Sen. Warren Answers Question on DNA Release in Iowa: “I am Not a Person of Color”

U.S Senator Elizabeth Warren takes the stage at an “organizing event,” after forming an exploratory committee for the 2020 presidential race, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, U.S., January 4, 2019. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Published January 6, 2019

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Spending the weekend in Iowa to court voters, the state of the nation’s first presidential caucus in 2020, Sen. Elizabeth Warren was asked by a voter in Sioux City on Saturday morning about why she released the DNA results on her American Indian ancestry last fall.

”My decision was to put it all out there,” Warren said.

“I am not a person of color,” Warren said. “I am not a citizen of a tribe. Tribal citizenship is very different from ancestry. Tribes — and only tribes — determine tribal citizenship, and I respect that difference.”

“I can’t stop Donald Trump from what he’s going to do,” Warren said. “I can’t stop him from hurling racial insults. I don’t have any power to do that.”

Warren was alluding to Trump calling her Pocahontas, which causes the ire of many American Indians who feel it is inappropriate and racist in nature.

Last Monday, December 31, 2019, Warren formed an explorartory committee where she officially declared a bid to seek the Democratic party’s presidential nomination in 2020.