Thread by @Peaceful_411

Quick thread on @SenWarren. I had a client whose family was from OKC & she was told her entire life that her ancestors were Osage Indian. Her entire professional career starting in the late 70s/early 80s, she identified herself as white. 1/

bostonglobe.com/news/nation/20…

Back then, institutions weren't focused like they are today on being diverse or caring about the optics and benefits of affirmative action. 2/

This client worked for the FAA as an air traffic controller. And even there, it didn't cross her mind that listing herself as a minority would be beneficial to her career. It was hard enough being a white woman in a male- dominated profession, let alone a woman of color. 3/

I met her right after she had retired from decades of gov civil service. She had plenty of old family stories about how there had been a horse thief on one side of the family & how that had created a divide amongst Indian tribal members. 4/

She wanted to finally know how much Osage was indeed in her ancestry. So she hired us to do her genealogy. My dad has a nack for this, especially since his own mom had cultivated a love of geneology in him. So I passed on this client's family records to him. 5/

We did not have her do a DNA test. This was just a pure records search of birth certificates, marriages licenses, census records, death certificates and burial sites. We found that she had no Osage, or any American Indian in her ancestry, going as far back as the early 1800s. 6/

The stories of having Osage Indian had all been family lore, with the exception that a relative had indeed been a horse thief. But he was not any member of any Indian tribe. 7/

When we gave the results to our client in a big, thick book of copied records, she was surprised & a bit disappointed. But did it change the tradition of the stories that were passed down in her family?

Of course not. 8/

This is not a unique situation. We all have family lore we've all been raised to believe is truth. Warren being hired for her "Native American" ancestry didn't get her to where she is today. 9/

If anything, it benefited the schools she was teaching at more than it benefited her. Because something in the early 1990s occurred that made diversity - both sex and race - finally an important priority to have for major institutions. 10/

And what was that event that caused this shift in priorities? The confirmation of Clarence Thomas.

The year was 1991 and a woman named Anita Hill had the courage to testify in front of Congress on how this nom for our highest court treated her, as a professional woman. 11/

And the only white male Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed Thomas anyway. And in 1992, that election year truly brought the "Year of the Woman."

history.house.gov/Exhibitions-an…

And all of a sudden diversity within our most esteemed institutions began to matter a little bit more than it ever had before. 12/

Do I think institutions like University of Pennsylvania & Harvard Law School capitalized on touting having a minority female professor? Of course I do.

Do I think that this was how Warren got her opportunities to teach at two top Ivy league law schools? Absolutely not. 13/

CODA: The hubby went to University of Pennsylvania for law school. His favorite professor was Elizabeth Warren. She taught a course in bankruptcy law. This was where he learned that bankruptcy was a tool designed to benefit the wealthy but was used to shame the middle class. 14/

Did you read what I just tweeted? @SenWarren taught BANKRUPTCY LAW & how the wealthy exploit it.

Is it any surprise who is at the bully pulpit call, slandering her credibility?

The master of using bankruptcy to lose millions & millions of dollars with NO accountability. /End