The Rachel Maddow Show - Scott Brown makes issue of Elizabeth Warren's ancestry

[Galraedia]

[Enrique]

1. her fact about the head of the Cherokee Nation makes all the difference

I think Rachel is being disingenuous when she says the attack is "weird". It's not weird at all, imo. When I heard that Warren called herself Native American based on 1/32 ancestry I thought that was very strange and possibly wrong. I thought 1/32 ancestry was so small so as to be meaningless. That's why I think it makes a big difference to know that the head of the Cherokee Nation has that same fraction.

[flyingfysh]

2. You can find Cherokee Nation citizenship requirements at www.cherokee.org

You have to prove direct descent from some person on the Dawes Roll (an official government census done around the year 1900). The percentage of Cherokee blood does not matter. It's right there on the official Cherokee web site.

Lots of people with Cherokee blood do not qualify for Cherokee Nation citizenship, for various reasons; usually because their ancestors were somewhere else or declined to participate in the census. For example, David Vann (www.cherokeebyblood.com) is a direct descendant of one of the famous old Cherokee chiefs. But he does not qualify.