On the Elizabeth warren issue.

[fun n serious]

I want to weigh in in the Elizebeth Warren and the Native American issue. My grandmother my fathers mother was Irish and Cherokee Indian, you would never know it by looking at her at all. She looked nothing but white. Her son, my father married my mother who is Mexican. So that makes me Mexican, Cherokee, English, Irish, and God knows what else. I speak, read and write fluent Spanish and so do my kids. I have sorta dark blonde hair and green eyes. I mostly look like my Pops. So.. Clearly you can not judge someones heritage by the color of their skin. I freckle and burn in the sun too. So when asked what race or nationality I am.. I can check white, Native American and Hispanic.

[lamp_shade]

1. ... and you're wonderful. Great post!!!

[Xipe Totec]

2. You are in excellent company

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101727742

[Siwsan]

3. Atavistic/inherited racial characteristics are a law onto themselves

I had an aunt, on my mother's side, whose features were very Mongolian. The Mongolian ancestry on that side of my family is generations and generations removed. Yet, Aunt Mary would have looked right at place, tending to a Yurt.

[brewens]

4. I do blood drives at the Nez Perce Tribal health center. There are a few that come in to donate

that you wouldn't know were Native American. A couple from one family that you would only know because of their last name. I can't give a donors name but it's similar to "Two Bears".

A great bunch out there I might add. We really like that one.

[onlyadream]

5. Just a thought on this

Can EW have a DNA test done to put this crap to rest?

[jody]

7. Unlikely, hasn't Israel been unsuccessful in using DNA to classify someone as Jewish? nt

[onlyadream]

14. A family member

Had this done and found out that she is mostly Swedish, although she was born in northern Italy. I thought they could do the same in this case...

[jody]

17. I hope someone does attempt such a test to advance science as much as resolve the dispute. nt

[karynnj]

15. Israel would not even try because Jewish law makes that too complicated

To be considered Jewish you must be born to a Jewish mother. I don't know how many generation back they look. They also accept converts, but there is a lot of controversy based on the branch of Judaism they did their conversion in.

Because of this you could test only if their were a marker passed by the mother.

[jody]

16. I've been part of the Genographic project since the beginning. I'm male and my mitochondrial DNA

from my mother is from a group that over 90% of those possessing the same DNA identify themselves as either Ashkenazi or Sephardi Jews.

Somewhere back up the ancestral tree those people and I had a common mother.

What does that mean?

[karynnj]

18. Good point and extremely interesting. nt

[jody]

6. We need to add a census choice "All of the above". nt

[charmay]

8. I just don't understand what Brown's big deal is.

Elizabeth had information from her parents and grandparents that she was Native American. She checked a box on some law directory that she was Native American. There is no proof that she was given special privleges because of that checked box. I rely on my family's word of mouth about my heritage also. So what? Do we all have to get our geneology done to run for office? Ridiculous!

[polichick]

9. He doesn't have anything else, poor sap.

[smirkymonkey]

21. It's so annoying! I live in Boston and we are constantly blasted by Brown's stupid

commercials pummelling Elizabeth Warren for claiming she is part Native American. It seems to be the only one he's been running lately to the exclusion of any other commericals that speak of his qualifications or fitness for office.

I think/hope it's going to backfire on him. Who really cares about the issue anyway? As far as I am concerned it's completely irrelevant and in no way affects her capacity for holding public office.

[RevStPatrick]

10. It happened to me again the other day...

I suppose because it was Yom Kippur.
One of the local Hasids said Happy New Year to me.

I get people come up to me on the street at least once a week who start talking to me in Spanish.
I only know three or four words of it.

All the old ladies in my traditionally Italian neighborhood love me, because I have a nice smile, and they assume I'm a paisan. They're always startled when I tell them my name, which is just about the most Irish name possible.

Point is... That little bit of blood that my Cherokee great-great-great grandmother gave me has dominated my Irish so completely that it makes me look swarthy. My long brown hair, and easy reddish tan add to it.

I had a job many years ago where I worked with a bunch of Irish guys, right off the boat. They took me in as one of their own because of my name, and taught me how to drink Guinness and play darts. The Irish bartender at the place we hung out wondered why they were hanging out with a Mexican. When I showed him my ID, he wasn't convinced. He was always a little suspicious of me.

I guess it works both ways...

[1-Old-Man]

11. Did you ever notice that by the time a person is 80 you can't tell what color they are anyway?

[rasputin1952]

12. Brown, making this an issue, is doing quite poorly here in MA....

he has his "following", but Warren is far and above the better candidate. The single issue I have w/Elizabeth is her current stance on Iran and the wars; however I think she can change her aggressive stance.

What fascinates me, is the fact that Scott Brown is an idiot and yet somehow he polls just about even w/Warren, who, in my opinion, is brilliant, empathetic and genuine.

Many of us here in MA are working hard for Elizabeth, the last thing we want is 6 years of Brown, who will turn sharply to the Right if he wins. As it is, his "moderate" stance has been a well calculated ploy to keep voters thinking he's not some RW maniac, (he's pretty close to one though, and if he should actually win on his own, all bets are off, he'll topple to the insane side).

[Cha]

19. Thank you for working for Elizabeth,

ras!

[fun n serious]

13. It certainly is increduble that this issue is coming up in 2012

Tells you how some people are stuck in the past.

[Poiuyt]

20. And when you die, someone will baptise you as Mormen!

[fun n serious]

22. I don't know if I would care at that point. nt

[One_Life_To_Give]

23. Harvard was quick to list itself as having hired a Native American Professor

No smoking gun that Elisabeth told them or received any preference for it. But Harvard's diversity department was quick to list itself as having a Native American amongst it's senior faculty as soon as she was hired.

Bigger question is who really cares. A number of people who applied for civil service jobs during the early days of affirmative action, when imbalances were being corrected, are probably going to feel put out by 1/32nd. But many of them are going to vote for Brown anyway.

[porphyrian]

24. I don't care what her heritage is, she has proven that she's best for the job.

Racists have no place in office.