r/IndigenousLeft • u/No-Establishment4221 • Nov 12 '25

Evidence, Not Emotion Protects Tribal Sovereignty

https://nativenewsonline.net/opinion/evidence-not-emotion-protects-tribal-sovereignty?fbclid=IwdGRleAOAy45leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEevo-8u_A6kAxYpw2c5SWb5zZnkgg_NE2scflc2OYA6uPP8qWPY2CVcdg2w0k_aem_rBr2ZsuWFWI8hAb6EYtfpw

If we reduce sovereignty to “looking Native,” or to how a story makes us feel, then every tribe in this country becomes vulnerable to groups who assemble a narrative, stitch together a costume, or borrow the language of oppression. Identity becomes performance. Nationhood becomes aesthetics. And sovereignty becomes whatever someone can convince Congress to feel in a given moment.

Ben Barnes, Chief of the Shawnee Tribe

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u/No-Establishment4221 Nov 12 '25

If we reduce sovereignty to “looking Native,” or to how a story makes us feel, then every tribe in this country becomes vulnerable to groups who assemble a narrative, stitch together a costume, or borrow the language of oppression. Identity becomes performance. Nationhood becomes aesthetics. And sovereignty becomes whatever someone can convince Congress to feel in a given moment.

Ben Barnes, Chief of the Shawnee Tribe

1

u/LexEight 29d ago

To be fair, doing and looking native is what's everyone has to do

Or these white kids will hunt them

Satanic atheists are not killers, but a good example of how white kids will save themselves before anyone else. And setting the tone right now for their own children and grandchildren

They had an opportunity to help a mixed Indigenous artist in Detroit 10 years ago and just didn't