10/18/18 10/18/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: i will give you $1 million to your favorite charity, paid for by trump, if you take the test that shows you are in indian. amy: after years of mocking by dona trump, nator elabeth waen releas a dna st showinnative arican cestry. >>rump c say whaver he wants abte, but mocng navemerica in ord to try to g at me? at is nowhat ameca stand for. amy: wwill spe with th bostonlobe's annie linskey, who examined hundreds of documents to determine that "ethnicity was not a factor in elizabeth warren's rise in law." but many native americs are criticizing senator warren's use of a dna test to prove native american lineage.

will host a roundble scussionith ojib lawyer ta houska, martrahant, edor of inan count today, angyasi ro, an autr and meer of thblackfeenation and will lot the rerd number of native american women running for office in the midterm elections. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the united states received a $100 million payment from saudi arabia tuesday, the same day secretary of state mike pompeo met with saudi crown prince mohammad bin salman and his father king salmon in saudi arabia to discuss the disappearance washington post journalist jamal khashoggi inside the saudi consulate in his symbol. while the $100 payment had been brokered earlier this summer, and is related to u.s. military efforts in syria, the timing of

its delivery appeared highly suspicious, with one u.s. official telling "the new york times" -- "the timing of this is no coincidence." turkish officials have said khashoggi was tortured and murdered by a squad of 15 saudi hit men who dismembered his body. video and audio recordings from inside the consulate reportedly show khashoggi was beaten, tortured, and beheaded, with his fingers cut off, and his body dismembered. this is secretary of state mike pompeo speaking about his visit to saudi arabia. >> they made no exceptions to who they would hold accountable. they were very clear. they understand the importance of this issue. they are determined to get to the bottom of it, and they will conduct the report. we will all get a chance to see it. he promised he would achieve that for us. folks did he say of mr. khashoggi was alive or dead? >> i don't to talk about the facts. they do not want to, either.

they want the opportunity to complete this investigation in a thorough way. amy: khashoggi's suspected murder has caused a diplomatic crisis between the u.s. and saudi arabia, particularly for trump's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner, who has close ties to saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman. this is kushner refusing to answer a cbs reporter's questions on a flight on tuesday. >> [indiscernible] any comment? [indiscernible] amy: the secret service later had to defend the service for how its agents handled the incident, saying they did not intend to impede media access. kushner has cultivated an extremely close relationship with saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman, dining with him in washington and riyadh and hosting one-on-one phone calls with him outside of normal diplomatic channels. the death toll from category 4

hurricane michael has risen to 29 people, as search and rescue efforts continue a week after the devastating storm flattened parts of the florida panhandle. as many as 160,000 homes and businesses across the southeast united states still have no power and over people are still 1000 living in emergency shelters. hurricane michael was one of the most powerful storms ever to strike the u.s. mainland. meteorologists say it was supercharged by warmer-than-usual water in the gulf of mexico. in economic news, president trump is asking federal departments to slash 5% from their budgets amid the swelling national deficit. even the military could see a smaller cut, going from $716 billion to $700 billion, a decrease of 2.3% from the current budget, which was the largest defense authorization in history. in response, former deputy secretary of labor christopher lu tweeted -- "that's a 5% cut for veterans, national security, law enforcement, healthcare, farmers, roads/bridges, workers,

environment, food and housing aid. everything. and it would still only amount to $60 billion a year, a fraction of $1.5 trillion trump/gop tax cut." canada became the second country in the world, after uruguay, to legalize recreational marijuana wednesday. the canadian government says it will also move to pardon people who have previously been convicted of low-level marijuana possession. u.s. customs and border protection said the new law in canada will not affect existing marijuana laws in the u.s. and that anyone crossing the border could face marijuana-related questioning. the u.s. does not recognize foreign pardons, so pardoned marijuana users could potentially be deemed inadmissible to enter into the united states. in crimea gunman killed 19 and , a wounded dozens more at a university in the russian annexed region of crimea wednesday. authorities say the shooter was an 18-year-old student from the school who attacked his classmates before killing

