September 26, 2012

Scott Brown’s Racial Stereotyping of Elizabeth Warren | Alternet

Scott Brown’s Racial Stereotyping of Elizabeth Warren | Alternet
"Disturbingly absent from the analysis of Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown’s rebuke at last week’s debate of Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren’s claim that she has Native American ancestry is any reference to the racially insensitive nature of his reproach. After noting that “Professor Warren claimed she was a Native American,” he added pointedly, “And as you can see, she’s not.”
Which raises the obvious question: which of her facial features alerted Brown that she has no Native American blood coursing through her veins? Surely, if she possessed whatever tiny fraction of one’s DNA must trace back to an indigenous tribe before he or she is deemed to be Native American, she’d have shiny, jet-black hair or a tan complexion. Or was it the absence of beads or a feather and a headband that tipped Brown off?
For a fellow who, like so many other Republican senatorial candidates, has been distancing himself from Romney’s recent stereotyping of 47% of the populace as freeloaders, Brown’s remark was downright Romneyesque. Or worse."