The fight for a Massachusetts Senate seat has been nasty, but it's gotten a new dose of racism with a video of Senator Scott Brown's staffers doing Indian "war whoops" and "tomahawk chops" at a rally. They also shout, "Yankees suck!" but sadly there's not a beer bong in sight.
The Native American stereotypes are in reference to Brown's Democratic challenger, Elizabeth Warren, and her claims of Native American heritage. Warren, a Harvard law professor, has admitted that she told Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania that she was Native American," saying that those who hired her "have said unequivocally they were not aware of my heritage and that it played no role in my hiring."
When asked about his staffers—"deputy chief of staff, Greg Casey; his constituent services counsel, Jack Richard; and GOP operative Brad Garrett," according to Politico—and their behavior, Brown (who has found a big booster in Mayor Bloomberg) said, "It is certainly something that I don't condone. The real offense is that (Warren) said she was white and then checked the box saying she is Native American, and then she changed her profile in the law directory once she made her tenure."
So to sum up Brown's point: racism is OK as long as it points out potential flaws in your political opponent.
