There's an interesting race for a US Senate seat going on in Massachusetts.
Incumbent Scott Brown is in a close race against Elizabeth Warren and by most
accounts the campaign has been fairly civil. At least by today's standards. It's
taken an interesting twist, though.
A couple of weeks ago it was revealed
that Ms. Warren has reported on some job applications that her race is American
Indian, specifically Cherokee. Not every application she has ever filled out or
even the ones after she found out that she has distant Indian relatives. Just
some. Which means that on certain days, she considered herself American Indian,
and on other days she did not.
This "minority status" apparently got her
get hired onto the faculty of Harvard as a law professor. Years later, she
seemed to have abandoned that claim to being a minority because there are
records where she lists herself as Caucasian after being hired for this
position. The University itself seems to have played along with this game,
because for a while it pointed to Warren as an example of its "diverse" teaching
staff.
I have more than a little interest to this side story in an
important election. Let me say first, I am not an American Indian. I am not what
anyone would consider a minority. I am, however a member of the Cherokee Nation,
and I have been for many years. I've voted in every Oklahoma tribal election
since 1994, but since I'm not a resident on a reservation in that state, I've
never received any benefits to this membership. Whenever I fill out paperwork
asking my race, it is and always has been: White or Caucasian.
When I was
a teenager, I found out that my own grandmother was part Cherokee. She possessed
a card issued by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma that certified her to be 1/8
American Indian. This is an official and sanctioned tribal government document
and it is referred to as a CDIB card: Certified Degree of Indian
Blood.
As I learned about about my grandmother's heritage at a fairly
young age, I thought it was kind of cool. Having always considered myself an
average white kid, and born into an era when being caucasian was going out of
out of style, the idea of Native American heritage was instantly appealing. Sure
the white folks could be made fun of on 70's TV shows like "Good Times" and
"Sanford & Son." But I didn't feel so white any more, and I was able to gin
up a respectable amount of indignancy toward the oppressors of American Indians,
past and present.
The famous commercial of the 1970's where Iron Eyes
Cody sheds a tear over an American landscape riddled with garbage seemed a
little more personal to me. Paul Revere and the Raiders song "Cherokee People"
spun endlessly on my turntable. I revealed this trivia about my bloodline to a
few friends and being smart friends, they were not very impressed. Typical back
and forths between us eighth graders would go like this: You don't look Indian.
Well it doesn't matter, because I am, sort of. Is this why you have no facial
hair? Are you going to end up dead drunk on the reservation?
Undeterred,
I acquired the same CDIB card as my grandmother. It was a simple matter of
paperwork with the Cherokee Nation. Factoring in two generations, and with no
other part Indian relatives to add to the soup, my Cherokee purity ended up 1/32
on the card. Really - right around 3 percent which coincidentally is what
Elizabeth Warren claims to be, also. A fraction like this should be plenty
reason to laugh at anyone who claims minority status or significant Indian
"heritage." But there is more. One big difference between myself and Ms. Warren
is that she apparently is an undocumented Indian. That is, she does not have a
CDIB card. She says she found out about all this through relatives. If you
really want a chuckle, search for her comments about having "high cheek bones"
as further proof of being Cherokee.
Another major difference exists
between myself and US Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren. I never once, claimed
to be an American Indian on any official application. Not for college, the
military, employment, anything, ever. Can't say why, and it's not because I'm
not that cynical - because I certainly can be. I just never did the same thing
as Elizabeth Warren, and I feel pretty comfortable knowing that the job I have
now came about simply through good qualifications and a good
interview.
Ms. Warren almost became head of the new agency designed to
protect all US consumers. She wants to be a US Senator. I wonder how comfortable
she is with the choice she made to treat heritage and the label of "minority"
like a garment. To be worn like an attractive interview suit as part of the
process of advancing a career. Then closeted away until next
time.
Finally, I wonder if she thinks of the other applicants who did not
claim to be a minority, but maybe were just as or even more qualified. The ones
who thought they were playing fair. The ones who didn't con anybody. You know,
the ones who got rejection letters.
