Early in her career, Elizabeth Warren listed herself in an online database used for law school recruitment as a minority law professor. At several later points in her career she was described by her university as a Native American law professor, presumably because she told them she was. Her explanation has been a family tradition of a Cherokee ancestor several generations back.She has now released the result of a DNA analysis finding a Native American ancestor six to ten generations back. Six generations would make her 1.5% Native American. According to Wikipedia:
in a sample of 187 European Americans from State College, Pennsylvania, there was an average of 0.7% West African genetic contribution and 3.2% Native American genetic contribution ... .
If that result is typical, Warren has at most about half as much Native American ancestry as the average European American.Did that qualify her as a minority law professor?Donald Trump apparently said at some point in the past that "I will give you a million dollars, to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian ..." Various people are complaining that he is no reneging on the offer.I don't think ancestry of between 1.5% Native American and .1% Native American qualifies for being an Indian. By that standard almost all white Americans are black, almost all black Americans are white, and almost all, black or white, are Native Americans.