Guest opinion. Indigenous McCarthyism seeks to create an internal termination process through disinformation and division. State-recognized tribes have been accused of being frauds and historically and politically problematic.
On October 29, 2024, defamatory flyers were distributed at the annual convention of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) by a group calling itself the United Indian Tribes of Oklahoma. Similar divisive disinformation was used in the recent failed efforts to remove state-recognized tribes from the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) of 1990 (PL 101-644) and exclude them from voting membership of the NCAI . These efforts were in complete violation of the NCAl Code of Conduct.
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The recent attempts to end the rights of state-recognized tribes are a legacy of settler colonialism. Identity policing, division and disinformation are destructive colonial weapons. Egocide and police killing have been used against indigenous people for more than 500 years. Egocide is bullying and harassment that destroys an individual’s indigenous identity by creating insecurity and self-shame. Police killing is the destruction of a tribe’s identity for political reasons. Blacklists of state-recognized tribes have been created on social media and websites. They use insensitive words to describe state-recognized tribes and their members as fake Indians, bogus Indians and wannabes.
Identity policing is based on settler colonial stereotypes about who is and who is not Native American. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, these stereotypes were used in the professional testimonies of a handful of anthropologists to eliminate the sovereignty of more than a hundred tribes across the country and lose more than a million hectares of tribal lands. In California, the Muwekma Ohlone tribe lost their federal recognition and was declared extinct. The Muwekma Ohlone remain strong and resilient as a non-federally recognized tribal entity.
According to the United States Government Accountability Office, more than 20 percent of Native Americans are citizens of state-recognized tribes. They are legally recognized by the states in which they reside, including Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
As noted in “The Scope of State Power Over Indian Affairs” in Felix S. Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Lawthe legal status of tribal recognition by the state is a matter of state law. States have the legal authority to recognize tribes due to federal powers given to the state. The 10e An amendment to the United States Constitution gives states the legal authority to recognize tribes within their borders. It gives states legal powers not delegated in the U.S. Constitution. State-recognized tribes have legal status, a government entity, they can participate in state programs, and they are allowed to have reservations within the state’s borders. State-recognized tribes have the rights of self-government, and tribal constitutions determine the criteria for an individual’s enrollment.
Today there are more than 100 state-recognized tribes. The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama and the United Houma Nation of Louisiana each have more than 10,000 members. Enrolled members of state-recognized tribes are considered racial minorities and benefit from the full range of protections against discrimination provided by federal civil rights laws. They are subject to the same public health problems as citizens of federally recognized tribes. These problems include disproportionate disease, lower life expectancy and poor quality of life due to economic hardship. Federal agencies are required to identify state-recognized tribes and include them in federal environmental and public health decision-making.
As Native Americans, we must be resilient against all aspects of settler colonialism and end the division and misinformation caused by egocide and police murder. Hopefully these colonial weapons will be disarmed by the next seven generations. It is crucial to our survival in Indian Country and beyond. We are all related and we are on this journey together.
Dr. Kenneth Barnett Tankersley belongs to the Piqua tribe of Alabama. Tankersley is a retired professor of anthropology and fellow of the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati. He was director of Native American Studies at Northern Kentucky University, a governor-appointed member of the Kentucky Native American Heritage Commission and a member of the advisory board of the Kentucky Center for Native American Art and Culture.
About the Author: “Levi \”Calm Before the Storm\” Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded the Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print category\/ online by the Native American Journalists Association. He is a member of the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net.
Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net
