5 Other Fake Indians Besides Elizabeth Warren

The Massachusetts Democrat is hardly alone in passing herself off as having Indian blood.

You've got to kind of feel sorry for Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate who's running against short-term Republican incumbent Scott Brown (he won a special election in 2010 to replace the late Ted Kennedy). Everything seemed to be going her way and then—pffft!—it's all going to shit.

Born and raised in a working-class setting that's genuinely rare among academics and politicians, she eventually ended up teaching at Harvard after a stint at another Ivy League school, the University of Pennsylvania. Best-known as a relentless scold of the 1 Percent, she nonetheless pulled down $429,000 in salary alone in 2011 and could be worth as much as $15 million.

After claiming that most of us were too dim to understand our mortgage and car-loan payment schedules, she was tapped by the Obama administration to create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which was designed "to protect the financial interests of middle-class families" by regulating and restricting the types of financial products available.

Widely expected to be named the first head of that agency, she instead got thrown under the bus by the Obama adminstration when her nomination looked to be hotly contested.

The tough times have only continued. As a progressive Democrat in a Massachusetts race for Ted Kennedy's old seat, she ought to be enjoying an electoral cakewalk, but she's neck and neck with Brown in most polls at least partly due to her dubious claims of Cherokee heritage. Despite family lore, self-described "high cheekbones," supplying (possibly plagiarized) recipes for "Cold Omelets with Crab Meat" and other dishes in a cookbook called Pow Wow Chow (1984), listing herself in various ethnic professional directories, and being publicly touted by Harvard as a "woman of color," Warren has failed to produce documentation that she has any native-American ancestors. As radio host and MSNBC talking head Michael Smerconish put it in a recent column:

Warren only stopped listing herself as [native American] in 1995, just after she was hired by Harvard. But while she was at Harvard, the Crimson newspaper reported that the university's faculty included one Native American: Warren. And when she received tenure there, another Crimson story said she was the first woman with a minority background to receive tenure.

All of which would be well and good if Warren could substantiate her claim of Native American ancestry, which is a federal requirement when universities report diversity data. Thus far, she has not, and by her own admission, her connection to American Indians is remote....

Ever since this issue was raised by the Boston Herald in April, Warren has stumbled in her efforts to explain her claims of minority status. She initially sought to minimize the controversy by saying she had merely hoped "that I'd get invited to some lunch group or some—maybe some dinner conversation, and I might find some more people like me ... people for whom Native American is part of their heritage and part of their hearts."

Her opponent Scott Brown says that Warren's self-designation goes "right to the integrity and character of a person" because she may have unfairly benefited from affirmative action policies in academia. Warren contests that charge, saying she never identified as native American in hiring situations.

But the question looms over the Brown-Warren race: A Cherokee genealogist is now circulating a death certificate of a family member apparently signed by Warren that further suggests the candidate is talking out of both sides of her mouth.

On the surface, the blue-eyed, blonde-haired Warren is the least convincing Indian since Paul Newman starred in Hombre. But if Warren's evasive replies to inquiries about her ancestry cost her the election, she can at least take comfort in knowing she's hardly alone in passing herself off as having Indian blood.

Here are five other memorable fake Indians from America's past.

NEXT: At Least the Tears He Cried Probably Were Real...

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  • Putin Picks on Little Girls| |

    This just in...Kate Moss no longer hot.

    http://cdn.styleblazer.com/wp-.....e-moss.jpg

  • sarcasmic| |

    Say what you will, she will forever be the object of my lust.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....style.html

  • Putin Picks on Little Girls| |

    Fucking wallboard mud, how does it work?

  • Paul.| |

    Kate Moss is English. Therefore she'll always be a "qualified hot".

  • Fist of Etiquette| |

    Fisher Stevens in Short Circuit was another fake Indian. Also, White Indian.

  • | |

    Let's not forget the Hekawi tribe on F Troop.

  • tarran| |

    Way to not read the article, Episiarch!

    BTW, Who died and made you hegemon?

  • | |

    RTFA?!? I don't have time for that. I'm too busy being hegemon!

