Dozens of Cherokee citizens have publicly called for presidential candidate and Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren to clarify her lack of Indigenous heritage. In an open letter posted to Medium on Wednesday, citizens of the Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians outlined three demands as part of a push to reshape the conversation about Warren’s history of claiming Cherokee ancestry.

While Warren responded with an in-depth letter of her own, one of the letter’s organizing authors, Joseph M. Pierce, spoke with Teen Vogue to explain what the group would still like to see from the 2020 presidential candidate on this issue. Rather than just another scandal in a hectic presidential campaign, the Cherokee citizens involved want this controversy Warren to correct the record and set an important example in “the most public debate about our identity in a generation.”

“In a country where Indigenous people are mostly invisible, what Americans conclude from this debate will impact Native rights for years to come,” the letter reads after mentioning Warren’s history of claiming Cherokee ancestry and her attempt to prove as much with a DNA test in 2018.

The letter goes on to outline recent examples of other white people claiming Indigenous ancestry and explains that while it’s a common misconception that Native people are simply a racial group, the reality is that Indigenous identity is politically constituted through treaties between the United States government and sovereign Indigenous nations. The authors highlight that that very tribal sovereignty is currently under legal threat.

From there, the authors lay out their three demands.

“Like many other white families, your family story of Cherokee and Delaware ancestry is false and it was wrong for you to repeat it as an adult. You have had the genealogical evidence since 2012,” reads the first demand. “Stating you do not qualify for citizenship is not enough; the truth is you and your ancestors are white.”

“Equating Cherokee identity with the results of a DNA test was more than a misstep — it was dangerous,” reads the lead-up to the second demand. “We ask that you explain that only tribal affiliation and kinship determine Native identity, and that equating Native identity with race and biology erodes the foundation of Indigenous sovereignty.”

“Claiming Native identity without citizenship, kinship ties, or recognition from Native communities undermines Indigenous self-determination,” the letter continues before stating the third demand: “As the most public example of this behavior, you need to clearly state that Native people are the sole authority on who is — and who is not — Native.”

“You have done some good things for Indian Country during your time in political service. You have also done real harm,” the letter concludes, calling on Warren to use this moment to “show true leadership and make this right.”

Warren has released a lengthy, thoroughly annotated reply. In it, she begins by outlining her outreach work with tribal leaders and Indigenous activists and advocates and all that she’s learned from them.

“I am not a person of color; I am a white woman, and that is how I identify,” Warren writes. “In addition, I am not a tribal citizen. Tribal Nations — and only Tribal Nations — determine tribal citizenship. It’s their right as a matter of sovereignty, and they exercise that in ways they choose to exercise it.”

“I have said very publicly — and I will continue to say — that DNA does not determine tribal citizenship,” she continues. “This is no small point because of the long history of colonialism and violence perpetrated against Native communities, people, and identity by this country. And I understand that the confusion my actions propagated around tribal sovereignty and citizenship caused real harm to Native people and communities.”