Massachusetts Senate Race Gets Nasty

A particularly nasty story out of Massachusetts made national headlines this week. U.S. Senator Scott Brown accused Elizabeth Warren, his expected Democratic rival in November, of misleading voters about using her Native American heritage for gain. Brown is a Republican who is running for a full six-year term after winning a hotly contested special election held in January 2010 after the death of U.S Senator Edward Kennedy. Warren is a consumer activist, professor and has served as an adviser to President Barack Obama.

The controversy stemmed from Warren claiming she never used her Native American heritage when applying for jobs. Brown brought up the fact that Warren was listed in the Association of American Law Schools’ annual directory of minority law teachers from 1986-1995. His spokesperson issued a statement saying, “This story raises serious questions about Elizabeth Warren’s credibility. The record now shows Prof. Warren did claim to be a ‘minority,’ and that she attempted to mislead the public about these facts when she was first asked about the issue last week.”

Warren responded by saying, “I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that it might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group something that might happen with people who are like I am. Nothing like that ever happened, that was clearly not the use for it and so I stopped checking it off.” She still asserts she did not disclose her heritage when applying for jobs.

Brown and conservative media outlets kept up their attacks and got vicious even after some investigations concluded that Warren does indeed have Native American ancestry and she is 1/32 Cherokee. For some, this wasn’t good enough. They attacked her for not being Native American enough. (It should be noted that current Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Bill John Baker is also 1/32 Cherokee.)

I ran across some very disturbing jabs at Warren throughout the week. She was called “Pinocchio-hontas,” “Chief Full-of-Lies,” “Running Joke” and “Sacaja-whiner.” I was shocked at the blatant racism being thrown out and that no one seemed to call it out. Brown ignored it and continued going after Warren insinuating she would not have been hired at Harvard had it not been for her minority status.

I was also disappointed in the way some mainstream media outlets covered these malicious, racist attacks. Chris Cillizza, a political reporter at the Washington Post and author of the Post’s political blog The Fix, awarded Warren the title of Worst Week in Washington. The title, given out weekly by Cillizza ”to the Democrat, Republican, West Wing dweller, Capitol Hill insider, K Street dealer, business guru, sports hero, think tank scribblers or other inhabitant of Planet Beltway who experienced the absolute worst week,” is often times given in semi-jest.

Cillizza’s write-up of Warren concluded that she was in a hole and needed to stop digging. But, the fact of the matter is, she hasn’t done anything wrong. There is no evidence to suggest she did use her heritage when applying for jobs. And, what is wrong with enlisting yourself in a directory in order to meet other people? She is Native American and there’s nothing wrong with saying so.

This is a total non-controversy drummed up by Brown and his conservative backers to try and discredit Warren for all that she has accomplished. The fact is, they have no game-plan to beat her. She’s got an incredibly remarkable success story. She has a long record of fighting for consumers and middle class families. Brown is in a decidedly liberal state and has a clearly conservative record in his two years in office. He knows that trying to appear moderate isn’t a good enough strategy because it has too many holes in it. Therefore, he must turn negative to attempt to win.

Beyond this one election though, it shows a disturbing attitude towards Native Americans. This country needs to do some major soul searching. How can we sit by and allow this type of racism to exist and not say or do anything about it? The Native American population was almost wiped out as Europeans came to the Americas and took over the land. Now, those in power sit back as Native Americans continue to be marginalized and as their population dwindles.

Minority voices should not be silenced, and no form of racism should be tolerated. A great first step would be for Scott Brown to apologize to Elizabeth Warren in this instance. Then, it is up to all of us in the human race to be more vigilant against racism in all facets of our lives.