    Also, the previous hegemon named me as his successor.

  • Trespassers W| |

    Is White Indian on the list?

  • Mike M.| |

    The Crying Indian on TV was a faker? I honestly had no idea at all. This really ticks me off.

  • Putin Picks on Little Girls| |

    Indian cried, Wop lied.

  • Loki| |

    Meh. Indian/ Italian, they both start with I, so what's the big deal?

    Also, +10 internets to Putin Picks on Little Girls.

  • Rufus J. Firefly| |

    Yeah, what's up with I-talians playing Redskins and Jooos playing Wops? I'll never get over the fact Fonzie wasn't really Italian.

    Aiiieee!

  • Dr. Thaddeus Tingleberry| |

    Hey how about that LIBOR scandal, though, eh?

    ....

    No?

    Nothing?

  • SugarFree| |

    Start your own blog, asshole.

  • Dr. Thaddeus Tingleberry| |

    sure, handsome - right after you finish sucking that bag of dicks.

    there's a smart fellow.

  • o3| |

    tonto was also fake kimosabi...but not his horse

  • T| |

    Sorry, but you're wrong. It was two cats in a horse costume.

  • Michael| |

    Oh, for the love of all that is decent and merciful, could you PLEASE STOP POSTING PHOTOS OF ELIZABETH WARREN THAT DON'T HAVE HER TACKY ASS OUTFITS CROPPED OUT??? The image of her grinning mug sporting that Bukakke necklace a while back was torture enough.

  • sloopyinca| |

    Scott Brown should make a point that she's free to call herself whatever she wants now that the Supreme Court has ruled the Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional.

    Ridicule is in order here. On a grand scale.

  • The Hammer| |

    You want Brown to make himself look like an idiot?

  • Mainer2| |

    Does anyone else remember how the Hekawi tribe got its name ?

    They were lost, and when they came over the mountain, they said to the people living there, "Where the heck are we." Get it ? it sounds like they said, We're the Hekawi.

    Why do I remember sh*t like that ?

  • Moogle| |

    Because you're awesome!

  • Voros McCracken| |

    It's also an older joke but on non-tv versions it's Fukawi.

  • Voros McCracken| |

    I can't believe Billy Jack didn't make the list.

  • sloopyinca| |

    What about Shirley MacLaine as Princess Aouda in Around The World In 80 Days?

    Sorry, Nick, but you've got to specify if you mean feather indians only or if dot indians count as well.

  • Mainer2| |

    feather or dot....that's racist.
    I believe the politically correct terms are casino or quiky-mart.

  • Loki| |

    Ward Churchill: possibly part Native American, but 100% asshole.

  • sloopyinca| |

    [citation required]*

    *for the Native American part only.

  • Moogle| |

    Wait, 100? That's all the percents there is!

  • SugarFree| |

    The Education of Little Tree, young boy learns life lessons from his Cherokee grandparents. And grows up to be in the Klan. And has no AmerIndian blood at all.

    Bonus: He also wrote The Outlaw Josie Wales.

  • Moogle| |

    I always to claim to be 1/2048 Aroostook Micmac because it sounds cool and the magic burial ground in Pet Sematary was Micmac.

  • Nyarlathotep| |

    As an H.P. Lovecraft fan, I claim 1/32 Miskatonic Indian descent.

  • Tim| |

    Wasn't Vanessa Williams the voice of Pochahontas in the Disney flick? Does she have native ancestry?

  • Tim| |

    Wrong again:
    ne Bedard (born July 22, 1967) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Native American characters in a variety of films. Bedard was born in Anchorage, Alaska. Her heritage is Inupiat Inuit and Métis.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney's_Pocahontas

  • Rufus J. Firefly| |

    Metis/Inuit? Sounds more Canadian to me.

  • Moogle| |

    Nope. Irene Bedard with her genuine Inuit heritage.

    http://www.indianmarket.net/im.....ge1112.jpg

  • Moogle| |

    Nope. Irene Bedard with her genuine Inuit heritage.

    http://www.indianmarket.net/im.....ge1112.jpg

  • Moogle| |

    Whoa! Double post! There must be Agents in the Matrix!