himself. the attack is the deadliest instance of school violence in the region since the 2004 beslan terror attack, which killed 333 people, most of them children. this is a school administrator, speaking after the attack. >> there were many bodies, children's bodies. it was a real act of terrorism. they burst inside the college. five or 10 minutes after i left, someone burst inside and blew everything up. they blew up the hole. then they were running around and throwing explosive packages. then they were running around and holding guns. i don't know exactly what weaponry. on the second floor, they were opening classes and killing everyone they managed to find. it is a real terror act. amy: cnn is reporting based on satellite imagery, russia is building up its military installations in kaliningrad, a key russian enclave on the baltic sea. the reported military build up is part of growing tensions between russia and nato. this comes after reports earlier this year that russia had upgraded a nuclear weapons

storage facility in kaliningrad. the israeli military bombed the gaza strip wednesday, killing at least one palestinian man and injuring over a dozen more people. gaza's health ministry says the israeli air raids killed 25-year-old naji ahmad al-zaneen and injured at least six children as they were on their way to school in central gaza. israel claims the bombing campaign was in retaliation for a rocket allegedly fired from gaza into israel, which struck a home, causing no injuries. in ethiopia, prime minister abiy ahmed unveil his new cinet tuesday, appointing women to a record 50% of positions. ethiopia now becomes the first -- one of the first african nations and one of only a few countries worldwide, with gender parity in ministerial positions. in the democratic republic of the congo, an estimated 200,000 people are returning to the southern kasai region after being expelled from neighboring angola. congolese officials and migrants

say dozens have been killed this month as part of the forced migration. meanwhile, in the northeastern part of the drc, an outbreak of ebola has killed at least 24 people over the last week. back in the u.s., the city of dust the police accountability office in the city of chicago has released footage of off-duty police officer khalil muhammad shooting unarmed african-american teenager ricardo hayes last year. the video directly contradicts officer muhammad's claim that the shooting followed an escalated encounter and appeared to be pulling out a gun, instead showing the officer chasing after hayes in his car before shooting directly at him as he appeared to calmly take a few steps toward the vehicle with his arms by his side. hayes has autism, adding to recent questions over police's handling of people with mental and developmental disabilities. muhammad is currently on administrative leave while the incident is being investigated. the justice department conducted an investigation into the chicago police department after the shooting and killing of unarmed african-american teenager laquan mcdonald showed

that chicago police are 14 times more likely to use force against young black men then white men. in more police violence news, the family of chinedu okobi -- a black, bay area man who was killed by police after being tasered -- is demanding answers. 36 year old okobi was killed on october 3 in san mateo county, california, after he reportedly disrupted traffic, resulting in a deadly encounter with a police officer. but details about the killing remain unknown. okobi's family said that he suffered from mental illness. a prince george's county, maryland, police officer appeared in court wednesday after being charged with raping a woman during a traffic stop on october 11. the woman says she believes officer ryan macklin ryan attacked her after he learned she is undocumented. a pennsylvania catholic priest pleaded guilty wednesday to sexually abusing two boys. prosecutors say reverend david lee poulson sexually abused an

altar boy in the church and made him confess afterward, as well as assaulting him and attempting to assault another boy at hunting camp. poulson was arrested and charged in may following the explosive pennsylvania grand jury investigation into systematic widespread sexual abuse in the church. former usa gymnastics president steve penny has been arrested on charges of tampering with evidence in the case of larry nassar, the former usa gymnastics doctor who has been convicted of sexual abusing hundreds of women and girls. penny is accused of removing documents linked to the case from the usa gymnastics national team training center. if convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison. and in georgia, a bus carrying african american senior citizens to a polling place in jefferson county was stopped monday. all passengers told to get off after a county clerk raised concerns about the bus and the organizers' political motivations. the bus trip was organized by the non-partisan group black voters matter.

