Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., gave a surprise speech before the National Congress of American Indians on Wednesday, where she addressed her Native American heritage and condemned President Trump’s references to her as “Pocahontas.”
“Our country’s disrespect of Native people didn’t start with President Trump. It started long before President Washington ever took office,” Warren said, according to a transcript of her remarks published by the Boston Globe. “But now we have a president who can’t make it through a ceremony honoring Native American war heroes without reducing Native history, Native culture, Native people to the butt of a joke. The joke, I guess, is supposed to be on me.”
Warren was one of several lawmakers, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who addressed the gathering. Members of Trump’s Cabinet also attended, including Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.
But Warren’s absence at the National Congress of American Indians Tribal Nations Policy Summit prior to her speech Wednesday was slammed by the Republican National Committee, which proclaimed in an email Tuesday “Fauxcahontas MIA from Major Native American Summit.”
During her speech, the Massachusetts Democrat addressed claims about her Native American heritage. Warren has said her mother’s family is Cherokee, but according to the Boston Globe, there has been no conclusive proof of her Native American ancestry. Critics have accused the senator of using her Native American heritage to advance her academic career.
“I get why people think there’s hay to be made here. You won’t find my family members on any rolls, and I’m not enrolled in a tribe,” she said. “And I want to make something clear. I respect that distinction. I understand that tribal membership is determined by tribe—and only by tribes. I never used my family tree to get a break or get ahead. I never used it to advance my career.”
Warren discussed how her father’s family disapproved of his relationship with her mother, whose family was part Native American, and how the couple decided to elope in 1932.
“They’re gone, but the love they shared, the struggles they endured, the family they built, and the story they lived will always be a part of me,” she said. “And no one—not even the president of the United States—will ever take that part of me away.”
The Democratic senator also addressed Trump’s repeated references to her as “Pocahontas,” and contrasted the fictional story with the accurate details of her life.
“Indigenous people have been telling the story of Pocahontas, the real Pocahontas, for four centuries. A story of heroism, and bravery, and pain,” Warren said. “And for almost as long, her story has been taken away by powerful people who twisted it to serve their own purposes.”
Warren vowed to support Native Americans and help “ write a new story” for them.
“For far too long, your story has been pushed aside, to be trotted out only in cartoons and commercials,” she said. “So I’m here today to make a promise: Every time someone brings up my family’s story, I’m going to use it to lift up the story of your families and your communities.”
