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Elizabeth Warren on Principles & Values
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My family is part Cherokee and I can't change who I am
Brown began the debate by saying Warren "checked the box claiming she is Native American, and clearly she is not." Brown called on Warren, a professor at Harvard Law School, to release records related to her hiring at the school to show whether
she got an unfair advantage. "I think character is important," he said. Warren said that her parents told her growing up that her mother was part Cherokee and part
Delaware Indian and that as a child she never questioned that story. Warren also said those who hired her during her law school career had said they were either unaware of her background or that
it played no role in their decision to hire her. "This is about family. I can't and I won't change who I am," she said.
Source: North Adams Transcript on 2012 Mass. Senate debate
, Sep 21, 2012
My Indian heritage played no role in Harvard hiring
Questions about Warren's roots have dogged her campaign since the story broke in April. Warren has acknowledged that she had identified herself as a minority in a legal directory for nearly a decade, and she was listed as a Native American in federal
forms filed by Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania where she worked. But she has said her heritage claim played no role in her career advancement.Some members of Warren's extended family had also heard stories of Native American blood in the
family, but others had not.
Brown challenged Warren to release her personnel records to prove that her claim of Native American heritage had played no role in her getting jobs. Warren pointed to the fact that Prof. Charles Fried, a Republican, who sat
on the committee that recruited Warren for her Harvard job, said that he was unaware of her ancestry when she was hired. "There's nothing else there. The question has been asked and answered. I think the senator just doesn't like the answer," Warren said
Source: Boston Globe 2012 FactCheck on Mass. Senate Debate
, Sep 21, 2012
My father's family rejected my mother's Indian heritage
Q: Is character an issue in this Senate race?BROWN: I think character is important. Professor Warren claimed she was a Native American, a person of color. And as you can see, she's not.
WARREN: When I was growing up, these were the stories
I knew about my heritage. When [my parents] wanted to get married, my father's family said no because my mother was part Delaware and part Cherokee. This is my family, this is who I am, and it's not going to change.
Source: Boston Globe on 2012 Mass. Senate debate
, Sep 20, 2012
I know I'm 1/32 Cherokee because my mother told me so
Warren, a Harvard Law School professor, was listed as Native American in 1995. HLS listed her as a minority when the school was under pressure to diversify the faculty. Warren has said that her "family lore" described Indian ancestors, and the New Englan
Genealogy Association said it found indications, but not proof, that Warren had a Cherokee great-great-great-grandmother, which would make her 1/32 Indian. "I'm proud of my heritage," Warren said. Asked how she knew it included
Native Americans, she replied, "Because my mother told me so."Her opponents question whether Warren chose this heritage to gain advantages available to Indians and other underrepresented groups in academia. Warren has been adamant that she did
not seek any advantage from Native American heritage. Records show that she declined to apply for admission to Rutgers Law School under a minority student program and identified her race as "White" on an employment record at the University of Texas.
Source: Associated Press on 2012 Mass. Senate debates
, May 25, 2012
Created intellectual foundation for Occupy Wall Street
I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they [Occupy Wall Street] do.
I support what they do.
Source: The Daily Beast, "I created Occupy Wall Street"
, Oct 24, 2011
Page last updated: Apr 21, 2013