the senior citizens were on their way to cast their ballots on the first day of early voting in georgia. this is co-founder cliff albright in a video released by black voters matter. >> somebody called the commission to complain because they saw all of these black oaks get on this big black bus. somebody drove past and saw that, got nervous, got mad, called the county commission's office. the bottom line, all of the folks -- the bus was full of folks come had come off the bus. amy: this comes as georgia's democratic gubernatorial candidate stacey abrams' calls for her republican opponent brian kemp to step down as secretary of state following allegations of widespread voter suppression. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i am nermeen

shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. the midterm elections are just two weeks away, but two of the top contenders for 2020 presidential election are already sparring in the public eye after senator elizabh warr she relsed a dntest mondayhowing nive ameran anstry. ennouncent respded rectly tpresiden tmpho ugally aacked setor warr by cling her pahontas. senato warrehas saidhe will coider a 202presidenal run after th mid-terelection amy: stanforprofessoof getics saythere isstrong evidenceof nativamerican lineagin warr's familyree dati back sito 10 generatis. this is . carlosustamant speakingn a videsenator warreneleased. >> we di find nive ameran ancestryith hi confidee whe we belve their raid le tn 1000

>>he presint likeso call my mom a lr. wh do the cts a? >> you aolutely hav nive americanncestry r pettigw. detmine tral cizenship. i uerstan and respect that distinction, but my family hiory is my family history. amy: that was senator elizabeth warren who has said her mother told her she was part cherokee and part delaware. at multiple points in her career, warren identified as native american. but in the video she released monday, her former colleagues say she never claimed native american ancestry when applying for bs to ga benefit rember her ritage ever comg up in e hiring proces know, ihad no bring on her hirg period >> is ethnicity have been part of the discussion, i would have known about it. nermeen: at a july 5 rally in montana, donald trump offered to

donate $1 million to senator warren's favorite charity if a dna test proved her claims of native american ancestry. pres. trump: i will give you $1 million to her favorite charity you paid for by trump, if you take the test that shows you are in indian. nermeen: but following the release of warren's dna test monday, trump denied that he ever made these claims. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: no. who cares? who cares? >> you said you would give $1 million to charity. pres. trump: you better read it again. amy: well, for more we are joined by annie linskey in washington, d.c. deputy bureau , chief for the boston globe. her recent piece is titled, "ethnicity not a factor in elizabeth warren's rise in law." welcome to democracy now! you did an extensive

investigation. can you talk about what led up warren's release of the video and the dna test on monday? but first, talk about what you found, all of the people you interviewed, what the allegations are, and what people said to you. >> sure. happy too. at the boston globe, we had been asking for years them a for six years, really, for elizabeth warren to release her personnel records, really from harvard and the university of pennsylvania where she has been a law professor. the reason we were so eager to look at these files is there has in this long-running allegation against her that she checked the box and used her native american history as a reason to get ahead. that has always been the allegation. the reason for it is, in fact i think it was in 1987 when she

was at the university of texas as a professor, she started calling herself -- listing herself as a minority in the log directory. the very next year she gets this really big job as a law professor at an ivy league precision -- institution. the idea is, the moment she identifies herself as a minority professionally, that is when this big promotion comes. then she goes on to harvard. we went back and we looked at as many documents as we could find to find out was there some correlation? on the face of it, it looks like there could be. , startingou look at with the university of pennsylvania, we were able to find the document that had never before been reported. it was a 10 page equal opportunity memo that the university of pennsylvania had to fill out when they hired her.

they had to fill it out because they saw themselves as hiring a white woman. in the course of 10 pages, they had to go through this giant pool of applicants that they have looked at for this position, break them down by sex, minority, the number of black applicants, the number of asian applicants, the number of native american applicants, and then say, look, after looking at all of these people, we ended up hiring a white woman elizabeth warren because we could not find an eagle or better minority for the job. that is quoted in the report. to me, that pretty much solved the issue for the university of pennsylvania, clearly, she was not a minority hire. is the hiring committee was having to argue to hire her as a white woman. that takes you to harvard. 1993eaches at harvard in as a visiting professor, which is sort of a where the net law schools do.

