Thread by @KimTallBear

I was recently interviewed for a politico article, “Native American critics still wary of Warren despite apology tour” that appropriately focused on Cherokee critics’ voices. politico.com/story/2019/08/…

As I expected, most of my lengthy comments didn’t make the article. But that e-mail I sent to the reporter was another opportunity to think some things through.

Here are my thoughts on #ElizabethWarren’s “apology tour” in tweets.

As a Dakota person, I am not interested in whether Elizabeth Warren runs for president or not, or frankly in the details of her Native American platform.

Any Democrat will be as good or as relatively uninformed as another when it comes to Native issues. Obama said he was going to enforce treaty rights. AS IF. I have low expectations post-election.

That said, I'll ultimately vote Democrat. But all or most of the Democratic candidates know little about Indian Country and are not likely to continue to prioritize our specific issues post-election.

In addition, none of the Dem candidates are truly anti-colonial because none of them go far enough to question U.S. settler-colonialism at home or U.S. imperialism abroad.

My vocal critique of #ElizabethWarren stems from my academic expertise. I study the politics and culture of genome science, and also discourses of cultural and biological appropriation, or theft.

I also have a background as an environmental policy analyst so I link land rights to biological resource rights to Indigenous governance of science.

With my policy and politics of science background, I weigh in on Elizabeth Warren because of the damage done by her DNA test and her appropriation of Native identity & histories.

#ElizabethWarren perpetuated false and harmful racial science ideas by taking and using that DNA test for her own personal emotional needs and for PR.

I doubt #ElizabethWarren realizes the complex harm she has done, nor do most Americans judging from MSM and my trolls.

But #ElizabethWarren created more mess for those of us who work to dispel ideas that belonging to the Cherokee or any other Native people is defined by a genetic ancestry test.

By foregrounding DNA, #ElizabethWarren helped make more cloudy tribal definitions of kinship, peoplehood, and identity.

The public already believed that a DNA test can arbitrate Cherokee or Native American belonging.

Non-Natives already use DNA to challenge or dismiss our own tribal kinship and citizenship definitions.

Along with #ElizabethWarren’s stereotypes about Natives and her false family stories that she clings to despite professional Cherokee genealogists disproving them…

…#ElizabethWarren's DNA stunt reinforces racist American misunderstandings and definitions of us.

#ElizabethWarren's vague apologies, without taking the specific and assertive steps that @RebeccaNagle, e.g., advises, look like insincere political correctness.

@rebeccanagle Senator Warren's actions are not only enabled by, but also contribute to the structural racism that helped produce the genetic ancestry testing industry in the first place.

@rebeccanagle The production of genetic ancestry technologies are in part rooted in longstanding colonial theft.

@rebeccanagle Indigenous biologicals (bones, blood, DNA) have been taken unethically by scientists since the late 19th century.

@rebeccanagle Native people have struggled for the last 50-70 years to get our ancestors' remains back that were literally stolen from massacre sites and graves.

@rebeccanagle More recently, Native people also fight to gain control over blood and DNA samples that were taken unethically.

@rebeccanagle Native people challenge research priorities and scientific methods that violate Native American ethical protocols and rights.

@rebeccanagle Native people’s bodies and those of our ancestors, like Indigenous lands, are treated as raw materials upon which #ElizabethWarren and the nation build their own institutions, wealth, and identities.

@rebeccanagle That is the foundation for the genetic ancestry testing industry. Just like #ElizabethWarren's white ancestors availed themselves of ill-gotten Native land and wealth in what became Oklahoma…

@rebeccanagle …scientists have availed themselves of ill-gotten Indigenous blood and DNA to produce the knowledge that she uses to shore up her mythological claims to being Cherokee and Delaware.

@rebeccanagle In short, land and biological resources were stolen to build the science that #ElizabethWarren in turn uses to steal Native identity.

@rebeccanagle I am sure #ElizabethWarren has no idea what she has done, nor do the scientists who help her.

@rebeccanagle Colonizers and their institutions spend a lot of energy being in denial of history, whitewashing the historical record so they can forget their collective crimes.

@rebeccanagle That said, #ElizabethWarren was also fortunate enough to be advised ahead of time not to do the DNA test by Native experts on Cherokee genealogy and DNA testing.

@rebeccanagle That advice was well-circulated in the media and on social media. I am told that #ElizabethWarren’s advisors were familiar with our collective critique.

@rebeccanagle #ElizabethWarren was also advised by Cherokee history, policy, and genealogy experts post-DNA test about how specifically to make amends. She refuses to do what is required.

@rebeccanagle Instead, #ElizabethWarren substitutes vague apologies that sidestep the specific harms she's accused of.

@rebeccanagle #ElizabethWarren will not let go of her family's and many white family's multigenerational lies that are based in the theft of Native American lands, stories, and identities.

