naturalplastic wrote:
So Shania Twain has more right to call herself an american indian than this lady who has never lived in a native american culture ( and is only one 32nd native american) has.
If Elizabeth Warren grew up in Oklahoma she more or less did grow up in a Native American culture. Oklahoma has always had a major Indian presence and people who live there are most likely around Indian culture on a regular basis depending on where they live. There is not really much separation there between "Indian culture" and society in general in a large portion of Oklahoma, especially for the tribes like the Cherokee who don't live on a reservation. They are very much integrated within the established culture.
Although now that I've looked up more info, seems like she's from Oklahoma City, which I *believe* has much less of an Indian presence than the eastern half of the state. But still, you can't really be in Oklahoma and not have some kind of exposure to Indian culture, unless you are really trying to avoid it.
However, yeah, if she has no ancestor on the Dawes roll it does seem like she probably may not be Cherokee, or at least she may not be able to prove it...I will say though that during the turn of the century I don't think someone would put that they were Cherokee on any kind of legal document unless they really were, it is not like today, it was not considered good to be Indian.
I won't get into the whole problem with non-Indians saying who has the right to call themselves Indian.