they have you come when they're looking at hiring you and you have like a year-long job interview. so she taught for a year at harvard. they loved her. they offered her a job while she was still there and still teaching in 1993. she initially turned the job down. she was not really gunning for it. there were a number of reasons, but she turned it down. we wanted to see if there was a similar form that harvard had to fill out. if there was one, i could not find it. andook at harvard understand, did they hire her because of her native american heritage, i instead had to look at the vast hiring committee. the way it works at harvard, tenured law professors get to vote on who can join their staff , who can join the club. they had these two meetings about elizabeth warren, picking

apart her scholarship, trying to figure out, do we want this woman on our staff? i track down every single living person who would have been in that meeting and tried to interview all of them to see if i could find anybody who said, yes, she was native american and we wanted a native american on the staff. of the ones i was able to talk to, most of them said they had no idea that she had this native american heritage. there was only one person who said, yeah, this might have come up him up but it is not why we hired her. we did not see her as an affirmative action hire. hired hersors who were fairly clear on this. the other thing that was really interesting is i talked to some of the students. at harvard at the time, it was lily white. i think there were four or five black professors and that was essentially it in terms of harvard law school staff. the students at the time were really agitating for more

diversity in faculty. there were protests outside of the meeting were warren was hired. students were pleased at the end of the day when word came out that they had hired elizabeth warren, a woman. but the students who were interviewed at the time by the harvard crimson said they were upset it was a white woman. why not hire a black woman or an asian woman or hispanic woman? this was a debate going on on the campus. the student activists who are most attuned to it, yes, they were pleased there was a little more gender diversity with her were still angry that a woman of color had not been hired. to me that also says if she was pushing this as a reason to get hired, she was not doing a very good job. nermeen: if you could just say again just to clarify, the exact years and institutions in which elizabeth warren identified native american's?

because as you know, her critics point out that if she did not do it to advance herself professionally, why did she do it at all? and that even if her family was speaking to her about her heritage, what reason did she have in the moment that she decided to declare that on official documents? >> this is where it gets complicated for warren. if you accept that she did not get ahead because of this, the question is, when she was at the university of pennsylvania -- i believe it was 1987 to 1995. i might be wrong on that. two yearsas there after being hired as a white woman at the university of pennsylvania, she does something very unusual, which is she has her ethnicity code changed in

the university of pennsylvania's hr system. that is something the university of pennsylvania does, it allows them to report that they have a more diverse faculty that may have. the university of pennsylvania, like all major institutions, was under pressure to hire and have diverse faculties. she does this for some reason. she does the same thing at harvard. when she is later hired at harvard, the hr forms do not transfer from one university to the next and she is to refill them out, and about two years after she got the job offer at harvard and a good three or four months after she started working at harvard in 1995, you also -- i also saw documents of evidence that her ethnicity code changes to native american. that is when harvard start reporting to the federal government that they have a native american law professor on staff.

in both instances, she did proactively make a change. and that change was used by these two institutions to argue, hey, look, we are not as bad as it may seem diversity-wise, because we do have this professor who is native american. that certainly complicated for her. i asked her about that. i don't have a satisfying answer from her about why she did it. she says she does not specifically remember making those changes. and she says that she thought back to that time in her life that the matriarchs of her family, her mother and her mother's sisters were getting older and they were starting to talk more about family heritage. and they were dying. what she is saying to me is she kind of felt this sense that, this sort of growing pride in

her roots. at the same time if you think about her life, she grew up in oklahoma. she graduated from school in texas. now all of a sudden, she is dressed for the first time in this ivy league environment, and are sort of character is to double down on who she is rather than try to fit in at these institutions. i think that is part of it. i talked to people at the university of pennsylvania who would say that she liked to identify as an okie and would use that word a lot. her explanation really is this is sort of an expression of the identity that she was trying to put out in the world. but i think it is a fair criticism when you look at how these universities were using that statistic, particularly harvard, which was so completely lily white at the time. harvard was arguing that, hey,

look, we have a diverse staff because we have, as it turns out, this woman elizabeth warren who is native american. amy: let me go back to an old harvard crimson university paper article, a law schools of 71person tells in 1996 current law school professors and assistant professors, 11 are women, five or black, one is native american, one is is in it. that is with elizabeth warren being that one native american. a crimson editorial from 1998 refers to warren as a law schools one tenured minority woman. initico also reports that 1997, 40 blog review piece described her as harvard law school's first woman of color. annie linskey? >> yeah. that is a problem. that is a problem that harvard had been that they were willing to go out and tell -- tell elizabeth warren as a woman of color.

