BostonGlobe | Warren’s constituents in Massachusetts probably don’t realize how
common it is for white people in the South to grow up with stories of
distant and heroic Indian ancestors. (And some black Southerners, too:
NFL running back Emmitt Smith realized he wasn’t part Cherokee on an episode of NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are.”)
Cherokees married outside their tribe more than other Native Americans —
a method of survival in the 17th and 18th centuries — so many people do
have distant ties to the group. Their exogamy has allowed thousands of
families like mine to claim ancestry, livening up their family trees
without ever having to reckon with the genocidal tendencies of some of
their forebears.
Nagle and many other Cherokees find this casual
appropriation of Native identity deeply offensive. But part of why the
stories have such staying power for my family, despite a lack of
evidence, is because my family is so sincerely proud of having any
connection to Native Americans. My granny and my grandfather greatly
admired the tribes that live in Oklahoma, and a group of Comanches sang
at my grandfather’s funeral, after the military bugler played taps in
honor of his service in World War II.
Warren’s speech last week
was well received by the Native Americans in attendance, who generously
accepted her assertion that her mother was Native American, despite a
lack of documentation.
“Who are we to say what she is?” said
Ricardo Ortiz, a member of the Pueblo of San Felipe tribe in New Mexico.
“If she knows what’s in her blood, and believes it, who are we to
criticize?”
