Meet the real Indian who sent Elizabeth Warren a DNA kit to check her ancestry
December 4, 2017
Stephen Melkisethian / CCL
Shiva Ayyadurai is the Indian born, MIT educated, independent challenger to Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren in next year’s election. Ayyadurai is highly critical of Sen. Warren’s claims of Native American ancestry, and her history of allegedly abusing her pseudo-minority status.
Warren’s new challenger sent her a DNA test kit in June as a facetious birthday present — to the chagrin of Warren, who sent it back.
She’s got a major problem with me, I’m telling you, because I can expose her for what she is.
Ayyadurai added: “I can say, ‘Wait a minute, what do you know about the journey of a person of color? You know nothing. This is all theory to you. Because you did lie. You took advantage of affirmative action.”
A Perpetual Problem For Warren
The controversy surrounding Warren and her ancestry came to light in April 2012 when she was running against incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown.
Warren had taught as a tenured professor at Harvard Law School where she received adulation for being a great example of the university’s diverse faculty. Warren listed herself as Cherokee and Delaware Indian from 1986 to 1995.
Warren has provided no proof to validate her claims that she was Native American. She was raised in Oklahoma and claims her late parents and grandparents told her she was Native American.
Warren said at the time:
These are my family stories. This is what my brothers and I were told by my mom and my dad, my mammaw and my pappaw. This is our lives. And I’m very proud of it.
“They Call Her Pocahontas!”
Last month, President Trump again derided Sen. Warren with his now famous nickname for the Senator, “Pocahontas.”
At the White House ceremony, Navajo code talkers were being honored when Trump thanked them and continued to slam Sen. Warren:
I just want to thank you because you are very, very special people. You were here long before any of us were here,” Trump went on. “Although, we have a representative in Congress who has been here a long time … longer than you — they call her Pocahontas!
While Trump is famous for his nicknames for political opponents, it’s rumored that he uses Warren’s Pocahontas monicker in private as well. During a meeting with senators at the White House, Trump jabbed Democratic leaders by saying “Pocahontas is now the face of your party.”
Trump’s Pocahontas comments have been met with backlash.
Ayyadurai Defends Trump, Warren the Real “Racist”
Ayyadurai came to the defense of Trump’s comments labeling Warren as the true racist.
What Trump did is not racist. She’s the racist. … She shoplifted some other group’s race identity, and then when she’s exposed on it, she calls other people racist. And it is a legitimate issue.
There is a “DNA Dance Party” on Dec. 12 in Cambridge hosted by Ayyadurai. Warren has been invited.
