Today Gabe Galanda delivered a lecture titled,“Issues in Tribal Citizenship: Who's the 'Self' in Self-Governance?" at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.
Gabe addressed how the transmutation of Indigenous kinship societies and members into “nations” and “citizens,” as matters of federal law and policy since the late eighteenth century, contributes to Indigenous citizenship and identity crises for a great many Indigenous nations today.
He explained how numerous Indigenous nations:
No longer include or enroll their babies or children as citizens;
Disenroll elders, matriarchs, youth, and families through neo-colonial political processes;
Dishonor and disturb, even exhume and DNA test, ancestors for the sake of disenrollment;
Discriminate based on racial shades of “Indian blood” and fictional blood quantum percentages derived from debunked European inheritance and Eugenics theory; and
Calculate tribal citizenship based on how much money is received—or could be received—in gaming “per capita” distributions.
Gabe urged that traditional Indigenous kinship principles be infused into modern Indigenous nationhood citizenship laws and practices, including constitutions and membership ordinances.
Gabriel S. Galanda is the Managing Lawyer of Galanda Broadman, PLLC, an Indigenous rights law firm. He belongs to the Round Valley Indian Tribes, descending from the Nomlaki and Concow Peoples.