in the context of the time is really interesting. harvard in 1993 when elizabeth warren was hired, had not hired to theirone of color faculty. they had not fired a single person. in harvard's 200 year history, no woman of color was hired. that did not change until i 1997 or 1998. but i will say when they did -- they hired an african-american woman, harvard did make an enormous deal about it. there toutingt her as native american. i will say the university of pennsylvania took a very different approach. i talked to the dean there about this and he was like, no, no, we were not going to do that.

it's elizabeth warren wanted to be native american on our statistics, that's fine, but there is no way we were going to suggest she was a native american law professor. the two universities to go very different approach. nermeen: the critics of her decision to come out as native american say that she basically, her presence at these universities sanctioned the universities, allow them to not hire other native americans because they had one step is that true? is that what you learned? >> i think that is where i get problematic. there has not been a criticism that has been leveled. i think what is going into a democratic primary with cory booker or kamala harris and a very diverse electorate, she's going to have to have a very good answer for that. when i asked her that very question, she says that she was

doing a lot of work to promote women and to promote minority hires. but i think that is where it becomes more problematic for her harvard, inwing particular, to use this ethnicity claim -- you look at the statistics, they were arguing internally, oh, we're doing much better with minority status than our own measurements want us to be doing. so internally they were saying, oh, we're doing fine. externally, harvard was still saying we need to do better -- for the most part. i think that is an area that is going to be really complicated for her. amy: annie linskey, you have been speaking to senator warren after she released the dna test and the video. you have spoken to her husband about the effects of what this has meant. and you have covered the response to the release of the

dna test. >> yes. i have. it has been a fascinating few days, really. it was a big surprise to many people that elizabeth warren was willing to undergo this dna test and do it and for the results outhere. think is aeally -- its a ttle ear to knowhe impa of it is wn to be her liticafuture. but i sohink s is bn harangueand queson on th for re than year. her approach tohis is quit diffent than s hillary clinto her eas likeook, iook th test. it doeactuallyhow -- th is e first pro she is en able to redehat her fily' storiewere truand thathere was tive amecan ancery in her family.

this ithe firstime in x yes there s been sething to relynly lor fothis cla. alough, focritics e sayi, oh, myoodness,o so r, far, r back ds it ally cou? pele will ve to ma that decisionor themsves. hose thiis one of estions ery time write about elabeth waen, i wod geso man email aboutwhy es as yojust taka dna test -- why doesn't she st take dn tt? across t board, d not fe office generated emails. i had so many from one story that i had to create a form email to respond to them all. my guess is she was getting similar questions from her constituents. i guess is this the way she decided to do with it, which is very different from a lot of the differentdates --

from the way a lot of candidates would. nermeen: is since she has, maybe for other reasons, expressed regret about her decision on testsing or taking the dna and releasing it, saying "i wish i had been more mindful of the distinction between heritage and tribal citizenship. is it your sense that she has been regretful for this reason? >> no. i don't think she regrets -- i have no indication that is the case at all. , myink what she regrets is sense would be she regrets calling herself native american at harvard and penn. she hasthat is where learned a lot more about ethnicity and how tribal membership works and how'a familys stories not the same as having the experience of being a member of a tribe. doingea that she regrets

a dna test, i have not heard that from anyone. amy: annie linskey, thank you for being with us, washington, d.c., deputy bureau chief for "the boston globe." we will link to your piece "ethnicity not a factor in elizabeth warren's rise in law." after the break, we will host a roundtable discussion. this is democracy now! back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we continue with senator elizabeth warren, who has come under fire for her crimson native american ancestry. in a veoeleasemonday, e to her famy's ory. mother s born ieastern oklaho. itas been indn territy unl just aew years eaier whent became state. my dad always id he fe heel oread in le with m

moth the fir time heaw he but daddy's pares were bitterly oosed to thei marrng becau my moth's faly w part nave amerin. th sort ofiscrimation was common a theime. when mmother w 19 and daddas 20 eit you led. d togeth theyuilt a fily . my thr older bthers anme. nermeen:lizabetharren ha said h mother ld her h famies had ts to the erokee a delawartribes. but nati america across e untry arcriticizg warre's cision tuse a dntest to asrt her hitage. uck hosk, jr., sretary o ate of the cherokee nation, said -- "sovereign tribal nations set their own legal requirements for citizenship, and while dna tests can be used to determine lineage, such as paternity to an individual, it is not evidence for tribal affiliation. using a dna test to lay claim to any connection to the cherokee nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong."

