Progressive political analyst Zerlina Maxwell located Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D., Mass.) main problem not in her claim to American Indian ancestry but in her deception about it.
After a Washington Post report found Warren listed herself as "American Indian" on her registration card for the State Bar of Texas in 1986, she’s facing renewed scrutiny of her claim that she never identified as a Native American in applications. On MSNBC Thursday, Maxwell argued Warren failed to tell the truth about her applications and dug a hole for herself.
"Her saying 'my family told me this' is not what the controversy should be about. The controversy is her saying that she did not put it on a form when she, in fact, did," Maxwell said.
Maxwell, who is the senior director of progressive programming for Sirius XM radio, did not hold back on holding Warren culpable for the political mess she’s in regarding her claim to Native American heritage. Warren has long guaranteed she never used her ancestry claim to get ahead in any official capacity but she has apologized for using DNA test results to vindicate her claim, a move that backfired. Now, the Post report indicates she did not tell the whole truth about how she used her claim to Native American ancestry in official documents.
Maxwell explained the distinction between Warren only claiming heritage and her decision to apply as a Native American and then lie about it.
"There's a distinction to be made between claiming Native American history and being from Oklahoma and saying that you didn't put that on any official document—right?—in order to gain entry or a benefit in terms of the Bar application—that is the form in the most recent story—or an application to an academic institution," Maxwell said.
MSNBC host Chris Jansing asked if voters will comprehend that distinction. Maxwell granted that voters don’t always grasp nuances but said the history of Native American displacement provides lessons about situations like Warren’s.
"I would encourage everybody watching to google the Great Migration. Then they will understand the American history that's involved with Native American history specifically in the state of Oklahoma," she said.