  • Loki| |

    What about the chick who played Pocahotass in the porn version?

  • Tim| |

    You'd need a porn expert, someone steeped in deviance and perversion-like Episarch

  • Rufus J. Firefly| |

    On the subject of porn, since you people seem to be experts, I remember watching a porn in my early teens movie in the 1980s that parodied the Archie comics. Reggie banging Veronica etc.

    Anyone know the film?

  • Rufus J. Firefly| |

    yeesh. sorry for the grammar. Three glasses of Montepulciano in me.

  • SIV| |

    Mr Fuji was a real Jap(from Hawaii). His sometime tag team partner, Professor Toru Tanaka, was an ethnic Hawaiian posing as a Jap.

  • Tim| |

    What about the Jeep Cherokee?

  • The Hammer| |

    Isn't that part of the Michigan tribe?

  • Stormy Dragon| |

    Oddly enough, the Village People indian was real. Felipe Rose's dad was a member of the Sioux tribe.

  • AlgerHiss| |

    Well, but Felipe was NOT an Indian. His father might have been, but HE was not.

    Right?

    I mean his mother was a Puerto Rican, but he wasn't really a Puerto Rican either, right?

    Right?

    RIGHT?

  • SIV| |

  • Mr. FIFY| |

    "Best-known as a relentless scold of the 1 Percent, she nonetheless pulled down $429,000 in salary alone in 2011 and could be worth as much as $15 million."

    "Don't do as I do... do what I say."

  • | |

    The $29K for her work, the $400K for her being "a woman of color".

  • S Man| |

    Most of those claiming american aborigine blood, only know what they look like from TV. If you want to see what an "indian"looks like meet and greet a mexican worker

  • Enjoy Every Sandwich| |

    and being publicly touted by Harvard as a "woman of color,"

    Pasty is a color?

  • Joseph C. Moore (USN Ret.| |

    Evidently!

  • Enjoy Every Sandwich| |

    As it stands, it's far from clear that Elizabeth Warren's weak claim to native American status will have much of an effect on a tight race.

    There certainly is a segment of the "progressive" population that doesn't care nearly as much for the facts as they do the "narrative", like those college chicks who falsely claim to be rape victims in big feminist rallies.

  • Johnimo| |

    Just for the record, the Indian pictured on page two of this article is not Chief Seattle, but rather Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Sioux leader who traveled with Buffalo Bill Cody, organized the multi-tribe "reunion" at Little Big Horn and died at Wounded Knee for his part in the Ghost Dance revival. In other words, he was a real American hero.

  • Johnimo| |

    Oops, should've written page three, not two.

  • Joseph C. Moore (USN Ret.| |

    Iron Eyes Cody wasn't a real Indian?

  • C. S. P. Schofield| |

    "For his part, Churchill says that while he has native American ancestors, he "never claimed to be goddamned Sitting Bull.""

    No. He is and always has been Big Chief Standing Bullsh*t.

    The amazing thing about the Churchill case is that the University was sufficiently embarrassed by his misconduct as a scholar that they actually fired his ass. Reliably controversial tenured jackasses all over the country probably get all cold and shivery just thinking about it.

  • Nike air max womens| |

    Widely expected to be named the first head of that agency, she instead got thrown under the bus by the Obama adminstration when her nomination looked to be hotly contested.

  • The Derider| |

    Being totally ignorant of the American political process must make it easier for you to understand things like this.

  • The Derider| |

    Glad Nick Gillespie is using his bully pulpit and simian reasoning skills to address topical libertarian issues.

    Like what race Elizabeth Warren is.

  • Mr. FIFY| |

    More like "how Warren lied about her race", which should concern people who care about liars.

  • C. S. P. Schofield| |

    Precisely. This highlights the confluence of two widespread ideas; that there should be special rewards for belonging to certain groups, and that ethnic identity is a matter of choice. I suspect that there are a lot of people in certain subcultures (academia being an example) who simply don't understand why anybody actually cares that Ms. Warren may have benefitted from a claim to an ethnicity for which she had no factual basis. They not only accept that she could be Native American solely because she felt like one, but are ok with her benefitting from that 'feeling'.