amy: for more, we host a round table. joining us from fargo, north dakota is tara houska, national campaign director for honor the earth. she is an ojibwe lawyer. and we go to anchorage, alaska, were we are joined by mark trahant, editor of indian country today. he's a member of the shoshone-bannock tribes. in seattle, washington, we're joined by gyasi ross, an author, speaker, lawyer and storyteller. he is a member of the blackfeet nation and host of the podcast breakdances with wolves. we welcome you all to democracy now! to tara to north dakota houska. if you can respond first to senator warren releasing her dna test indicating native american lineage and her video, and your thoughts on this. someat i see are non-native folks arguing over what native identity is a native

people just being almost entirely left out of the conversation. we saw lindsey graham now is running around saying that i have more indian blood than she does, i should open a casino. it kind of shows how problematic senator warren's decision to use this dna test as her smoking gun from "see, i said i was native" when in fact, genetic markers and geographic location does not tell you anything about which tribe you might be part of or that you might have descendents he from. she could not locate an ancestor having done a genealogy studies who is a native person. it is this one drop rule she is enforcing all of these understandings of race thing something by blood and their bring this difference between different ethnicities. amy: let's go to senator warner and her own words in a video that she relsed tking aut henative arican hetage. >> i am t enrollein a tri

and lyribes termine ibal tizenshi i unrstand a respe tha distction, b myamily history my fami history nermee c you respondo thnd also plained w is that nave amerin tribes determine membersp? >> yes. i think she is walking back her words because she got this really harsh statement by cherokee nation thing this is disrespectful and has nothing to do with their sovereign right to determine membership. i don't think she very regretful about this. i think she has pulled her way forward on this issue. is a sovereign right of tribal nations to determine who is a member. it is a nation of lived experience come all caps of different factors that sometimes can include blood, but that was greeted by the clone no government, not tribal nations.

it is this myth that has been perpetuated by the u.s. and by many americans who come to be "part cherokee" and continue these problematic ideas of who native people are and were. amy: let's turn to republican senator lindsey graham on fox and friends tuesday saying he plans to take a dna test in response to senator warren. >> i am going to take a dna test. i have been told i grandmother was part cherokee indian and it may all be just talk, but you're going to find out in a couple of weeks because -- >> you are taking it? >> and the results will be revealed here. this is my trump moment. >> why do you want to? >> i am dying to know. i did not think much about it, s than 1/10 of 1%. i think i can beat her. >> will you ask for a million dollars from the president, to? >> i want a casino and a million dollars.

amy: that was senator lindsey graham of south carolina. >> it is incredibly disrespectful. how warren'shows behavior, although it is less crude than, donald trump has , her behavior is less crude but it is still problematic and still a complete misunderstanding of what native identity actually is. it perpetuates thismyth this summit people hold. you live on the east coast and you hear was to everyone being part cherokee on their mother's side when there are still real cherokee people who live today. we should respect that and understand who native people are. inmeen: i want to bring mark trahant from anchorage, alaska. can you comment on this? you have been truly critical on the fact that elizabeth warren

-- dna testdn amy: and released it. can you explain your criticism? >> the dna test itself is just another use of a colonial narrative, basically. the ultimate goal of a dna test indians arethat immigrants like everybody else. it takes away from the idea that there is a tribal community with a governing institution that has been around beforeit takes awayd states. there are reasons that tribes are around with 10,000 year history's in north america. no miko can you explain what you mean by that? the dna tests are there to prove indigenous people, native americans are immigrants like everyone else. why? >> tim tebow there who's written quite a bit about this has talked about that, that it is basically coming up with a figure outhat says

