ATLANTA — A Native American Democratic official blasted President Donald Trump’s use of “Pocahontas” as an insult in his ongoing war of words with Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren. “There has been no outrage about ‘Pocahontas,’” Frank LaMere said during a meeting of the Democratic National Committee’s Native American Council. “If he had said the N-word, the whole Democratic Party would have been after him. ‘Pocahontas’ is no different.” LaMere is the associate chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and a DNC member.
The Pocahontas insult – a reference to the 17th century Native American from Virginia’s colonial period – is in regard to Senator Warren’s claimed Native American heritage, which became an issue during her 2012 campaign in Massachusetts. Republican incumbent Scott Brown challenged her ancestry and seemingly implied that she was a beneficiary of affirmative action by claiming Indian heritage during school and job applications.
Rion Ramirez, the chairman of the DNC Native American Council, elaborated on LaMere’s comment, saying “She [Senator Warren] needs to take him [President Trump] to task,” for the Pocahontas insult, before adding that she also needed to elaborate on her own ancestry. “She needs to step up and explain her relationship with Indian country.”
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