The Great Oklahoma Swindle by Russell Cobb

Author:Russell Cobb [Cobb, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS036130 History / United States / State & Local / Southwest (az, Nm, Ok, Tx), POL010000 Political Science / History & Theory
Publisher: Bison Books

5. The Choctaw artist St. Clair Homer was a grandfather figure to the author. Courtesy of the author.

6. and 7. The Choctaw artist St. Clair Homer (or Homma) parodied white colonialism while dating the author’s grandmother for decades. Courtesy of the author.

When Warren’s claims to Cherokee ancestry were scrutinized closely by genealogists, no one could find her ancestors among those named on the Dawes Roll, which the government intended to be a master list of Cherokee surnames finalized in 1906. (They did find one ancestor from the territorial days who had actually boasted of killing a Cherokee.) Like many dubious narratives of whites passing for Native, Warren’s story takes many twists and turns, some of which receive a gloss in her memoir, A Fighting Chance. In the book, Warren weaves her “Native American heritage” (specific references to the Cherokees have now disappeared) into a narrative of working-class struggle, with her “mamaw and papaw” handing down stories and recipes from their days in Indian Territory.

Aunt Bee told Liz Warren that her papaw had inherited high cheekbones from his Indian ancestors but did not passed them down to the little girl. The anecdote reinforces a homespun narrative of authentic Americana: Daddy worked hard as a janitor but had a heart attack. When he recovered, he could not pay the medical bills. Mama was devoted to her family but often did not have enough money to put food on the table for the four kids. Eventually, little Liz had to work, too, before she dropped out of college at age nineteen to support her husband’s professional goals. Then she picked herself up by her bootstraps and put herself through law school in the wake of a divorce. The story is like a PG-rated Loretta Lynn or Tammy Wynette song with all the cheating and drinking purged from the storylines.

A lot of people have scoffed at fair-skinned, blue-eyed Warren’s claim of Native American heritage. Donald Trump resorts to the “Pocahontas” insult. Warren took Trump’s bait and brought in a world-renowned genetics expert to prove whether or not she was Native American. The results only generated more outrage. For Republicans the remoteness of her Native ancestor—some six to ten generations removed—made her seem like a Wannabe. For Native Americans, the DNA test was another instance of disregard for Native traditions and sovereignty.

As an Okie myself, I instantly recognized Warren’s narrative. It has an undeniable pull and a certain degree of truthiness. The mythic Native ancestor in the white settler family assuages white guilt and makes us feel like we belong. I have been there myself. Oklahoma writer Rilla Askew wades into the tricky territory of the Almost Native repeatedly in her book Most American. Askew has often been labeled as a Native American or Cherokee writer, and she admits that she has not always righted the record. “The fact that my family had no documentation showing Indian blood didn’t bother me,” she writes. If anyone asked whether I was part Indian, I’d answer with, “Well, my papaw Allie said.

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