Day 3 Theme: The power of self-definition

Day 3 Theme: The power of self-definition

As the piece below, by Cherokee and Blackfeet writer Mariah Gladstone highlights, the U.S. government has long exploited the construct of race to wrongly define Native Americans as a racial category. Such framing dehumanizes them and obscures the fact that they are members of distinct sovereign nations with their own systems of definition and governance. This has allowed Whites to adopt policies promoting the genocide of Indigenous people, the destruction of their families and the repression of their traditions. Since White colonizers arrived, they have taken 96% of Indigenous peoples’ land (two-minute video below).

Fay Givens, Executive Director of American Indian Services, explains, “Because our status is not based on race, our relationship with the federal government is different from other groups’. We are separate, sovereign nations within the boundaries of the United States. There are over 3,000 laws that apply only to us. We enforce the Treaties (six-minute NPR video below) that were in place prior to the formation of the United States, which have more legal weight than the U.S. Constitution. Every day we enforce our rights in quiet ways the mainstream never hears about.”

One way for non-Indigenous people to begin interrupting colonial ways of thinking and the oppression that results from it is to learn about the history of where you currently live, work, study and/or volunteer. You might consult the online interactive map linked below, which should not be seen as a perfect representation of official or legal boundaries of Indigenous nations. To learn about boundaries and historic territories, contact the nations/peoples in question. Visit institutions dedicated to the honor and preservation of Indigenous cultures in your area, such as the Puyallup Tribe Homepage (history and law linked below).

Reflect & Respond:

Who inhabited the land prior to the arrival of Europeans? What happened to the Indigenous peoples and their practices? Where are they now and what is happening to them? What Indigenous people live in your area today? How do they define themselves? What fights for resistance and survival are they currently engaged in?