@rebeccanagle Like the rest of the nation, #ElizabethWarren might say she is sorry for her appropriation, but refuses to actually restore what was stolen: in her case, Native people’s stories & our definitions of identity.

@rebeccanagle This is the definition of “decolonization” according to Tuck and Yang’s important article, “Decolonization is not a metaphor.” Indigenous land and LIFE must be restored. jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/…

@rebeccanagle Please don’t tweet nonsense at me that does not engage this multi-field analysis. I’ve thought about these issues since 2001, long before #ElizabethWarren hit the news cycles.

@rebeccanagle You can read and listen to my work on this issue at the following links listed chronologically after my book NATIVE AMERICAN DNA. Happy reading and listening!

@rebeccanagle My 2013 University of Minnesota Press book: NATIVE AMERICAN DNA upress.umn.edu/book-division/…

@rebeccanagle and the audio book NATIVE AMERICAN DNA just out. audiobooks.com/audiobook/nati…

@rebeccanagle All My Relations with Dr. Adrienne Keene and Matika Wilbur. “Episode 4: Can a DNA Test Make Me Native American?” Interview with Kim TallBear. March 12, 2019. allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episod….

@rebeccanagle RED Talks: Shaping Tribal Futures. “Advancing Science and Technology for Indigenous Communities.” Interview with Kim TallBear. June 18, 2018. . .

@rebeccanagle Flash Forward podcast. “We are Family: “What happens when everybody has their DNA sequenced and uploaded to genetic genealogy sites?” Rose Eveleth interview with Kim TallBear and others. June 5, 2018. flashforwardpod.com/2018/06/05/we-….

@rebeccanagle Broad Science podcast. “Social Life of DNA, Part 2.” Interview with Kim TallBear. March, 2018. soundcloud.com/broad-science/…

@rebeccanagle The State of Things, WUNC with Frank Stasio, “Does a DNA Test Make You Indigenous?” November 3, 2017. wunc.org/post/does-dna-….

@rebeccanagle Code Switch Podcast, NPR with Leah Donella. “When ‘Where Are You From?’ Takes You Someplace Unexpected.” August 10, 2017. npr.org/sections/codes…

@rebeccanagle Another Round by Buzzfeed with Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton. Episode #88 – I Got Indian in Me. April 19, 2017. itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ano….

@rebeccanagle FiveThirtyEight: Science & Health. With Maggie Koerth-Baker and Blythe Terrell. “The Complicated Relationship Between Genes and Genealogy.” fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-c…. March 2, 2017.

@rebeccanagle Science for the People. Indigenous DNA #403. Interviews with Kim TallBear and Keolu Fox. scienceforthepeople.ca/episodes/indig…. January 6, 2017.

@rebeccanagle New Books in Science, Technology, and Society with Carla Nappi. Kim TallBear. Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science. March 16, 2014. files.newbooksnetwork.com/scitechsoc/067….

@rebeccanagle New Books in Native American Studies with Andrew Bard Epstein. Kim TallBear. Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science. November 23, 2013. files.newbooksnetwork.com/nativeamerica/….

@rebeccanagle Genomic Articulations of Indigeneity (2013) journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…

@rebeccanagle Tell me a story: genomics vs. Indigenous origin narratives (2013). councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/GeneWatch/Gene…

@rebeccanagle “Your DNA Is Our History”: Genomics, Anthropology, and the Construction of Whiteness as Property (2012). journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.108…

@rebeccanagle “The Political Economy of Tribal Citizenship in the US: Lessons for Canadian First Nations?” (2011) journals.library.ualberta.ca/aps/index.php/…

@rebeccanagle The Illusive Gold Standard in Genetic Ancestry Testing (2009) science.sciencemag.org/content/325/59…

@rebeccanagle Book chapter (2008): “Native-American-DNA.coms: In Search of Native American Race and Tribe,” Revisiting Race in a Genomic Age, edited by B. Koenig, S.Soo-Jin Lee, and S. Richardson. Rutgers University Press.

@rebeccanagle Narratives of Race and Indigeneity in the Genographic Project (2007)
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.…

@rebeccanagle The Science and Business of Genetic Ancestry (2007). science.sciencemag.org/content/318/58…

@rebeccanagle With Deborah Bolnick, “Native American DNA” Tests: What are the Risks to Tribes?” The Native Voice. December 3-7, 2004.

@rebeccanagle “Can DNA Determine Who is an Indian?” (2003). @IndianCountry has the byline as ICT. Not sure why. I wrote this: newsmaven.io/indiancountryt….

@rebeccanagle oh! i forgot. we also discussed #ElizabethWarren's response to Trump's 'Pocahontas' slurs on this episode of @mediaINDIGENA. Warren discussion starts at 50:58. radiopublic.com/media-indigena…