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Did you know that in legal terms, if you are 1/32 nd of any race, you can stand up in court and swear you are a member of that race?

That means that about 6 generations back you had one ancestor among 32 of that race. I was interested in a story about a white American businessman who had his DNA tested, and discovered that he had a tiny fraction of african blood in his ancestry, and then promptly applied for a special government program to help minorities in business. It seemed to me that he was cheating someone who actually WAS black out of that benefit...but legally, this guy qualified and he did receive the government benefit.

I traced my own tree back that far, and found ancestors born in the 1700's.

Elizabeth Warren, US Senator from Massachusetts, just had her DNA tested and she is not nearly up to the legal limit of 1/32nd (.0313%) native american. She is between 1/512th or .019 % native american but it doesn't even reach that level without rounding up. The actual percentage was .097% or 1/1024th. Apparently the Boston Globe botched their math in their original reporting when they stated that there is VERY strong evidence of her ancestry. This percentage puts her native american ancestor about 10 to 12 generations back, in the early 1600's.

Elizabeth Warren may or may not have used her so-called minority status to land a job at Harvard. Harvard claims she did not. However, Warren taught at a University out west which featured Warrens minority status prominently in their faculty newsletter. At times during her career she filled out applications stating she was white, and at other times she did not.

Just remember, folks, if you are even a smidge of any minority, it is legal to cash in on government money and other benefits and take it away from someone who actually needs it.
Regarding First Nations/Native Status where I live:

Most tribes require a specific percentage of Native “blood,” called blood quantum, in addition to being able to document which tribal member you descend from. Some tribes require as much as 25% Native heritage, and most require at least 1/16th Native heritage, which is one great-great grandparent.
4meAndyou · F
@LunadelobosIAMTHEDRAGON That is a wonderful thing to know. I think there are a lot of families who have lost touch with their very distant ancestors, I think there are a lot who wanted to hide their very distant ancestors (in the past) and I think it is shameful to claim a relationship for financial or political advantage when it suits you.

In Oklahoma, (having done a couple of family trees from there) the government kept a list of all family members and marked their race on a census.
therighttothink50 · 56-60, M
The leftist media has the useful idiots of America obsessing over something which doesn't amount to anything. And another day goes by, yet the FISA documents still remain unseen by the American people. Chasing the wind while ignoring the earthquake under your feet.
bowman81 · M
While Harvard claims she did not use it for her position they were only too happy to list her as a minority staff member. I wonder how that happened?
4meAndyou · F
@bowman81 I didn't know they listed her as a minority staff member. I thought it was the university where she taught from 1987 to 1992 that did that. She was definitely listed as a minority in THAT university faculty catalog, and worked there before Harvard.
bowman81 · M
@4meAndyou you may be correct about which University listed her.
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
That's REALLY gonna cause some upset in the American South.
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@Spoiledbrat I didn't say I cared -- but I have to admit I DO love the image of "traditional" Southern whites having to deal with thousands upon thousands of people they consider "colored" signing up as white because of what was done to their ancestors by slave masters, etc. But turnabout is fair play, and for centuries it's been one drop of black blood makes you black, so why not the other way, too?
Why can’t people let shit go. @ChipmunkErnie
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@Spoiledbrat Because other people keep filling my inbox with reference to "shit"?
xixgun · M
Legal, and "right", are two vastly different things
4meAndyou · F
@xixgun I noticed that. I never like to see people taking blatant advantage of loopholes. Or lying.
xixgun · M
@4meAndyou Exactly. Some on here want to gripe about the number of bankruptcies Trump has had, when in reality, he did nothing illegal. He took advantage of an "out" in the system. I'm not crazy about the number of them he did, but I can't fault him for them either.
4meAndyou · F
@xixgun My grandfather did the same thing to try to avoid estate taxes when passing his farm down to his children, and my mother jumped through hoops trying to protect her house and her savings so that the government couldn't take everything.
firefall · 61-69, M
depends on what country you're in. In many countries this is defined differently. For that matter, in Louisiana it used to be defined quite differently, til the CSA rolled over all that.
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@4meAndyou Well, I guess black pretty much equaled slave for them. I think they went by the "one drop of black blood makes you black" concept.
4meAndyou · F
@ChipmunkErnie Oooohhh. Well, I'm glad the north whupped their nasty a$$...😊
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
@4meAndyou Most of us are, despite our present Administration's rhetoric.
I don’t know. Who cares. It’s okay isn’t it?
4meAndyou · F
@Spoiledbrat It's okay as long as you don't lie about having a certain kind of ancestry to gain financial benefits from it.
firefall · 61-69, M
[quote]Elizabeth Warren may or may not have used her so-called minority status to land a job at Harvard[/quote] There is literally ZERO evidence she did, this is purely naked assertion by people who dislike her.
4meAndyou · F
@firefall Harvard claims she did not, as stated above in the very next sentence.
basilfawlty89 · 31-35, M
Whereas most of us of Mexican descent are at minimum 50% Native American and many of us full blooded Indigenous, yet we're not recognized as Native. 🧐
4meAndyou · F
@basilfawlty89 That's true. You have to be part of this country in some proveable way like Native American enrollment. However, no one disputes Latino heritage, and there is a small business loan benefit for Latinos.
basilfawlty89 · 31-35, M
@4meAndyou True, but I'm not overly fond of the term Latino, Latino just means anyone who is from Latin America and Hispanic literally just means one of your ancestors spoke Spanish. Many of ours didn't speak Spanish natively, my grandad spoke Nahuatl as his first language.
4meAndyou · F
@basilfawlty89 I do think language is a tricky area when people are so sensitive about how they are addressed. Black people were first called Negroes, with the offensive "N" word included, then called "Colored People" when they objected to the word Negro, then called Blacks in the 70's, and the Native Americans certainly don't want to be called Indians. Historically the majority of people have offended every group with their language, and now is the time of the Latino...who will have their own issues.

 
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