ICTMN's Rob Capriccioso Discusses Elizabeth Warren and Native American Identity on NPR
The NPR radio show Tell Me More has interviewed ICTMN's Washington Bureau Chief Rob Capriccioso about the questions of Indian identity raised by Elizabeth Warren's claim of Cherokee heritage, an issue that has been extensively covered on this site.
"I think every Indian, when questions of identity come up, get warning signs in [his or her] brain," Capriccioso says. "How much can you trust this person? A good way to foster that trust would be to talk with those people who have those kinds of concerns. ... And so far that hasn't happened."
Host Michel Martin also speaks with Tiya Miles, a professor at the University of Michigan and author of The House on Diamond Hill: A Cheroke Plantation Story. Miles observes that "Claiming an identity ... has two parts to it. One can claim, but I think one also has to be claimed in order for the identity to be fully rounded. And I think that's part of Elizabeth Warren's trouble—that she claimed this Native identity, but she has not been claimed, nor does she seem to have really reached out to try to have been claimed, by Cherokee people and by other Native academics."
The segment, titled "Who Gets To Decide Who Is Native American?," is 12 minutes long; click to listen to it in its entirety on NPR's website.
