Media’s Disinterest in Abuse of American Indian Women in Boston

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Old Media is really showing its true colors last week by generally ignoring what is going on in the State of Massachusetts where four Cherokee woman have come to meet with Democrat Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren. The candidate is, of course, shunning the Cherokee representatives, but worse is the absence in the national media of news about this effort. Imagine, if you will, the national news cycle that would have been created if a Republican had been the subject of such a meeting of American Native Peoples, those claiming that the Republican was lying about his membership in their tribe?

All week this group of Cherokee women will be in Boston seeking an audience with Democrat Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren. They want to know why Warren continues to claim that she is related by blood to the Cherokee nation despite a complete and utter lack of any documentary proof of the claim.

Cherokee Twila Barnes, for one, is incensed at Warren’s false claims. In a recent interview Barnes scoffed at Warren’s late claims that her prevarication about her Indian blood is “not an issue.”

“Poverty, teen suicide, our health care system,” said Cherokee genealogist Twila Barnes in an interview today with the Herald. “Those are issues and those are the people she stepped on and used to benefit and now she says it’s not an issue. Well, of course, to her it’s not an issue because she doesn’t want to address that she did this.”

Barnes, a Cherokee genealogist, also told another Boston news outlet that Warren’s false claims are “offensive.”

“If somebody as high-profile as Elizabeth Warren can get away with that, then all the others will expect to do that as well,” said Cherokee genealogist Twyla [sic] Barnes of Missouri. “She has no affiliation with a tribe and no history. It’s offensive.”

Unfortunately for a search for truth, the only news outlets even talking about this story are a few local Boston TV stations and newspapers. The national media has studiously avoided this story.

But, imagine if this were a Republican candidate that had made a false claim about having some minority blood in his family history. What if a Republican had spent and entire adult professional career lying about his minority status and gaining professional advantages because of the false claim? What if a Republican had made his fortune and reputation based partly on a lie about his family history?

Then further wonder what the Old Media would be doing if a cadre of minority women had come to his hometown demanding a meeting to confront him over his false claims.

This would be the story of the day, if not the week or month. The Old Media would be tsking this lying Republican from sea to shining sea. He would be excoriated in every newscast, on every radio show, during every cable newsbreak, in every newspaper and magazine.

Such a Republican candidate would be making matters worse by refusing to meet with the Native Women as Elizabeth Warren has, of course. Imagine the outrage that the Old Media would be pouring upon the head of such a recalcitrant Republican, one so boldly dissing minorities.

Yet here we have Democrat Elizabeth Warren in exactly these situations. She has lied for decades about her heritage. She’s made bank and career points based on that lie. And now, when representatives of the native peoples from whom she has stolen all these years have come a’knocking, she is stonewalling them.

No Republican, man or woman, would be allowed by the Old Media to act with such startling impunity. No Republican would be allowed to so disrespect a group of minority women like Warren has.

Still, the national Old Media establishment is silent on these women going to Boston to confront liar Warren.

The double standard of this silence is deafening.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.


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