Native American?

Elizabeth Warren is running for Senator in Massachusetts.    The fact that she may or may not have Native American ancestry has been the subject of heated debate in the press and on social media.   Apparently, she is listed as minority faculty at Harvard University.    She has contributed to a Native American cookbook collection, in which, beside her name she has identified herself as a "Cherokee".    Some of her extended family supports her claim, some does not.    There is no written documentation that proves her connection one way or the other.    I suppose if she was a suburban housewife laying claim to Native American ancestry at cocktail parties, no one would really care.  But, because she is running for a national office, and some feel she has used this connection in a divisive manner to become a tenured "minority" professor at Harvard University, it merits discussion.

Does she have a right to call herself a minority?   I think when you look at her blond hair and blue eyes, it is easy to dismiss her, and her supposed Native American ancestry.    She looks like she would be much more at home on the Pilgrim's side of the first Thanksgiving table, than the "other" side. 

Or would she?  Would she be more credible if she was a brunette and had brown eyes?  I wonder.

There are things about all of us, that we feel inside, that is not visible to the naked eye.  Does it make it less so?   On the other hand, I doubt that Elizabeth Warren has ever truly felt what it feels like to live as a minority.   Has she ever been eyed suspiciously when walking into an elite country club?   Did kids taunt her as a child with Native American monikers such as "pale moon face"?    Did she ever live on a reservation?   I know that she did not grow up wealthy and I'm sure there are times when she has felt like an outsider, or an intruder, in the wealthy, elite, predominantly male Ivory Tower.    But, how seriously should this minority thing be taken?  Is she being divisive? or is this a case of a bit of information turning into a giant snowball, that is out of her control.  More likely the latter.

There are many mixed race kids who are applying for college this very minute who are pausing at the "race" box.   Most of these kids are making a quick decision based on what is in their best interest.   There has been a lot of press about how it is most difficult for Asian students to get into college, followed by whites and then blacks and latinos.   So, when kids get to that race box, they check the box that works best for them.  Why not?   If they are a fraction latino or black, it serves them well to check that box.  On the other hand, Asian students do the opposite.   There have been documented cases where Asian students have changed their last name to that of their white parent, so they don't even sound Asian.    Yes, this is ethically wrong, but it is also ethically wrong for colleges to make it harder or easier to get into college based on race.    It is quite possible that the decision they are making right now, at 17 years old, to get into college will come back to haunt them.    Who are you to call yourself black?   Are you ashamed of your Asian heritage?   I can guarantee you that they are not thinking of these questions now.

This is not a political blog, so I will not go into whether or not Elizabeth Warren is a good witch or a bad witch.  

What I will say it that the "Race" card is dangerously powerful in our culture.   It works for good and for evil.   It is played by everyone.   The only way to stop this is to take it completely out of the deck.