a disingenuous apology from Elizabeth Warren after DNA test gaffe
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Activists want more than a disingenuous apology from Elizabeth Warren after DNA test gaffe

They're not wrong

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is still under fire for claiming to be a Native American.

This time, Native American activists say that they want more than a half-hearted apology from the New England lawmaker.

What's a brief background?

Warren, who previously insisted that she was Native American, even went as far as to fill out her Texas state bar registration as a Native American.

Warren also took a DNA test to "prove" her Native American heritage in response to a challenge from President Donald Trump. The test returned findings that Warren was between 1/64 and 1/1024 Native American — clearly not enough to so vocally consider herself Native American. Warren blamed her family history for her belief that she descended from the Cherokee Nation.

In 2018, she apologized to the Cherokee Nation for the DNA test debacle.

The Cherokee Nation addressed Warren's DNA results almost immediately after she announced them, saying that the senator's "continued claims of tribal heritage" were "undermining tribal interests."

Chuck Hoskin Jr., the Cherokee Nation's secretary of state, added that Warren's use of a DNA test to "lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong."

Despite her apology, controversy continued to plague Warren with new findings of her Texas state bar registration card.

What are some Native Americans saying now?

On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that several Native American activists were very unhappy with the presidential candidate's conduct.

Rebecca Nagle, an activist and writer, told CNN that Warren didn't do much more than confuse the public about Native American tribes.

"Senator Warren caused a great deal of confusion with a republic that already doesn't know a lot about tribal sovereignty and how our tribes function," Nagle said. "Private apologies do nothing to clear up that public confusion. And because of the harm she's caused, she owes us a public apology and clear statement of why she's not Cherokee and why that difference matters."

Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) — who is one of the first Native American women to be elected to U.S. Congress — told the Post that Warren's ongoing Native American debate is nothing more than a distraction from real issues within the Native American community.

In 2018, Haaland said, "We need to be talking about the need for more scholarships in Indian country and education opportunities. There are so many things we could be talking about to move our country forward."

David Cornsilk, who is a genealogist, a historian, and also a member of the Cherokee Nation, added, "I want to see [Warren's apology] in writing. I want her to go on national TV. I want her to do a video like she did to announce her DNA results."

"It just seemed very lacking," he added.

You can read more about Warren's claims of Native American heritage here.

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