Warren: Who questions their parents?

Warren discusses response to heritage questionsMassachusetts Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren said Friday that she didn’t reveal until this week that she told past employers about her Native American ancestry because she needed more time to recall actions and events of years ago.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, the Harvard Law School professor and consumer advocate also addressed in greater detail other questions related to her family heritage, which she has not documented. She spoke on the eve of the Democratic State Convention in Springfield, Mass., where she was expected on Saturday to receive the endorsement of delegates in her bid to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown.

Warren has always maintained that she learned of her heritage through family lore. In the interview, she detailed further what she and her brothers had been told by their parents, the late Don and Pauline Herring.

"My mom and dad were deeply in love," said Warren, who was raised in Oklahoma. My father wanted to marry my mother, his parents objected, because she was part-Cherokee and part-Delaware."

"My parents eloped, in order to marry. It’s something my brothers and I grew up with. We always understood the difference, between our father’s family and our mother’s family," she said.Liz Warren Sets Herself Up for a Summer of Crazy

By Charles P. PierceUPDATE--Here's the text of an e-mail the Warren campaign sent out this afternoon.

When I was a little girl, I learned about my family's heritage the same way everyone else does--from my parents and grandparents. My mother, grandmother, and aunts were open about my family's Native American heritage, and I never had any reason to doubt them. What kid asks their grandparents for legal documentation to go along with their family stories? What kid asks their mother for proof in how she describes herself? My heritage is a part of who I am--and I am proud of it.

But that's not good enough for Scott Brown and the Republican Party. For several weeks now, they have orchestrated an attack against my family, my job qualifications, and my character. Earlier today, Scott Brown even questioned the honesty of my parents--even though they are not fair game and are not here to defend themselves.

Scott Brown wants me to give up my family and forget where I came from. I'm not doing that--not for politics and not for anything else. I'll hold on to every memory I can. My family is part of who I am, and they will be part of who I am until I die.Comment:  Warren says she won't deny who she is. I won't deny it either. Until she finds evidence, she's one of millions of Cherokee wannabes who have relied on unreliable family lore.

I discussed these issues on Facebook:

"What kid asks their mother for proof in how she describes herself?" Me. When Dad said he ran the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds or Mom said her ancestors came over on the Mayflower, I wanted evidence. I didn't swallow these claims uncritically.

Dad was full of it, we're pretty sure. But Mom's claims turned out to be true.

I also don't repeat my family stories to employers or the government. Unlike Warren, who used her history without verifying it.My Dad said he was kicked in the ear by a German soldier as they were engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Lost his hearing in the ear because of the fight, which of course he won by killing the German. Thank goodness I didn't use the family history on my FBI application--Father "War Hero." I eventually learned the story I cherished and repeated over and over to friends was just a story. I asked him one day and he said, oh that, just made it up to entertain you--"WHAT, ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? ENTERTAINMENT????"Yeah, Warren's story that her parents had to elope because her mom was Cherokee sounds suspicious. Her mom would've been 1/16 Native at most. And this was in Oklahoma in the mid-20th century. Were things really that bad then? "She's got a drop of Native blood, like everyone else in sight, so my family will hate her." Or is the story romantic twaddle?What I don't understand is, if it's so important to her, why didn't she educate herself about the Cherokee and Delaware today, and why didn't she seek out and connect with other descendants. And why doesn't she start a dialogue with the real Cherokee who are objecting to her claims. I think it's that notion that all Indians are in the past. Cool to have ancestors, but no interest in interacting with them today.Good point. She wants to be Indian only if she doesn't have to associate with other Indians.

Bottom line: My mommy told me Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy were real. If I'm Elizabeth Warren, I still believe in them.

Unlike Elizabeth Warren, smart kids question everything their parents say. You can't believe anything those bumblers tell you. <g>

For more on Elizabeth Warren, see Cherokees to Protest Warren and Warren Told Schools She Was Native.