  • Dr. Thaddeus Tingleberry| |

    It's only contemptible lying when "right wingers*" do it.

    *anyone to the right of Liz Warren,

  • DWC| |

    Actually, Paul Newman was a white person raised by natives in Hombre. One of my favorite westerns, though marred by some horrendous special effects - the shooting of the one bad guy at the stage coach with the weird blood spatter. Richard Boone was stellar in it. Who remembers Have Gun/Will Travel???

  • Eduard van Haalen| |

    Is it true that Elizabeth Warren was the minority woman whose appointment satisfied Derek (sp?) Bell's famous strike demands back in the 80s?

  • Sheldon J. Plankton| |

    John Russell (Paul Newman) wasn't an Indian, he was a white man raised by the Indians. C'mon Nick. Hombre is one of my favorite westerns.

  • Silly ol' Bear| |

    I am 1/8 Cherokee but I doubt seriously I could ever prove it so I don't worry about it. I don't get asked but I do tell on occasion. I never had special privileges nor gov't money, maybe I am missing out! *lol*

  • hotsy totsy| |

    It's not at all hard to prove with a DNA test.

  • | |

    The DNA tests aren't 100%, they will reveal some shared characteristics but aren't authoratative. I know of no Tribe that accepts them for enrollment.

  • tee shirt pas cher| |

    the Crimson newspaper reported that the university's faculty included one Native American: Warren. And when she received tenure there, another Crimson story said she was the first woman with a minority background to receive tenure.

  • Jnack95| |

    WTF.....no disco apache?

  • Raymond Luxury Yach-t| |

  • TWylite| |

    He was leader of the Chuptzah tribe, a fierce group of Native Americans known for their fighting techniques involving pies, exploding candy and Potemkin village style deception. They were also famous for sponsoring outdoor jazz concerts, and invented a working limousine decades ahead of their European counterparts.

  • | |

    Kind of a crappy article. The polls were the same before this crap as after, this isn't affecting the election. Also, the fact that Scott Brown won in the first place shows that, although it is Teddy Kennedy's state, it isn't as Liberal as people think. Also, isn't there a Libertarian candidate in this race?

  • | |

    The Hekawi may not be real but the Fekawi are!

  • | |

    Agency, which was designed "to protect the http://www.lunettesporto.com/l.....-3_20.html financial interests of middle-class families" by regulating and restricting the types of financial products available.

  • ΘJΘʃ de águila| |

    Elizabeth Warren tells Indians, "If it weren't for Government, you wouldn't have your reservations."

  • Hershel Parker| |

    Elizabeth Warren and Me: Heap Big % Injun? Well, Yes.
    So Elizabeth Warren has not documented her Cherokee and Delaware ancestry! And so the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation (pictured on TV) has been declared by Scott Brown not to look red.

    Grandma Parker was half Indian, I thought, because she was so very dark and Indian looking. Elderly great aunts in 1990 were still lamenting being off the Indian rolls. Grandma Parker had a white Scots father. Yet this Scot bowed his head before meals and said the Lord's Prayer in Choctaw. But she was also part Cherokee, who know how much? The Glenns and Tuckers were party to the Jarndyce vs Jarndyce trial of Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory--a joke to those who got on the rolls early and often, a joke even in a history published the year after statehood. The good part, for documentation, was that cousins of mine testified in the 1880s and afterward before the Dawes Commission on what they remembered about Indian ancestors in the 1830s and earlier.

    I no longer say I am at least an eighth Indian, but I know that being part Indian was a defining condition of my early life. Because of Grandma Parker and what I understood about her I identified with her Choctaw and Cherokee ancestry.

    I'm with Liz.

    Scott Brown, I have blue eyes and look as white as you, but oh my soul, and oh my body, they are part Choctaw and part Cherokee. Out of the Senate, Scott Brown! Make way for my Cousin Liz.
    Posted by Hershel Parker at 7:09 AM

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