Tim Giago: What would Pocahontas say about Donald Trump?

Wednesday, October 17, 2018  

What would Pocahontas say?
By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji – Stands Up For Them)

If there are any members of the Powhatan Tribe reading this I have a very serious proposition for all of you, and if you don’t read this, maybe the leaders of another tribe will read it and consider it.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has released a DNA test that provides “strong evidence’’ she had a Native American in her family tree dating back 6 to 10 generations.

Most Native Americans know that just because one claims Indian blood does not mean they are a member of any tribe. One must be enrolled to have this honor. Lord knows that my newspapers over the years has helped children adopted out of their tribe to find their way back.

Donald S. Trump has made the unbelievable racial slur of calling Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) “Pocahontas.” Warren is seriously considering running for the job of President of the United States. You can rest assured that Trump and his ilk will immediately seize every opportunity to smear her and inadvertently, every Native American. He is already claiming that the Cherokee Nation agrees with him. And right on cue, a Cherokee spokesperson accommodates his racial slurs.

Thank you to the Cherokee Nation for revealing that Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, is a complete and total Fraud!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2018

Trump has this sickening habit of giving nicknames to anyone he considers to be a political enemy. I am surprised he has not taken to calling Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-California) “Aunt Jemima.” But to call Warren “Pocahontas” right in front of Peter McDonald, former President of the Navajo Nation and a Navajo Code Talker takes the cake. McDonald is pushing 91 years old and if he was younger he probably would’ve knocked the Orange One on his butt.

Lying Ted Cruz and Little Marco Rubio have both lined up to forgive, forget and kiss Trump’s butt. I don’t think Warren will be so forgiving and forgetful. The only Republican with the guts to stand up to Trump and not forgive and forget is Jeb Bush.

So consider what I am proposing. If the Powhatan Tribe would adopt Elizabeth Warren into their Tribe and give her the Indian name “Pocahontas,” what would that do to Trump’s smart-assed name calling? The Powhatan Tribe would be doing a great favor to every Indian tribe in America. Plus, every time Trump called Warren “Pocahontas” he would be calling her by her actual Indian name. And to top it off, the national and international publicity that would befall the Powhatan Nation would be priceless. It will put the Tribe back on the map.

If you go to Social Media you will find all sorts of dirt on Warren, but that is the nature of the beast. Republicans or anyone else can publish their fictional stories on the Internet. But for the record, Warren has never tried to capitalize on the fact that she may have some Indian blood. After all, she is from Oklahoma and many, many people in that State have some degree of Indian blood because there are more than 30 tribes living there. Warren has never claimed to be Cherokee so why members of that Tribe are raising hell over her DNA test amazes me.

My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrump’s attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry. pic.twitter.com/r3SNzP22f8

— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) October 15, 2018

The name “Pocahontas” is an honorable name and one that should be spoken with reverence and not as a name to belittle another woman. Warren is not a woman who tried to advance her career by claiming Indian blood. She moved to the top of the political ladder by hard, honest work. From a very poor family she worked her way through college and there was no government or BIA money to soften the load she carried. This is one woman that every Native American can claim as their own and stand up and defend her against the prejudicial insults of Trump.

Surely the Powhatan Tribe has members who can see the wisdom in standing behind Elizabeth Warren and reclaiming its place in American history by so doing.

No matter what anyone may believe, Warren is a great and patriotic American and when asked how she felt about Trump calling her “Pocahontas” she said, “It is a name I am proud to be associated with because she was a strong and proud woman.”

When Warren spoke on the Senate floor and would not respond to Mitch McConnell’s call to stop he said, “I asked her to sit down and yet she persisted.” That’s right, “And yet she persisted” became a rallying cry for American women everywhere.

We cannot afford to lose the voice of Elizabeth Warren, but we also cannot allow a foul-mouthed bigot to continue to hurl childish insults at her with name-calling. Every time Trump attacks Warren by calling her “Pocahontas” he is demeaning the memory of the real “Pocahontas” and in a back-handed way, insulting all of the indigenous people of America.

It is up to the Powhatan Nation, or any of the Indian tribes of America, to take this racist weapon out of the hands of Trump and the Repubs by legitimizing the name he has assigned to Warren. It has been said for generations that the best defense is a good offense. Native Americans should turn the tables on the Orange One and throw his insults back in his face.

What would Pocahontas say? Hopefully she’d say, Sic’ em.

Contact Tim Giago at najournalist1@gmail.com. Giago was the founder of the Native American Journalists Association and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard with the Class of 1991.

Cherokee Nation upset after Sen. Warren releases results of DNA test (October 15, 2018)