She got affirmative action as an Indian, but her family did not have this “heritage”, i.e. was not involved with the tribe.
And for getting government benefits, you need to have a CDIB card. Lots of people who are members of unincorporated tribes can't get the card, but in Warren's case she claims to be Cherokee, and her claims can be verified by checking the tribal roles.
If she was even .01% Native American she would've OK'd a test!
I can gaurantee Warren has ZERO Native American blood in her!
Not totally useless, My father tried to prove he was part Native American but he did this before DNA testing was even discovered. He wanted to gain representation in a tribe for fishing rights I believe — or maybe they were starting to look into gambling back then, but he could not prove it.
He had the family lore, and his mother told him stories but at this time in our history, being part Native American was not something you wanted to have on your record, so it was not put on any official paperwork. Now with the aid of Ancestry I have traced her lineage back to the Nanaimo tribe of Vancouver Island and Washington state. Ancestry says I am 8%, that would make my father about 16%. I do not know what you need to gain acceptance in the Native nation. But this is what Warren could do, If there was any significant percentage.
As you say, everyone may have background representation at the level of 1 or 2% — I doubt that would support a claim for minority status at a University.
Yeah, people are putting too much stock in the DNA test for ancestry. It isn’t as reliable as people think....or at least you can draw conclusions from the data that are quite mistaken.
Warren’s case falls apart with traditional genealogy, and if you want the exact details of how and why, check out this blog by a Cherokee genealogist:
http://www.pollysgranddaughter.com/