Elizabeth Warren and 1/32nd Identity Politics

[Valin]

Chicago Boyz: Chicagoboyz community member John Wolfsberger, Jr. emails:

 

I actually feel some sympathy for Elizabeth Warren. She was a law professor, unfairly besieged by the republican War on Women , apparently sitting alone in the faculty lounge. In an effort to meet new people and make some friends, she decided to make herself more interesting by revealing her Native American Ancestry. She really did nothing wrong.

 

However, the incident has led me to an interesting insight. Ms. Warren tells us she is 1/32 Native American based on her great, great, great grandmother being Cherokee. For simplicity sake, let’s refer to her as the g3 grandmother. It occurred to me that if two of her g4 grandparents had been Cherokee, but parents of different g3 grandparents, Ms. Warren could still be considered 1/32 Native American. Furthermore, if 4 of Ms. Warrens g5 grandparents had been Native American, and parents of different g4 grandparents, Ms. Warren would still be 1/32 Native American. And so on.

 

(Snip)

 

Since every single one of my ancestors was African, shouldn’t I be able, a la Ms. Warren, to claim minority status as an African American? And if I can, shouldn’t everyone else in the United States be able to as well, regardless of where their more recent ancestors resided for a time?

 

This seems eminently reasonable. There is only one issue to resolve: if we all belong to the exact same Victim Group , who’s the oppressor group?

 

[clearvision]

It is not even clear she is 1/32. There is a birth certificate that has relative's race checked as Cherokee (note that Warren did not know of this before last week, had just heard family lore of someone being Cherokee). If this relative was only 1/2, 1/4,1/8 or whatever then Warren is even further removed from her "minority" status.

[nickydog]

Rush is playing Cher singing "Half Breed," Elizabeth Warren's new theme song.

[Rheo]

That's funny.

[RandyM]

When can I get my Gummint reparation check?

[Draggingtree]

The Perils of Lizzie “Paleface” Warren

 

May 4, 2012 | Filed under Asshats,Democrats,Hypocrisy | Posted by Michael Laprarie

It’s been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week for the beleaguered Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren. So naturally it’s time for me to beat up on her some more.

First off, Warren’s recently-released tax returns inadvertently revealed how she really feels about taxes. Warren and incumbent Scott Brown both released four years of tax returns in response to a request from the Boston Globe. For most of the period, the earnings of Warren and her husband outstripped the earnings of Brown and his wife by nearly 3 to 1. Yet, even though the Warrens were earning in the neighborhood of $900k a year, they declined to pay the special optional Massachusetts income rate of 5.85%, choosing instead to pay the mandatory rate of 5.3%. So much for all of Warren’s yammering about the “social contract” that obligates the wealthy to “pay their fair share.” When asked about this apparent discrepancy between her words and her deeds, Warren replied, “I paid my taxes, and I did not make a charitable contribution to the state.” So there, rubes.

But please don’t think for a minute that Elizabeth Warren doesn’t care about you. She’s out there, every day, “working for middle class families.” That annual income just shy of a cool million? And those stocks and mutual funds she and her husband own, worth somewhere between five and fifteen million? Or that special interest-free loan from Harvard? Irrelevant. Being “middle class” isn’t about a number. “It’s about a place in your heart.” (Cue touching scene with Sally Field passing the communion wine.)

But those darn establishment tools just won’t leave poor Lizzie alone.

Read More http://wizbangblog.com/2012/05/04/the-perils-of-lizzie-paleface-warren/