Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sparked controversy when she released the results of a DNA test she took to prove her Native American ancestry. President Donald Trump had long mocked her by calling her “Pocahontas,” doubting the authenticity of her claims. The test results showed that Warren does have a Native American background, but only a tiny fraction. The report from the test stated, “the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor in the individual’s pedigree, likely in the range of 6-10 generations ago.”
Republicans immediately seized on this, blasting Warren for seemingly overstating her Native American background, when in reality, she only seems to have a tiny fraction of Native American DNA. According to NBC News political reporter Jonathan Allen, however, they’re not the ones who should be upset. Allen discussed this on The Bill Press Show, a radio program hosted by former CNN and MSNBC host Bill Press. Allen said actual minorities are the ones who should be more upset.
His comments can be found at the 1:58:04 mark in the video embedded above.
“The people who are most offended by this are people who believe in affirmative action because they’re like Elizabeth Warren didn’t need affirmative action, she perpetrated some level of fraud, and that hurts affirmative action,” Allen said.
This is in the context of attacks from people like President Trump, who has accused Warren of using her questionable minority status to get ahead via affirmative action. Warren has responded to this by releasing various personnel records.
These included an application to Rutgers Law School where did not identify as a minority, and several forms where she submitted corrections to her minority status after having already been offered tenure.
[Image via JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP/Getty Images]
