A new group called Cherokees Demand Truth from Elizabeth Warren has released a statement demanding Elizabeth Warren stop running and address the controversy surrounding her claim to Native American heritage:

Many wonder why we Cherokees are so insistent on Elizabeth Warren coming clean about her false claims of Cherokee ancestry. This is not a political issue to us. We don’t care if Elizabeth Warren is a Democrat, Republican, or an Independent. We do care, though, if she goes around claiming to be Cherokee and has tried to benefit from that claim. Some people might not realize there are only three federally recognized Cherokee tribes in the United States, but there are more than 200 groups who fraudulently claim to be Cherokee tribes. While the federally recognized tribes have very specific criteria their members must meet in order to be enrolled or registered, there is no consistent criterion for membership into the fraudulent groups. Many members of these fraudulent groups base their claim of Cherokee ancestry on the same thing Ms. Warren bases hers on…family lore.

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We have researched Ms. Warren’s ancestry in the line she claims to be Cherokee through, as well as researched the collateral lines connected to that family. There is absolutely no indication of her having anything other than Caucasian ancestors. Though Ms. Warren’s ancestors did move into the areas that later became Oklahoma, they arrived at the same time many other non-Indian families arrived – when the land was going to be opened up and they thought they could get free or cheap land from the Indians. Ms. Warren’s ancestors were not Cherokees and neither is she. We, as Cherokees, cannot allow Ms. Warren to continue on with her false claims. If we allow someone as high profile as her to get away with it, then everyone else will expect a free pass as well.

Read the rest of the statement here.