where folks came from originally and try to figure it out rather than to connect with the stories. one of the things that i love about my own people is if you look at the history of north america, [indiscernible] that is an archive history that goes back many generations that is much deeper than a test you can use. nermeen: you even suggested, mark, that her releasing her dna test kind of disqualifies her to be president. could you explain that? >> sure. campaigns are about stories. and what story you're going to tell about yourself. here we are less than three weeks away from an extraordinary election, and we're talking about this instead of the extraordinary election. i think just from a strategic point of view, that makes no sense. in: let's go to gyasi ross seattle, author, lawyer, member

of the blackfeet nation. as you watch this from the northwest, talk about your response -- not only to senator warren doing the dna test and all the ways she is fiercely represented her self, but also donald trump and his comments about her, continually right through this week talking about pocahontas. >> thank you and good morning. thank you for having us on this very esteemed panel. i had a few reactions. number one, concerning the media generally. it would be nice to have "native stories" that were not centered on white people. that is something that is very common, whether you are talking about hollywood "dances with wolves" elizabeth warren. every single time we see natives and mass media, it is in response to white people doing

something really, really stupid or saving our community. that is a false narrative. it would be nice to see our communities that are actually pushing for an amazing recovery relationship to economics and relationship to education and relationship to language actually have that centered around a story as opposed to a white person and the native people being collateral to that white person. also, a reaction is that elizabeth warren, obviously, she was to be an ally, but she doesn't want to be an accomplice. meaning she is still willing to make native people political fodder for her own political survival. as mark pointed out, you have native women that are running this tort numbers d doing this inwork things in this -- th tort nuers and doinghis rt thing yet with all of these

amazing native women stories, this white woman wants to center this indian narrative in politics around her as opposed to going out and campaigning for them to weeks in advance of the 2010 election. 2018 election. that does make me question her judgment. we definitely, rightfully, condemn donald trump for his emotionality and unpredictability, but she does a more a poet-like spectacle revealing her dna test results as opposed to doing actual work of a leader. amy: i want to turn to the democratic candidate for congress in new mexico who could become the first native woman to serve in congress. she tweeted this week, senator elizabeth warren's dna test confirms the family history she is long shared with the world, and i acknowledge her native ancestry as testament to who we

are as americans. the oppression that native people have experienced over the course of our history caused many native american families to deny their heritage, language, and culture, and i understand why this was the case with her family. senator warren has been a sister in the struggle for years for indigenous peoples' rights, and for all of us who weren't born into the top 1%. the revelation of senator warren's native american ancestry is significant for her personally, and i join her in celebrating her ancestry." that is the quote of the native american congressional candidate, democratic candidate in new mexico who could well americane first native congressmember. your response to what she says? the first congresswoman. >> i believe her and charisse davis will go occupy that title is the first native congresspeople in the house.

that is going to be an amazing celebration and wonderful, wonderful event for united states politics and history generally. haaland,ongress woman that is a gracious and amazingly brilliant response. absolutely, i'm sure she does celebrate, just like all of us -- cool, if you want to be in the full social and, that is a beautiful thing. this is the year of the native woman. elizabeth warren wanted to upgrade herself beyonce-style. but that does that mean it requires these maury --ich-like the ethics theatrics. doinghis as opposed to the work. it is a gracious and generous response from congresswoman ha aland, but that does not mean that the timing is correct nor

does it mean it is something she thought out or her people thought up properly. amy: and your response to trump her $1he will give million if she takes a dna test and now saying, never said anything like that? trump is a pig. he is a liar. that should not surprise us. making native ancestry into a three ring circus. what people feel emboldened to deposit their opinions and challenge about native ancestry. elizabeth warren and donald trump both open that door. i believe both of them should donate $1 million to the national indian women's resource center. both of them helped create the spectacle and both of them have an obligation to native women, i believe. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. ,e are talking to gyasi ross author, lawyer, member of

blackfeet nation, speaking to us from seattle, washington. tara houska, with honor the earth, jill way lawyer. speaking to ust from anchorage, alaska, of indian country today. back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we end today's show looking at the record number of native american women running for office in the midterm election. been a nativer american woman, congressmember. this year there are at least four indigenous women running for congress, three are running for governor come and 31 are running for seats in the state legislature. amy: still with us, mark trahant and gyasi ross.

mark, let's go to you and alaska. given writing a lot about this in indian country today, about the record number of native women who are running for office in the united states. week, historyis was made when valerie davidson became a tenant governor of alaska, the first native american woman to hold that office in any state inin the country. nativeone of four other women running for lieutenant governor across the country. in fact, a minnesota, no matter what happens, it will be ojibwe woman who'll be the next lieutenant governor. this idea this year is everything is lit up. candidates decided this was the time to run. jeff holland is a great example. even though she said in her

announcement because of standing rock and because of donald trump, there is also this long archive she is been working at this for 20 years. she is built a resume ready for this job. in the part of the case story. if you look around the country, so many women are prepared and this is the moment they chose to run. nermeen: could you talk about the context? you said trump being in office has something to do with it. but how is it that native american women organized to run in the selection? >> definitely, the a administration's policies was a motivating force, particularly those against women. one of the great stories is how the native american women candidates have created this network. early on, i started writing about this. #sherepresents. shortly after that, fashion .esigner made shirts

they formed an informal network. they reach out to each other. they support each other. they help fund raise. aalandse david's and deb h came together, both in kansas. the network they've created maybe the most lasting institution out of this whole election. can you talkska, about what is happening in minnesota? you have a situation where no matter who wins will be a native american woman. we are talking about the state representative penny flanagan versus republican donna bergstrom, both running for lieutenant governor. >> yes. that has been a frustrating part about this whole warren debacle

and the concept of native identity being played out by two white folk is there is this historic representation of native women running across the country. welfare acto the coming under fire and the very core of federal indian law being put into question by that. there is the pipeline bridge in minnesota where we are looking at two digital native american women will hold lieutenant governor seat at the same time where looking at massive resistance of indigenous people that is building against the tar sands project. that is where i am coming from today. amy: explain that. >> indigenous representation, the same time we are trying to hold back the worst of what is happening. amy: explain that. you're deeply an involved with

the pipeline projects. asi think that native people people who are so very connected to the land, to the water are taking these leadership roles in fights all over the country and all around the world to protect the existing resources, to protect existing water resources for us all. as we see the climate change raging around us, we are try to protect the last of what is still remaining to us and protect our communities and protect those around us for the next generation. so as that is happening, it is in tandem with this rising up of women, particularly women of color, into representation. hopefully, we can get a good balance between the two so we're does climate change is the greatest problem facing this world. amy: how important is it that women were also leading the

battle against the dakota access pipeline and inspiring women? you are in north dakota right now. i want to talk about the supreme and alsonorth dakota indigenous activists of fighting a daily battle in the swampland of louisiana against the bayou bridge-, the 163 mile pipeline been built by energy transfer partners, the same company behind dapl. have -- nottors happen scheduled to in before the new year. as we have seen the women's marches and women being the backbone of so many different movement including indigenous resistance against these extractive industry projects, it is women taking on the role of leadership that is sorely,

sorely needed. it is women recognizing that missing and murdered indigenous women is an epidemic across the country come across canada. these cases of women can directly be tied to the extractive industry. and also sitting here in north dakota where i know there are many women organizers rushing to try to get people home addresses so they can participate in the election, the very notion of indigenous people not being able to participate in the election of the country that started after our nations existed -- it is women taking on so many different roles. i think it is something really, really needed in this time, this critical time of potentially our very survival being called into question with the latest reports of what is happening and where we are at with climate change. nermeen: gyasi ross, it could you comment on the voter id law second potentially restrict the participation of native americans in the upcoming

elections? spokehink that tara about the germane part of it, which is that people are trying to be proactive. tribes and individual native organizers are trying to do the best they can do with a bad situation where the supreme court -- excuse me, my mouth is dry. of the united states are the past and said they're not going to weigh in substantively on this issue. obviously, this is an issue that goes back to 2013 when this initial voter id law was passed. it is interesting as a historic matter that the previous governor of the state of north dakota said there never has been any sort of voter fraud issue. this is something that was 100% the result of partisan politics. i hate to make this about partisan politics, but this was the result of her

republican-controlled legislator with the intent of disenfranchising nader voters. amy: we want to thank you for being with us and we will do itt two and poste online in democracynow.org. , ineattle, gyasi ross fargo, north dakota, tara houska , and in anchorage, alaska, ma

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